Originally Posted by
sbrower
Before you try to play word games it would be helpful if you checked a dictionary. I correctly used the word "effect" as in "cause [making up facts] and effect [applicability of statute]." But don't feel badly - your mistake of confusing the words "effect" and "affect" is a common one according to Wikipedia.
I'd put my money on
affect, not
effect. My reasoning, FWIW:
If doing x produces result y, then it has
effected or brought about that result (not
affected that result). But if doing x does not produce a result as such, rather it somehow influences something else, e.g., how we answer the question of whether conduct is illegal or not, then it has
affected it. For example, if I knew that Joe had embezzled from his former employer, it would influence or
affect my thinking, and I might not hire him as a bookkeeper.