Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I DO THAT ALOT!

It has come to my attention that this is a common mistake that writers make. I know I tend to find myself doing it too! What mistake? Using alot.

Alot is not a word, even if you hear others saying it. Now, it would be an excellent way to show our dialect in this part of Ohio. I have been trying to find other ways to write my sentences without using "alot". For my title sentence, I could have said, "I do that all the time!" Or for "Alot of my friends go there," I could use, "Many of my friends go there." Changing the word is simple, though at times it requires some thought on my part. Ooh, I wanted to say "it requires alot of thought on my part."



The definition according to http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000175.htm



A Lot or Allot ?



A lot (two words) is an informal phrase meaning "many." It can take an adjective, for example, "a sizeable lot."


Example: Karl needed a lot of time for the job.


Allot means "to distribute between or among." It has the same root as lottery.


Example: He allotted three breaks a day to everyone in the department.


Alot does not exist as a word.


3 comments:

Diandra said...

Which reminds me of this... http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

I like this alot!!! ^^

Laura Moe said...

If you want to allot some time to writing (or studying grammar), that is one word. If you like using languiage correctly a lot, you like it in two words.
:)
http://laura-moe.blogspot.com/

My crazy life said...

Diandra, that is a funny post!

Did I forget to say that Laura? Oops...

~Rita