How do unbonded electrons affect the shape of a molecule? Why?

Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Theory (VSEPR) describes this. Unbonded electrons in a molecule want to get as far away from one another as possible because like charges repel. This means that the shape of the molecule will bend to alleviate this stress between the electrons. Take water for example. Oxygen is bonded to two hydrogens, but also has unbonded electrons in its outershell. This means that instead of the molecule being straight across, it is bent, with the electrons pushing out on the o-h bonds to move as far as possible apart.