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A syllable is a unit of sound. It can be a vowel, a diphthong, or one or more vowels combined with one or more consonants.

Single-syllable words can be formed using one letter or many letters.

a

be

six

look

bought

In most English dictionaries, words that are more than one syllable are divided by a dot or space between the syllables.

Click on the example words to hear the difference between words with one, two, three, and four syllables.

1	2	3	4
through	ex·it	po·ta·to	in·cred·i·ble

Syllable Stress
English words that are polysyllabic (have more than one syllable) always have one syllable that is stressed. In most English dictionaries, the stressed syllable is indicated by a stress mark, a symbol that resembles an apostrophe. The stress mark follows the syllable that is stressed.

For example, in the word incredible, the second syllable (-cred-) is stressed. Here are some examples.

2	3	4
ex′it	op′po·site	Feb′ru·ar·y
hu′mid	ex·am′ine	in·cred′i·ble
ma·chine′	em·ploy·ee′	psy·cho′lo·gy

In English, most two-syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable.

A′pril	car′rot	hon′or	fa′ther
Mon′day	le′mon	e′vil	Mar′y

Putting stress on the correct syllable is especially important for words that are both nouns and verbs. Usually, if the stress is placed on the first syllable it is a noun. If the stress is placed on the second syllable it is a verb.

noun	verb
con′test	con·test′
de′fect	de·fect′
in′sert	in·sert′
ob′ject	ob·ject′
pre′sent	pre·sent′
pro′test	pro·test′
re′call	re·call′
re′cord	re·cord′

The English words affect and effect are often confused by native speakers – don’t let their mistakes affect your English.

Affect
Affect is a verb with several different meanings.

1. To have an influence on, contribute to a change in

What you do affects all of us.
This decision will affect the outcome of the elections.
Inflation is affected by natural disasters.

2. To touch, move; to act on the emotions of

I was profoundly affected by this movie.
His actions were not affected by her pleas.

3. To simulate

He likes to affect a British accent.
She always affected her eccentricity.

In psychology, affect is a noun which refers to a "feeling" or "emotion":

Your son’s lack of affect explains why you find it difficult to gauge his moods.

Effect
Effect is most commonly used as a noun, and has three meanings:

1. Result, something brought about by someone or something

What was the effect of her decision?
Side effects include nausea and fatigue.
I don’t think it will have any effect on the outcome.
The law will go into effect tomorrow.
You can clearly see the cause and effect.

2. Something that gives the impression/sense of something else

The special effects were amazing.
Mirrors will give the effect of a larger space.
He said that just for effect.

3. Effects can refer to belongings.

Did you bring any personal effects?

As a verb, to effect means "to bring about, lead to a result"

The only way to effect change is to participate.
What is the best way to effect these improvements?
This should effect a whole new way of thinking about it.

The Bottom Line
The confusion between affect and effect comes out of the fact that affecting something leads to an effect. The two questions "How were you affected?" and "What was the effect on you?" mean almost exactly the same thing.

When you want to use one of these words as a noun, the one you want is probably effect. When you want a verb, most of the time you want affect. Effect is used as a verb only when it has a direct object and only when you mean "to bring about, lead to."

The difference between to affect and to effect can be seen clearly here:

To affect the results – To influence, have an impact on the results
To effect the results – To bring about, lead to the (desired) results

We use the present perfect tense to talk about things where there is a connection between the past and the present.

• He’s written 16 books.

He started writing books at some time in the past. So far, he has written 16 books. He may write more books.

As well as the present perfect simple, we can use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about events with a connection to the present.

1 Look at these 2 sentences:

• I’ve been decorating the house this summer. The focus is on the action – decorating – and the action is unfinished.

• I’ve painted the living room blue. The focus is on the finished result. The activity is finished but we can see the result now.

We use the present perfect continuous when the focus is on an activity that is unfinished.

2 Look at these two sentences.

• I’ve read that book you lent me. I finished it yesterday.
• I’ve been reading that book you lent me. I’ve got another 50 pages to read.

The present perfect simple (I’ve read) gives the idea of completion while the present perfect continuous (I’ve been reading) suggests that something is unfinished.

3 Look at these two sentences.

• She’s been writing emails for 3 hours.
• She’s written 10 messages.

The present perfect continuous (has been writing) talks about how long something has been happening. The present perfect simple (has written) talks about how much/how many have been completed.

4 Look at these two sentences.

• I’ve worked here for thirty years.
• I usually work in London but I’ve been working in Birmingham for the last 3 weeks.

We can use the present perfect simple to talk about how long when we view something as permanent. But the present perfect continuous is often used to show that something is temporary.