Which word should replace the underlined word? “The new tutoring program had a positive [affect] on attendance at our school.”

Use Standard Grammar, Usage, and Spelling to Edit · TELPAS Grades 10–12 writing. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 2: find and fix an error in a short text. On the real test some of these are typed answers or sentence rewrites. Here they are multiple choice so they can be checked.

The question

Choose the best answer.

Read the sentence. The underlined word has an error. The new tutoring program had a positive [affect] on attendance at our school. Which word should replace the underlined word?

• Aeffective
• Baffection
• Ceffectively
• DeffectCorrect answer

Why “effect” is correct

This tests word form and a commonly confused pair. After 'a positive', the sentence needs a noun meaning 'a result', which is 'effect'. 'Affect' is usually a verb ('The program affected attendance').

Why the other answers are wrong

• effective — 'Effective' is an adjective, but after 'a positive' the sentence needs a noun.
• affection — 'Affection' is a noun, but it means love or fondness, not a result.
• effectively — 'Effectively' is an adverb and cannot follow 'a positive'.

Practice more of this

More writing practice for Grades 10–12, or see the TELPAS practice test for 10th–12th grade.