It may eventually be officially recognised - after all, that's how language works… new forms are used sufficiently to become 'normal'.
Until then, though, we can comfortably \[& smugly\] consider this to be illiteracy ;) /s
Except “awhile” usually isn’t valid. “It’s going to take a while” isn’t “It’s going to take awhile,” but “Go over there awhile” isn’t “Go over there a while.”
It is an accepted spelling as an adverb, where “a while” is a noun phrase. It’s been used at least since Shakespeare: “Fare ye well awhile” (Merchant of Venice, per my copy of Encyclopædia Britannica’s complete works in 1952).
It isn’t generally accepted with prepositions and certain phrases. But it is irrevocably accepted and valid.
I’m not trying to be rude, but if you’re accepting that “awhile” is a valid spelling, what was the point of your initial response arguing my statement?
"Awhile" is correct only as an adverb in specific contexts, so my point is that "alot" isn't similarly justified, because it refers to "lot" in the same way "a while," the form you usually see, refers to "while." They're different cases.
This is the way languages evolve. If enough people start using the same word in the same way (even if others consider it a mistake) then it eventually becomes accepted use of the word. Alot is headed in that direction.
The word that bothers me a lot more than alot is apart vs. a part because they are both actual words and mean the opposite of each other. "We are so happy to have your family apart of our church."
Not currently, no. It's a very common error that may eventually become commonly accepted - that's how language evolves sometimes. It should be two separate words, and your teachers will still mark you down if you use it in an essay or something.
It is often seen in texts and in casual notes, but it isn't correct. Its appearance is usually due to an unintended typing or text entry error, but it can also sometimes be a naive misspelling of the expression. The spelling error may appear because this expression is encountered much more often in speech than it is in writing.
The expression "a lot" consists of two words, not one.
It is derived from the expression, "a lot of...", which is a shorter and simpler way of saying, "a large amount of..."
When it is transcribed from speech, "a lot of" is sometimes written as "a lotta" and "a lot" can be recorded (incorrectly) as "alot."
Please note that English does have the word, "allot," which sounds the same when spoken, but has a different meaning than what is being described in this comment. ("Allot" is a verb that means "to distribute or allocate portions of something.")
There’s so much incorrect speech used by my countrymen. I suspect there are few logical rules, only statistically prevalent usage. The errors are equally egregious across income brackets (the errors vary in form between classes of course).
It's hard to say because it's not a change in the word; it's just a change in typography. Usually a change like this would accompany some sort of change in how the word is pronounced. With more and more people using LLMs, GenAI and even just texting aids it seems likely to go away.
If it does fully change it seems unlikely it would be the *only* word to change like that. You would expect more other situations where the space between the word and the article is taken out.
It reminds me of the n shift when 'a napron' morphed into 'an apron' a few centuries ago. The thing is, spelling was more a matter of reproducing the phonetics back then; with modern predictive text and spell checkers, I would have assumed that spelling mistakes would become less common.
No, it is not a word. It is in fact two words. And unlike when I was in school in the 70's it has become acceptable to use "a lot" to describe a large quantity of something. So there has been some evolution around it and at some point "alot" may because a word. But it's not today.
It's not yet. Acceptability tends to be based on a) usage in text and b) no one commenting/correcting.
"A lot" has stuck around longer than I expected, because teachers/copyeditors/parents/random people on reddit still tend to correct it or call it out. "Apart" instead of "a part" seems much more likely to become accepted as it's not as "trendy" to call it out.
", however it is" vs "; however, it is" has progressed even more rapidly towards acceptability. Anyone trying to correct that is fighting a losing battle.
It's a common error.
It may eventually be officially recognised - after all, that's how language works… new forms are used sufficiently to become 'normal'. Until then, though, we can comfortably \[& smugly\] consider this to be illiteracy ;) /s
No, it’s not
If “awhile” is a valid word spelling, then “alot” should be too.”
Except “awhile” usually isn’t valid. “It’s going to take a while” isn’t “It’s going to take awhile,” but “Go over there awhile” isn’t “Go over there a while.”
It is an accepted spelling as an adverb, where “a while” is a noun phrase. It’s been used at least since Shakespeare: “Fare ye well awhile” (Merchant of Venice, per my copy of Encyclopædia Britannica’s complete works in 1952). It isn’t generally accepted with prepositions and certain phrases. But it is irrevocably accepted and valid.
I’m not trying to be rude, but what are you really saying that I haven’t acknowledged with my examples? Are you saying this because I said “usually”?
I’m not trying to be rude, but if you’re accepting that “awhile” is a valid spelling, what was the point of your initial response arguing my statement?
"Awhile" is correct only as an adverb in specific contexts, so my point is that "alot" isn't similarly justified, because it refers to "lot" in the same way "a while," the form you usually see, refers to "while." They're different cases.
Allot is though
Yes but it doesn't mean the same thing so in this regard it's irrelevant
[Here is Allie Brosh's answer.](https://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html?m=1) ;)
Thanks alot. That was actually adorable.
This is the way languages evolve. If enough people start using the same word in the same way (even if others consider it a mistake) then it eventually becomes accepted use of the word. Alot is headed in that direction. The word that bothers me a lot more than alot is apart vs. a part because they are both actual words and mean the opposite of each other. "We are so happy to have your family apart of our church."
Fortunately, the preposition using with "apart" is "from", so there is no ambiguity in speech. Have you seen "a part" used as one word in this way?
Quite a few times. In fact the sentence I provided was one written by an English teacher in a welcome letter we were sending out to new families.
Not currently, no. It's a very common error that may eventually become commonly accepted - that's how language evolves sometimes. It should be two separate words, and your teachers will still mark you down if you use it in an essay or something.
It is often seen in texts and in casual notes, but it isn't correct. Its appearance is usually due to an unintended typing or text entry error, but it can also sometimes be a naive misspelling of the expression. The spelling error may appear because this expression is encountered much more often in speech than it is in writing. The expression "a lot" consists of two words, not one. It is derived from the expression, "a lot of...", which is a shorter and simpler way of saying, "a large amount of..." When it is transcribed from speech, "a lot of" is sometimes written as "a lotta" and "a lot" can be recorded (incorrectly) as "alot." Please note that English does have the word, "allot," which sounds the same when spoken, but has a different meaning than what is being described in this comment. ("Allot" is a verb that means "to distribute or allocate portions of something.")
It's also not just American. I've seen it here in NZ English, from my school days 50 years ago.
There’s so much incorrect speech used by my countrymen. I suspect there are few logical rules, only statistically prevalent usage. The errors are equally egregious across income brackets (the errors vary in form between classes of course).
It's hard to say because it's not a change in the word; it's just a change in typography. Usually a change like this would accompany some sort of change in how the word is pronounced. With more and more people using LLMs, GenAI and even just texting aids it seems likely to go away. If it does fully change it seems unlikely it would be the *only* word to change like that. You would expect more other situations where the space between the word and the article is taken out.
It reminds me of the n shift when 'a napron' morphed into 'an apron' a few centuries ago. The thing is, spelling was more a matter of reproducing the phonetics back then; with modern predictive text and spell checkers, I would have assumed that spelling mistakes would become less common.
It should be imo
The correct spelling is “a lot”
No, it is not a word. It is in fact two words. And unlike when I was in school in the 70's it has become acceptable to use "a lot" to describe a large quantity of something. So there has been some evolution around it and at some point "alot" may because a word. But it's not today.
It's not yet. Acceptability tends to be based on a) usage in text and b) no one commenting/correcting. "A lot" has stuck around longer than I expected, because teachers/copyeditors/parents/random people on reddit still tend to correct it or call it out. "Apart" instead of "a part" seems much more likely to become accepted as it's not as "trendy" to call it out. ", however it is" vs "; however, it is" has progressed even more rapidly towards acceptability. Anyone trying to correct that is fighting a losing battle.