False Contractions
March 16th 2009 22:06
A previous post on Wordophilia covered some common mistakes in the usage of certain words. As the discussion on that post showed, our language changes frequently. Today's entry is another batch of oft-misused words: this time, they're all single words that should be two, or vice-versa.
A lot - not 'alot', which is not a word. 'Allot', however, is a word!
All right - not 'alright'. This one is so commonly used, both in speech and conversational pieces, that it's become acceptable in all but the most formal writing. If you're writing something chatty or informal, the single word is fine. If not, stick to the two-word version.
Copyright - sometimes seen as 'copy right' or even 'copy write', the single-word form is actually correct.
Everyday - an odd one, since both the single word form and 'every day' are correct. However, the two word form is an adverb (i.e. "I went there every day"), whereas the single word form is an adjective meaning 'common' (i.e. "An everyday situation").
Never mind - not 'nevermind'. The incorrect usage is the name of a Nirvana album, although it does actually exist if you like using archaic terms!
Supersede - a popular business term these days, it's often incorrectly written as 'super seeded' and is sometimes hyphenated (which is also incorrect).
Wake up or wake-up - not 'wakeup'. The first form is the verb (i.e. "I will wake up"); the second is the adjective (i.e. "a wake-up call").
Withhold - often mistyped as 'with hold' or 'withold', since it looks a little strange with the two h's in the middle. Despite that, it's correct.
Weatherstorm - an unusual case, as the various different types of weather are all compound words except ice-storm, which is hyphenated or written as two words (both forms correct). Rainstorm, snowstorm, sandstorm, windstorm and hailstorm are all single words!
Anyone have any others to add?
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Comment by Mistersmith
MRS SMITH
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No doubt the spell-checker (or is that spell checker?) is responsible for propagating many of these misspellings but all right - I will have to disagree about that one. I never use 'all right', always 'alright'. That's the way I was taught and that's what's in the dictionary that I just checked (Australian Oxford). It is probably a matter of preference but, as you will know, many of our English words are 2 word contractions that, through common usage, come to be 1 word. That's one of the ways in which our language has developed. Break fast and all that!
The storm examples are interesting. I wonder if that is simply to do with the pronunciation.
Comment by Spike 2
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
Comment by Mistersmith
MRS SMITH
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Comment by Spike 2
Qwerk
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Comment by Anonymous
This is Teresa, not anonymous - I think if I click back to change tag the message just deletes.
Comment by Janet Collins
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Comment by Spike 2
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
Janet: I have no idea, though I think Teresa's probably right - it's a pronunciation thing. I missed 'thunderstorm' on the list, too, but that one's also one word.
Comment by Zabeena
May I add another dimension to the all right/alright discussion? When I recently stumbled over the allegations that the latter is deemed incorrect by certain sections of sticklers (a group I'm usually proud to belong to), I felt perplexed. I first learnt English in Germany, and we were definitely taught 'alright'. Now, normally, FL teaching is a few decades behind the language development (as can be seen by my usage of 'learn' as an irregular verb), not ahead. In my opinion, 'alright' was well established as a standard variant by the late 60s (the etym. books suggest it's been around since the late 19th c.), and the linguistic backlash is relatively new. PS: vice versa = 2 words, no hyphen
Comment by Spike 2
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
As for vice versa, I can't believe I did that. I mean, I studied Latin, for goodness' sake! Sigh.