Affected by ‘Affect to/on’

Posted by Pak Guru on March 17th, 2016 | 0 comments | EAP, grammar, IELTS, Part 3, pengaruhi, speaking, Task 2, transitive, vocabulary, writing

These days children see far too much violence on TV and this can affect to their emotional development.

While it was correct to use affect (verb) instead of effect (noun), the preposition is not needed.
X affects Y (without ‘to’) / Y is affected by X:

• These days children see far too much violence on TV and this can affect their emotional development.
• These days children’s emotional development can be affected by violence on TV.

Students also sometimes write affect on, possible because they are familiar with the phrase have an effect on. However, no preposition is needed here, either. Both of the following are possible.

• Too much violence on TV and this can have an effect on children’s emotional development.
• Too much violence on TV and this can affect children’s emotional development.