The correct answers are affect, effect, affect, and effects.
Affect is almost always a verb meaning "to influence or produce a change in" (e.g., didn't affect the gravity, will affect my funding).
Effect is almost always a noun meaning "the result or outcome of a change" (e.g., noticeable effect, side effects).
Hint: If you can put "the," "an," or an adjective (like "side") in front of it, you usually need the noun effect.
Noun
A noun (from Latin nōmen, literally meaning "name") is a word that functions as the name of some specific thing or set of things, such as living creatures, objects, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas. Linguistically, a noun is a member of a large, open part of speech whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.
Lexical categories (parts of speech) are defined in terms of the ways in which their members combine with other kinds of expressions. In English, nouns are those words which can occur with articles and attributive adjectives and can function as the head of a noun phrase.
Verb
A verb is a word that expresses an action, a state, or an occurrence — and it's the engine of every English sentence. Understanding how verbs work is foundational to everything else in English grammar, from forming questions to building complex sentences.
Verb Forms
Most English verbs have five inflected forms:
- Base form (go, write, climb) — used as an infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive, and present indicative in all persons except third-person singular.
- -s form (goes, writes, climbs) — used for the present tense, third-person singular (she writes).
- Past tense (went, wrote, climbed) — also called the preterite.
- Past participle (gone, written, climbed) — identical to the past tense for regular verbs, but often different for irregular verbs.
- -ing form (going, writing, climbing) — serves as the present participle and gerund.
The verb be is a special case with more forms than any other English verb (am, is, are, was, were, been, being). Modal verbs like can, must, and should have fewer forms than typical verbs.
Main Verbs and Auxiliaries
Verbs in English often appear in combinations: one or more auxiliary verbs paired with a main verb.
- The dog was barking very loudly.
- My hat has been cleaned.
- Jane does not really like us.
The first verb in the combination is the finite verb (it carries tense and agrees with the subject). The rest are nonfinite (infinitives or participles). Notice that these verbs don't always sit next to each other — as in does not really like.
Tense, Aspect, and Mood
English expresses tense (time reference), aspect (how an action unfolds over time), and mood (the speaker's attitude toward the action) mostly through verb combinations rather than word endings. That's why you'll encounter labels like "present progressive" or "conditional perfect" — these are specific tense–aspect–mood combinations built with auxiliaries.
Self-check: If you can change the time of a sentence by swapping one word (She runs → She ran), that word is the verb.
Keep Practising
To build your verb skills from the ground up, try these challenges: Basics. "To be" in Present Tense, Basics. Common Uses of Auxiliary Verbs, and Transitive and Intransitive Verbs.
B2 | Upper Intermediate
B2, or Upper Intermediate, is the fourth level on the CEFR scale. It marks the point where you move from "getting by" to genuinely comfortable communication — handling complex topics, expressing nuanced opinions, and understanding most of what you read or hear in real-world contexts.
What a B2 user can do
At this level, you're expected to:
- Understand complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in your own field.
- Follow extended speech and lectures, even when the structure isn't entirely clear, as long as the topic is reasonably familiar.
- Interact fluently and spontaneously enough that conversations with native speakers flow naturally — without strain on either side.
- Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects, using connectors and cohesive devices to build well-structured arguments.
- Explain and defend a viewpoint on a topical issue, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of different options.
- Recognize implicit meaning — reading between the lines in demanding, longer texts.
What B2 grammar looks like in practice
B2 is where grammar stops being about isolated rules and starts being about flexibility and precision. You're expected to control structures like:
- Advanced conditionals and mixed conditionals — moving beyond simple if-clauses to express hypothetical and counterfactual meaning.
- Passive voice in varied tenses and contexts, not just present and past simple.
- Reported speech with correct sequence of tenses, including backshifting and reporting verbs.
- Participle clauses and the distinction between participles and gerunds.
- Comparative and superlative structures beyond basic -er/-est, including double comparatives and qualifying expressions.
Errors still happen at B2, but they rarely cause misunderstanding. The goal is controlled, flexible use of language across social, academic, and professional settings.
How B2 fits in the CEFR progression
B2 builds directly on the foundations of B1 (Intermediate) and prepares you for C1 (Advanced). Many university entrance exams, professional certifications, and immigration requirements target B2 as the minimum standard.
Self-check: If you can read a newspaper editorial, follow most of a TED talk without subtitles, and write a clear essay arguing a position — you're likely operating at B2.
Ready to test yourself? Try Is your English level B2/Upper Intermediate? or practise specific B2 grammar with challenges like Basics. Advanced Conditionals And "wish", Basics. Passive Voice, and Sequence of Tenses in Indirect Speech.
Difficulty: Medium
Medium difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.