All right vs alright
According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, “all right” has been defined as “satisfactory; safe and sound.” The single-word spelling “alright” has never been accepted as the standard.
However, The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style notes that despite this, “all right” and “alright” have two distinct meanings.
It explains that when written as two words in the sentence “The figures are all right,” it means that the figures are accurate. When written as one word — “The figures are alright” — it means that the figures are okay or satisfactory.
So, according to the majority of sources, to use this word correctly you might say “Is it all right if I eat the last piece of pie?”
Personally, I find that when used as two words and especially in this example, it is formal and speaks more to accuracy rather than being satisfactory. It’s just a feeling. My tendency is to “read” this as “Is it alright if I eat the last piece of pie?”
Alright is all right, in my opinion
While researching this article, I saw the phrase “Alright is not all right” being used frequently. It’s like folk are simply repeating what everyone else is saying, with no real reason why. While the majority of grammar sources reject the word “alright,” I think this cartoon helps to put things in perspective.
In the definition supplied by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, the word “accurate” is not even used. The English language continues to evolve and I’m apt to use both spellings of “all right” and “alright” to make the distinction between something being accurate or just satisfactory.
What do you think?
Do you have a preference?
Thanks to Hilary Melton-Butcher, one of my regular readers, for requesting that I write on this topic. Check out her blog Positive Letters for engaging posts on a wide variety of topics. I always learn something new from reading her posts; she is quite the researcher! You won’t be disappointed.
If you have a request for a grammar post, please let me know.
{ 18 comments }
Sounds alright by me…. ;)
(and I was just reading today about your frequency of posting and that your blog has not yet died.)
Thank you Davina for this interesting post! I’ve improved my English.
I think it’s kinda ;) like using alot or a lot, there are much better choices of words to use. Ones that provide a more eloquent outcome.
BTW … I love your grammar posts. Would love to hear about apostrophe’s (is that right) and possession. I could make up a list for you, if that’s alright?
I didn’t spend too much time in the classroom back when I went to school, learning was all about experiencing the world. 30 years later…it’s never too late to get better, is it?
This is an issue I struggle with all the time. Y’see, my strips tend to be conversational in tone rather than being grammatically accurate. So, in this instance, I probably would have settled for “alright” rather than “all right”… but, technically speaking, which one is all right to use? Or is that alright? Ugh. So confusing! :P
I learned all right and it just rolls off my fingers and out of my head when I am writing. Interesting to me, my Dragon Dictate program sometimes throws me an alright, which I change because it never looks right to me.
As I try to stick to 500 word post and reviews and a more conversational style on my blog, I am noticing that I am becoming more American in my writing. I just did a post where I used contractions – like dont without the apostrophe and my spell checker did not flinch as yours just did!
When I am typing quickly in comments I am making more and more typos these days- and I noticed that when I do a post on the same day as it is due, my editing is really getting sloppy.
I still need a SEO key words person – but not enough funds to hire yet…aargh but writing on tons of blogs is not increasing traffic to Wise Ears at all….
maybe I need to work on my grammar?
Great post Davina…
Hi Mike.
Alright!!! :) Thanks for saying my blog is not dead.
Hi Kevin.
You’re welcome. I’m so glad this was helpful for you.
Hi Stephen.
Yes, you’re right. It is a lot (or alot) like using… er… those :-) Our language sure gives us lots of opportunity to play with words.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the grammar posts. That is good to know!
It’s never too late. I wrote a post a while back about the possessive apostrophe. I’ve had to refer to it a number of times myself: http://www.shadesofcrimson.com/2011/03/04/the-possessive-apostrophe-made-easy/
Hi Tony.
LOL :-) “All right” — two words — is the accepted standard. It speaks more to accuracy to me so I’d love it if the mainstream would come to accept “Alright” as meaning satisfactory or okay.
For your comic strips, of course you have full creative licence — well, anybody does for that matter — to use “alright.”
Hi Patricia.
I love when we don’t always have to stop and question if we’re using the right word. For some reason some of them stick with us and then even on the best days, the simplest word — like “the” — looks off.
I think the conversational style works well for blogs, and for inviting discussion. You seem to be getting a good number of commenters to prove that.
It’s natural to make errors when you’re in a hurry though. You have to love that even when you take the time to proof your post, *after* you hit “publish” you still notice an error!
Focus on the use of keywords in your headings, Patricia. And in the first and last paragraphs of your posts. I’ve also heard that styling your subheads as “h3” makes a difference.
Do a search on Google for the topic that you’re writing about and notice what types of words come up in the search results. Use them, where possible in your posts and for the tags.
Also, in your WordPress dashboard, below the post you will see spaces for a “Custom Title Tag,” “Meta Description,” and “Meta Keywords.” I’ve been filling those in.
You can also used Google Keyword Search:
https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__c=1000000000&__u=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS
Just type in a word — blogging — for example, and you will see the number of searches for it and a related number of words. Plus you will see which words have higher competition and which ones have a lower competition. It’s my understanding that choosing a medium or low competition is best. It also depends on how Google has ranked your blog too. The average ranking is a 4.
It is funny how we have to refer to our own creative works. We can’t recall verbatim or in whole what rule or word we have applied or used.
I have certainly not memorized most of the poems, songs and chords I have written! With hundreds of articles under my belt the same is true. I have to look things up and use cues.
Thanks for the apostrophe possessive post.
Here’s a few useful ones that include grammar and style.
elimination of the word “that” and when it is appropriate to use it.
elimination of clauses and participles for poignant writing
overuse of adverbs and adjectives or using them to create an impact
refresher on the proper uses for commas
Done for now…I have more and will look at some word comparisons soon but what about corroborate and collaborate? I think they are interchanged frequently.
I think that all is not right when many substitute alright for all right. I must admit that I also mess it up at times. Now onwards, I shall be more careful about the usage.
Today in class, my students asked me to differentiate ‘say’ and ‘tell.’ Intutively I know when to use ‘say’ and ‘tell’ but I could not explain the same to them. Please do enlighten me on this, Davina.
Thanks.
Joy always,
Susan
Thanks for shedding some light on this. It had always been my understanding that “alright” was a short cut and not a real word with a separate meaning. I will pay more attention to the usage of each.
Any time you want to write on punctuation in writing dialog, I am all ears, or rather eyes. Using quotations marks to indicate conversation and how to correctly punctuate sentences. Also using quoted comments within quoted dialog.
Davina,
I appreciate the dictionary and often invite people to look up words they typically use in order to discover some of their unconscious beliefs. “Try” is one example that surprises many people. It means to attempt or in essence, expecting to fail. How much confidence do you have in someone who says he will ‘try’ to make it?
Hi Davina .. very late to the party – sorry … thanks for the link too.
I’m sure I started using alright back in the late 60s and 70s .. and knew that I shouldn’t – but as my English grammar schooling was wobbly I could never work out why – and I never really found out.
Hope is another word .. that’s over used – I see Liara’s mentioned ‘try’ .. when we know what it means – it throws a whole other thought at us …
I went to film society film on Wednesday – the day you posted – it was sub-titled as it came from Chile – and all I could see was “All right” coming up all the time!
Now I’ll use the alright to be satisfactory, and the all right to be accurate – when we write it’s fine .. it’s when we speak that I suspect caused the mix up (when we write it out) ….
Thanks so much .. delighted you’re helping others too – these things are always so useful to be reminded of word etymology …
Cheers from a sunny UK – it’s Mothering Day here … Hilary
Hi Stephen.
Yes, it is funny how that goes. I certainly appreciate confirming things. Perhaps looking these things up keeps us present in our own creative process.
You’re welcome for the apostrophe post. And, thanks for your list of blog topics. I will make note of all of these.
Collaborate and corroborate is another good one. They are very similar, but collaborate is when folk come together to work on a project. Corroborate is when folk come together to support or strengthen something, like a testimony.
Hi Susan.
It’s an easy one to mess up. I wrote alright in an email the other day :)
You’ve asked a good question. Regarding “say” vs “tell,” when you use “tell” you are giving or asking for direct instruction as opposed to sharing information or communicating your message.
One way to remember is that you “say” something to share a thought vs you “tell” someone something to give them instruction.
Here’s an example you might relate to:
You say good morning to your students.
You tell your students to open their textbooks.
Hi Linda.
You’re welcome. I’m still hoping that “alright” becomes more acceptable :)
Thanks for your suggestions too. I will make note of those and see what I come up with. Puncuating dialogue will keep you on your toes. I can tell you right off the bat that when using a quote within dialogue, you would use single quotes for the quote and double quotes to indicate the main dialogue.
Some folk place the punctuation outside of the quote marks, but the most common style is to place them inside. The exceptions are colons and semi-colons. I will put some more thought into this for you though.
Hi Liara.
I think we would often be surprised at what the dictionary could teach us :) “Try” does have the connotation of failing. For me, it conjures the essence of victimhood. I wouldn’t have too much confidence in someone who says they will “try” to make it. I would be curious though…
Hi Hilary.
No worries! I’m a little late responding. Was out of the office last Friday and offline most of the weekend.
You’re welcome for the link. It looks like I’ll be making more links going forward. There have been some great suggestions here.
Not being able to work out “why” will keep you from knowing the right use of the word. Habits are hard to break. Yes, “hope” is used a lot. So is “really” — that’s my crutch. I’m constantly deleting that one.
LOL, that’s too funny about the subtitles :) I believe I will be using “alright” to illustrate satisfactory in my own writing too. I think we do tend to speak this as one word, don’t we? You may be right about that having something to do with this.
Cheers back to you. No sun here today but at least the rain and snow has stopped. Hi to your mother. Hope you’re enjoying your Tuesday.
I’ve just found your blog and it is very interesting. Until now, I didn’t know that “alright” and “all right” could have different meanings. I’ll visit more often your blog as I want to improve my English.
Hi Davina,
You well distinguished between all right and alright through cartoon. I feel myself formal if I use all right as two words but its an standard so I think it is much better than alright.
Hi Davina,
In think for non formal writing I prefer alright (as single word) because it sounds less formal and when I have to write something more formal then I will use two words separately.
Hi Jack.
Thanks for visiting my blog and for sharing your comment. “Alright” and “all right” do seem to have a different meaning to me and a few other folk. I’m hoping that eventually this will be recognized. Technically speaking, however, “alright” has not been accepted by the mainstream.
Hi Pete.
I thought that cartoon was perfect! :) It was a good find. I love Google. I feel the same as you with regards to feeling formal when you use “all right,” but depending on your audience and who you may be writing for, using “all right” is safe.
Hi Waterpearls.
This seems to be the general consensus. I’m glad to be seeing more folk leaning this way. Thanks for sharing your viewpoint :)
Hi Davina,
After reading this post. I am little bit changing my writing style and I try to understand words meaning more deeply before writing it.By using standard words nobody says you are wrong so it is good to use standard words.
Hi Syeda.
I agree it is best, if you want to write mainstream and accurately, to use the standard spelling of the words.
It does make a difference when we understand the meaning behind the words. I found it especially useful with regards to the difference between “lie” and “lay.” This understanding helps reinforce the correct use.