Are you affected by the effect? I’m often guilty of this little one. I stumble on this every time it makes an appearance. My solution to this little problem of mine is remembering the first sentence of this paragraph.  I am affected by the effect.

In other words, affect with an a is “to influence” and effect with an e is “a result.”

For instance …The electric fence really affected the cow. The effect was quite startling.

Or … I can’t believe that affected me so much … It has really had a profound effect on me.

And … New baby chicks affected our routines at the farm, but the effect of the baby chicks has been adorable!

Do you have any tricks for remembering context, spelling, meaning of words?