Still having problems

I’m honestly still trying to learn the different between affect and effect.  I feel like I get it down, then take a test that says otherwise.  I know that the word “affect” is usually a verb and the word “effect” is usually a noun. For example, during the “Right Words” quiz, I got one right and the other wrong. The question was, “The petition was not expected to have any (affect/effect).” I chose affect as I wasn’t thinking of the answer being a noun. Clearly it is not a verb. So I should have chosen effect. This is like the third of fourth time that we’ve run across this on a test two. I’m definitely going to be refreshing myself on affect vs effect.

I also seem to have problems with lay vs lie.  The easiest way is to remember that the word “lie” means to recline. The word “lay” means to put something down. An example would be. I lie down. If I was putting my wife to bed after one too many drinks, I would lay her down.  Some of my confusion comes from the fact that the past tense version of lie is lay.  I also read in a comment thread that an one of the posters English teacher had once said, “I ‘lie” down, to “lay” is to place something. And, she added with a smile, the only time “laid” involves people is if there are two of them.

verb	present tense	past tense	past participle	present participle
lay	lay	laid	laid	laying
lie	lie	lay	lain	lying

I found my error is the same thread, about grammar no less.

The first sentence is missing punctuation.