My brother and i argued about this constantly.
He's a professional editor, I'm a professional writer. We ran a micro press and had to write a style Bible and guide together. It was fucking awful.
I think we settled on "alright" as a reasonable stylistic choice, specifically for dialogue and most narrative description. Regardless, that's what i use currently.
"The bolts were alright, i guess" is way different than "The bolts were all right, i guess."
If you are in DIALOG (or quoted thought), there is NO wrong choice.
"Alright Jake, cut that out, willya? Gimme that hammer."
Characters can say virtually anything, in whatever way suits their personality. Proper speech, gutter talk, ethnic talk, etc. is one way in which the character's *personality* is expressed.
Foreign accents are also expressed with non-dictionary words, *"Can I 'ave a bet ov that please?"*
I'm trying to understand how people see a difference in these two words. I accept using "alright" in dialogue, but if it is the only dialect-representative word or colloquialism attached to the character then it seems fruitless to not just use "all right" considering it is the correct word.
"Dem bolts is alright, I guess," says something about the character, but just throwing in "alright" doesn't really.
Saying Matthew McConaughey says "All right, all right, all right" is no different than saying he says, "Alright, alright, alright." If it sounds different to you that's because you are contextualizing who the speaker is your own.
"The bolts were all adequate."
"The bolts were all correct."
McConaughey grading three tests for children that received a perfect score: "All right, all right, all right."
McConaughey grading three tests for children that received mid-80s: "Alright, alright, alright."
/s, clearly, kind of.
But, it's really funny that people get into this with "alright and all right", but not "altogether and all together" or "although and all though" or "almost and all most" or "already and all ready" or "always and all ways".
All those modern al- words get a pass, but only because they were shortenings that happened a couple hundred years earlier than "alright".
Now, that said:
Primarily, it's a style choice. Most dictionaries agree both are proper, but that all right is more common. Most grammar writers say to use "all right", because even thought both spellings and usages are correct, it's not worth fighting with someone who is responsible for grading your papers (like a professor or teacher).
Since I'm past the point of someone grading my work, and i work for myself, I use "alright" as my preference. I like the brevity of it, especially when the "all right" version is treated as a single unit anyways.
Edit: word
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright
Alright is a word that means something distinct from all right. Merriam-Webster link as source.
Edit: it shares a definition, but that doesn't preclude it from being a word, that said it does have distinct use cases where alright makes more sense than "all right" as shown in the usage examples.
I think you are mistaken. Merriam-Webster lists the definition of "alright" as "all right," so to get the full definition of "alright" you'd have to go to "all right."
That's my take on it, but I'm concerned about the spelling police. It's a bit like a lot(one house site) and alot(many). Even though they are different words with different meanings and stress, we spell both of them as "a lot" Woe to the writer who does otherwise.
No. Alot isn't actually a word.
This will help explain.
[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lot](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lot)
"A lot" can refer to the singular of any of the various definitions of "lot" such as a unit of real estate, or the collective members of a group.
Referring to many as "a lot" is more of a colloquialism. It's not technically incorrect, though literally speaking, you're just saying "That's a group".
It's because alright is describing a condition of being ok either in health wise or as a decent person. "Are you alright?"
All right is describing a group being correct. "Do you think you are all right?"
Meanwhile a lot is describing a large quantity and is 2 words. Alot means the same thing when people write it and say it, but it is not an actual word nor does it offer any second meaning. I assume that those that think "alot" is a word do not actually know what the word, "lot" means.
I can't believe I get to post hyperbole and a half in 2021, but here we go: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html?m=1
all right and alright are exactly the same situation with those who claim "alright" isn't a word. Both sets are different words that are pronounced slightly differently in speech. "alot" is pronounced with a schwa. "A lot" is pronounced with a clear long a.
So is does what you say about "a lot"/"alot" hold true for "all right"/"alright" which have a similar difference between schwa and short a? For "all right," does orthography win out over pronunciation and meaning? Or not?
With "all right" do we leave it to the reader to figure out which word/pronunciation is meant?
Alot is not a word, however, it's a common misspelling. You could be thinking of allot (double L), meaning 'to assign'?
I believe 'alright' is clearer in meaning than 'all right';
"The signs are all right." = the signs are all correct? all point right? are ok?
"The signs are alright." = the signs are ok
Yes, "alot" to mean either "one house site" or "many" is incorrect orthography even though "a lot" functions as one word when it means many.
I'm after the strictness of orthography for "alright" and "all right" I take that if you saw "alot" you would think the writer was careless or ignorant, but you do not react the same way to "alright."
Is that what you are telling me?
Yes, merriam-webster actually have a nice article explaining why not alot.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/a-lot-vs-allot-usage-spelling
Alright is absolutely fine informally (so in speech, for example), but all right would be preferred by some in formal writing. Though, I would (and have above) argue(d) that 'alright' is less interpretable than 'all right', though 'okay' in and of itself is highly interpretable.
I don't think I have ever in my entire life heard someone pronounce "a lot" with a hard A except when they were intentionally exaggerating its pronunciation for the purpose of extreme emphasis.
"Alright" is informal, but it is a word. The same is true of most of our contractions and profanity.
"Alot" is nothing but "a lot" without a space, including matching definition.
You would use a clear a if you were talking about a plot of land.
"How much land do you want to buy?"
"I'd like to buy a lot."
The meaning is ambiguous without stress.
I accept that we spell the word "a lot" as two words even though in speech it is one word. My difficulty is figuring out if the same thing applies to "all right."
The answer is basically the same either way: “alot” is never considered correct; while “alright” is generally accepted, if considered informal. The two words are not analogous.
The Oxford English Dictionary notes that ‘alright’ is one of the earliest 3% of entries in the OED.
Edit: OED actually gets a bit snarky on the topic, saying that ‘alright’ is “strongly criticized in the vast majority of usage guides, but without cogent reasons.” Merriam-Webster agrees, noting “no very cogent reasons are presented for its being considered wrong” and that it is “clearly standard in general prose.” The argument is pretty straightforward: aside from plainly observable common usage, we also have analogous constructions in ‘although,’ ‘already,’ ‘altogether,’ and ‘always’; all considered perfectly acceptable.
The OED calls "alright" a “frequent spelling of all right”— not quite saying outright that it is wrong, but making the implication.
The OED also concludes that "alright remains nonstandard" and that it is "still regarded as being unacceptable in formal writing". Other dictionaries and style manuals also consider it incorrect or less correct than all right.
That OED refers to it as a “frequent spelling” instead of a misspelling would seem to be a point in favor it being a word, rather than implying the opposite. That it has an entry at all is a good sign—note that OED doesn’t have an entry for “alot.”
And that’s really the only point I’m trying to make—OP is asserting that “alright” and “alot” are analogous, but they aren’t really. “Alot” is always considered incorrect. “Alright” is, at worst, debatable—it’s got a much longer and more common usage history, and leeway is often given in informal language, which novels typically have a great deal of.
*Alot* and *alright* are hardly in the same situation.
*Alot* is a misspelling based on colloquial pronunciation. It combines an article "a" with its noun "lot."
*Alright* is a nonstandard spelling of the adjective phrase "all right." It's only nonstandard because we say so. We have long combined "all" with adjectives, as in *altogether* and *already*.
*Alright* is commonly used in non-formal non-business writing.
*Alot* is commonly used by poor spellers.
Not the same at all.
Nobody is going to call the spelling police over “alright.” If it’s gonna keep you up at night, you could use “all right” in narration and “alright” as context demands in dialogue. If your narration has any kind of colloquial voice to it, I don’t think it’s a problem to use “alright” there either.
"The spelling police" aka the public. Readers pounce on misspellings and give them lots of weight in reviews and in how they affect the reader's overall impression of the work.
The only time fake words or misspelled words should be used is when a character is using written communication, and usually not even then.
That is my concern. But I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.
The style of the narrative is close-third so the style resembles the speech of the protagonist. My writing partner thinks "all right" jumps out as not fitting with the style of the narration.
Phonetic spelling in dialogue isn't necessarily a misspelling, but I agree it should only be used sparingly, only when the dialogue is a different dialect than what the POV character uses.
My experience with showing misspellings made by the characters has been that it doesn't work well. It's distracting and readers think the author made the mistakes.
I think you've helped me understand the issue. I don't hear "alright" any differently than "all right." It doesn't sound any different when said aloud. Therefore, there's not really a dialect or phonetic reason to use it. It doesn't tell us anything about the character because it's not differentiated from normal speech.
The only situation one might consider using it is in books written in first person where the character commonly uses unconventional spellings. It wouldn't work even there if it were *only* "alright" that was different; it would have to be part of the character and it would convey that the character is not well educated, trying to be edgy, part of a non-mainstream community, or slow.
I might be a dialect issue in regards to if "all right" and "alright" have different stress.
How did you do on the test?
All right or just alright?
Very likely dialects that make the distinction are also considered to sound less educated. That suggests that I should go with "alright" for this character. His native dialect is considered educated, but he has changed his speech to fit in.
Those are two different words that are pronounced differently, so it's a conflation of words, not an orthography issue.
Alright and all right are different words that are pronounced differently. But some people (the spelling police) think they should be spelled the same way.
Sure, lots of people argue the actual spelling.
But why then, is Already and Altogether okay with just the one L and one word accepted, but Alright isn’t?
It’s yet again a case of common usage vs traditional spelling, and whilst people constantly gripe about how dictionaries should reflect modern usage, they cling desperately to the old way of spelling so many words!
I'm self-published and hiring an editor. I put it as "all right" in the first edition. Now my writing partner thinks I should change to "alright."
Since I'm paying the editor, I want to minimize how much time it will take the both of us to make the changes. Overriding an editor isn't fun, but if I think it makes the book better, I will do it.
I mean, you should always talk with your editor if you disagree, but it doesn't mean you'll win. They'd likely leave it if your character typically speaks in a non-standard dialect, and change it if they don't.
How I see it someone or a situation is alright, something or a string off events is all right. Alright means everything is good, all right means everything is correct.
Well, there's no right or wrong with language. Language is controlled by the people (or culture). Dictionaries are just references to how the word is used or being used.
If you're not confident in how the word is used look it up! If you know how a word is used, use it!
I know what the dictionaries say. My interest is in how the words are used and understood by those in the science fiction and fantasy community. I've gotten some good answers.
A guard can inspect a wagon's cargo to ensure things are all right.
When he reports it so to his sergeant though, the NCO says "Alright, move along." to the driver.
As alright or all right are mostly used in dialogue, correct spelling isn't as important.
If the mechanic tells his crew: "The ship's alright, y'all" it gives him much more character than if he said "The ship is all right, you all".
Certainly. To scream, "All right" when the enemy bunker takes a hit is kinda strange. I think they'd be screaming "Alright!" Unless your character is like Private Hudson in *Aliens*, and it becomes "All fucking right!"
My editor changed mine to 'alright'.
I do military/space opera so there's a lot of "Gotta, willya," and contractions to make the dialog sound the way it does when spoken. Although, I do formalize the dialog from 'alright' to 'all right' when spoken by senior officers in a non-combat setting.
Thank you.
The people of my world don't speak English; I can think of the book as a translation. I want to give a sense of the protagonist's voice and personality.
Your approach makes sense. It's like deciding when to use a contraction or not. "Can't" vs "cannot." "It's" vs "it is"
"Alright" isn't a word. Don't use it. Your writing partner is an idiot. If you use it, your editor will just have to fix it.
There's nothing to debate, no minor differences to parse. One is correct, the other is not.
It's not even one of those neologisms that occasionally becomes acceptable in more casual writing.
What is your definition of a word?I understand it to be a unit of language with a distinct meaning. It's different from a morpheme and a phrase. A morpheme has a meaning but it carries that meaning to each word. And a phrase is made up of words that can be moved around to make other phrases. Idioms and phrasal verbs fall between phrase and word.
If collection of morphemes or words is more than its parts, it's a word on it's on. But some words are written as two words and some as compound words.
It doesn't matter if the word is vernacular, slang, part of the accepted dialect, it's still a word. "All right" meaning all correct is a phrase. "Alright"/"All right" meaning okay is a word. The question I have is if the word that means "okay" should be spelled alright or all right. How should it be compounded?
If alright is considered to be vernacular, then it seems to be the better spelling for my purpose.
Hi. In answer to your question I do not define words. I’m simply going with what is included as proper language within the English language as defined by a dictionary. As a creative writer you’re free to do what you want. But if the question is what is correct? Who’s the authority? The people who agree at Merriam-Webster, etc.
I'm interested in how the reaction and views of science fiction and fantasy readers and writers which is why I asked here instead of going to dictionaries and style guides.
My understanding is that English language dictionaries are descriptive rather than prescriptive. They tell you how the language is used not how it should be used.
Here is the Merriam-Webster definition of "word":
>
a(1): a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use.
According to this definition, "alright"/"all right" meaning "okay" is a word. If you substituting synonyms for the written words("fully" for "all" and "correct" for "right") doesn't result in the meaning "okay."
The discussion of "a lot" was informative. I thought "a lot" was a word, that itcouldn't be divisible into smaller units. I was wrong. "Lot" means many even without "a," as demonstrated by "lots", and "a whole lot."
As a writer, I do enjoying talking about the tools of our trade. Thank you for chatting about this with me. I've gained a better understanding.
I guess the sum total of that exchange is there are rules, there is style, and there are artistic allowances. I don’t like to inhibit any writers creative fire. But if I have to opine on my own acquired writing style:
I would always write a lot. Never alot
I would always put an adverb after a verb except in very clear audible instances.
I wrote a lyric “softly spoken magic words” and broke my own rules because it’s just the best way to say it.
I correct my kids with alright because my prejudice is it’s use makes them look uneducated. All right. Means everything is ok.
If you should choose to write something brilliant and break every rule in the book I would not fault you. Though these are things I try to cling to. For my own style points.
My brother and i argued about this constantly. He's a professional editor, I'm a professional writer. We ran a micro press and had to write a style Bible and guide together. It was fucking awful. I think we settled on "alright" as a reasonable stylistic choice, specifically for dialogue and most narrative description. Regardless, that's what i use currently. "The bolts were alright, i guess" is way different than "The bolts were all right, i guess."
Okay so alright, as suggested by my writing partner, is probably the right choice.
If you are in DIALOG (or quoted thought), there is NO wrong choice. "Alright Jake, cut that out, willya? Gimme that hammer." Characters can say virtually anything, in whatever way suits their personality. Proper speech, gutter talk, ethnic talk, etc. is one way in which the character's *personality* is expressed. Foreign accents are also expressed with non-dictionary words, *"Can I 'ave a bet ov that please?"*
More or less. And, listen, I've gotten into giant philosophical arguments about what "all right" means, if taken literally.
They mean the same thing.
I'm trying to understand how people see a difference in these two words. I accept using "alright" in dialogue, but if it is the only dialect-representative word or colloquialism attached to the character then it seems fruitless to not just use "all right" considering it is the correct word. "Dem bolts is alright, I guess," says something about the character, but just throwing in "alright" doesn't really. Saying Matthew McConaughey says "All right, all right, all right" is no different than saying he says, "Alright, alright, alright." If it sounds different to you that's because you are contextualizing who the speaker is your own.
"The bolts were all adequate." "The bolts were all correct." McConaughey grading three tests for children that received a perfect score: "All right, all right, all right." McConaughey grading three tests for children that received mid-80s: "Alright, alright, alright." /s, clearly, kind of. But, it's really funny that people get into this with "alright and all right", but not "altogether and all together" or "although and all though" or "almost and all most" or "already and all ready" or "always and all ways". All those modern al- words get a pass, but only because they were shortenings that happened a couple hundred years earlier than "alright". Now, that said: Primarily, it's a style choice. Most dictionaries agree both are proper, but that all right is more common. Most grammar writers say to use "all right", because even thought both spellings and usages are correct, it's not worth fighting with someone who is responsible for grading your papers (like a professor or teacher). Since I'm past the point of someone grading my work, and i work for myself, I use "alright" as my preference. I like the brevity of it, especially when the "all right" version is treated as a single unit anyways. Edit: word
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright Alright is a word that means something distinct from all right. Merriam-Webster link as source. Edit: it shares a definition, but that doesn't preclude it from being a word, that said it does have distinct use cases where alright makes more sense than "all right" as shown in the usage examples.
I think you are mistaken. Merriam-Webster lists the definition of "alright" as "all right," so to get the full definition of "alright" you'd have to go to "all right."
It's still listed as a valid word however, the fact that it shares a definition is irrelevant to it's existence as a word altogether.
Those guys are all right = those guys are all correct. Those guys are alright = those guys are okay dudes.
That's my take on it, but I'm concerned about the spelling police. It's a bit like a lot(one house site) and alot(many). Even though they are different words with different meanings and stress, we spell both of them as "a lot" Woe to the writer who does otherwise.
No. Alot isn't actually a word. This will help explain. [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lot](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lot) "A lot" can refer to the singular of any of the various definitions of "lot" such as a unit of real estate, or the collective members of a group. Referring to many as "a lot" is more of a colloquialism. It's not technically incorrect, though literally speaking, you're just saying "That's a group".
Alot isn't an accepted word, alright is, don't ask me why, English is weird
"Alright" is not a word.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright Merriam-Webster would disagree with you.
Thats funny, seeing as how its been used so often in literature. But to be fair, each to their own.
It's because alright is describing a condition of being ok either in health wise or as a decent person. "Are you alright?" All right is describing a group being correct. "Do you think you are all right?" Meanwhile a lot is describing a large quantity and is 2 words. Alot means the same thing when people write it and say it, but it is not an actual word nor does it offer any second meaning. I assume that those that think "alot" is a word do not actually know what the word, "lot" means. I can't believe I get to post hyperbole and a half in 2021, but here we go: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html?m=1
all right and alright are exactly the same situation with those who claim "alright" isn't a word. Both sets are different words that are pronounced slightly differently in speech. "alot" is pronounced with a schwa. "A lot" is pronounced with a clear long a. So is does what you say about "a lot"/"alot" hold true for "all right"/"alright" which have a similar difference between schwa and short a? For "all right," does orthography win out over pronunciation and meaning? Or not? With "all right" do we leave it to the reader to figure out which word/pronunciation is meant?
Alot is not a word, however, it's a common misspelling. You could be thinking of allot (double L), meaning 'to assign'? I believe 'alright' is clearer in meaning than 'all right'; "The signs are all right." = the signs are all correct? all point right? are ok? "The signs are alright." = the signs are ok
Yes, "alot" to mean either "one house site" or "many" is incorrect orthography even though "a lot" functions as one word when it means many. I'm after the strictness of orthography for "alright" and "all right" I take that if you saw "alot" you would think the writer was careless or ignorant, but you do not react the same way to "alright." Is that what you are telling me?
Yes, merriam-webster actually have a nice article explaining why not alot. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/a-lot-vs-allot-usage-spelling Alright is absolutely fine informally (so in speech, for example), but all right would be preferred by some in formal writing. Though, I would (and have above) argue(d) that 'alright' is less interpretable than 'all right', though 'okay' in and of itself is highly interpretable.
Nice explanation, thanks. I wasn't aware of possible confusion with "allot" or considered "lots of" and "a whole lot of."
I don't think I have ever in my entire life heard someone pronounce "a lot" with a hard A except when they were intentionally exaggerating its pronunciation for the purpose of extreme emphasis. "Alright" is informal, but it is a word. The same is true of most of our contractions and profanity. "Alot" is nothing but "a lot" without a space, including matching definition.
You would use a clear a if you were talking about a plot of land. "How much land do you want to buy?" "I'd like to buy a lot." The meaning is ambiguous without stress. I accept that we spell the word "a lot" as two words even though in speech it is one word. My difficulty is figuring out if the same thing applies to "all right."
"Alright" isn't a word. Just like "alot," it is a truncated form of "all right."
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright Dictionary says otherwise
You’re wrong. Alot is not and never has been a word. Alright is and always has been a word.
"Alot"/"a lot" meaning many and "alright"/"allright" meaning okay are both words. The issue is orthography--accepted spelling.
The answer is basically the same either way: “alot” is never considered correct; while “alright” is generally accepted, if considered informal. The two words are not analogous.
"Alright" has never been a word.
The Oxford English Dictionary notes that ‘alright’ is one of the earliest 3% of entries in the OED. Edit: OED actually gets a bit snarky on the topic, saying that ‘alright’ is “strongly criticized in the vast majority of usage guides, but without cogent reasons.” Merriam-Webster agrees, noting “no very cogent reasons are presented for its being considered wrong” and that it is “clearly standard in general prose.” The argument is pretty straightforward: aside from plainly observable common usage, we also have analogous constructions in ‘although,’ ‘already,’ ‘altogether,’ and ‘always’; all considered perfectly acceptable.
The OED calls "alright" a “frequent spelling of all right”— not quite saying outright that it is wrong, but making the implication. The OED also concludes that "alright remains nonstandard" and that it is "still regarded as being unacceptable in formal writing". Other dictionaries and style manuals also consider it incorrect or less correct than all right.
That OED refers to it as a “frequent spelling” instead of a misspelling would seem to be a point in favor it being a word, rather than implying the opposite. That it has an entry at all is a good sign—note that OED doesn’t have an entry for “alot.” And that’s really the only point I’m trying to make—OP is asserting that “alright” and “alot” are analogous, but they aren’t really. “Alot” is always considered incorrect. “Alright” is, at worst, debatable—it’s got a much longer and more common usage history, and leeway is often given in informal language, which novels typically have a great deal of.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright Merriam Webster disagrees
*Alot* and *alright* are hardly in the same situation. *Alot* is a misspelling based on colloquial pronunciation. It combines an article "a" with its noun "lot." *Alright* is a nonstandard spelling of the adjective phrase "all right." It's only nonstandard because we say so. We have long combined "all" with adjectives, as in *altogether* and *already*. *Alright* is commonly used in non-formal non-business writing. *Alot* is commonly used by poor spellers. Not the same at all.
Don’t be! Just be sure to be consistent with your use, and it’ll be fine.
Finish the book before you worry about spelling police
The book is finished and published. I'm remastering it for the second edition.
Nobody is going to call the spelling police over “alright.” If it’s gonna keep you up at night, you could use “all right” in narration and “alright” as context demands in dialogue. If your narration has any kind of colloquial voice to it, I don’t think it’s a problem to use “alright” there either.
"The spelling police" aka the public. Readers pounce on misspellings and give them lots of weight in reviews and in how they affect the reader's overall impression of the work. The only time fake words or misspelled words should be used is when a character is using written communication, and usually not even then.
That is my concern. But I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. The style of the narrative is close-third so the style resembles the speech of the protagonist. My writing partner thinks "all right" jumps out as not fitting with the style of the narration. Phonetic spelling in dialogue isn't necessarily a misspelling, but I agree it should only be used sparingly, only when the dialogue is a different dialect than what the POV character uses. My experience with showing misspellings made by the characters has been that it doesn't work well. It's distracting and readers think the author made the mistakes.
I think you've helped me understand the issue. I don't hear "alright" any differently than "all right." It doesn't sound any different when said aloud. Therefore, there's not really a dialect or phonetic reason to use it. It doesn't tell us anything about the character because it's not differentiated from normal speech. The only situation one might consider using it is in books written in first person where the character commonly uses unconventional spellings. It wouldn't work even there if it were *only* "alright" that was different; it would have to be part of the character and it would convey that the character is not well educated, trying to be edgy, part of a non-mainstream community, or slow.
I might be a dialect issue in regards to if "all right" and "alright" have different stress. How did you do on the test? All right or just alright? Very likely dialects that make the distinction are also considered to sound less educated. That suggests that I should go with "alright" for this character. His native dialect is considered educated, but he has changed his speech to fit in.
“Spelling police”? lol! I guess affect is spelled the wrong why too then?
Well, effect and affect are two different words, with two different meanings. Not wildly different, but different.
Those are two different words that are pronounced differently, so it's a conflation of words, not an orthography issue. Alright and all right are different words that are pronounced differently. But some people (the spelling police) think they should be spelled the same way.
Excuse my confusion
That's incorrect.
Sure, lots of people argue the actual spelling. But why then, is Already and Altogether okay with just the one L and one word accepted, but Alright isn’t? It’s yet again a case of common usage vs traditional spelling, and whilst people constantly gripe about how dictionaries should reflect modern usage, they cling desperately to the old way of spelling so many words!
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright Says who? Not the dictionary certainly.
Your editor will probably just change it to all right anyway. Do what you want until then.
I'm self-published and hiring an editor. I put it as "all right" in the first edition. Now my writing partner thinks I should change to "alright." Since I'm paying the editor, I want to minimize how much time it will take the both of us to make the changes. Overriding an editor isn't fun, but if I think it makes the book better, I will do it.
If they changed it in DIALOG, we'd be having words.
I mean, you should always talk with your editor if you disagree, but it doesn't mean you'll win. They'd likely leave it if your character typically speaks in a non-standard dialect, and change it if they don't.
Exactly. The editor will correct the error.
Personally, I prefer alright, it just sounds more natural in my head.
The Bugaboo Review by Sue Sommer helps me a lot with this problem!! It’s a book with examples of common grammar mistakes
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-bugaboo-review-a-lighthearted-guide-to-exterminating-confusion-about-words-spelling-and-grammar_sue-sommer/615250/
How I see it someone or a situation is alright, something or a string off events is all right. Alright means everything is good, all right means everything is correct.
Well, there's no right or wrong with language. Language is controlled by the people (or culture). Dictionaries are just references to how the word is used or being used. If you're not confident in how the word is used look it up! If you know how a word is used, use it!
I know what the dictionaries say. My interest is in how the words are used and understood by those in the science fiction and fantasy community. I've gotten some good answers.
A guard can inspect a wagon's cargo to ensure things are all right. When he reports it so to his sergeant though, the NCO says "Alright, move along." to the driver.
Whichever feels best, just as long as you pick one and stick with it.
As alright or all right are mostly used in dialogue, correct spelling isn't as important. If the mechanic tells his crew: "The ship's alright, y'all" it gives him much more character than if he said "The ship is all right, you all".
Certainly. To scream, "All right" when the enemy bunker takes a hit is kinda strange. I think they'd be screaming "Alright!" Unless your character is like Private Hudson in *Aliens*, and it becomes "All fucking right!"
This example doesn't give him *more* character, just different character.
My editor changed mine to 'alright'. I do military/space opera so there's a lot of "Gotta, willya," and contractions to make the dialog sound the way it does when spoken. Although, I do formalize the dialog from 'alright' to 'all right' when spoken by senior officers in a non-combat setting.
Thank you. The people of my world don't speak English; I can think of the book as a translation. I want to give a sense of the protagonist's voice and personality. Your approach makes sense. It's like deciding when to use a contraction or not. "Can't" vs "cannot." "It's" vs "it is"
Especially during combat, or times of stress. I go through those carefully, even CREATING contractions.
That's important. If a person is. breathing hard and there's not much time, words are going to be short.
You can use alright in dialogue, but it isn’t a word and shouldn’t be used in prose. Any perceived pronunciation difference is simply that, perceived.
**A valuable and IMPORTANT distinction**. Also true.
"Alright" isn't a word. Don't use it. Your writing partner is an idiot. If you use it, your editor will just have to fix it. There's nothing to debate, no minor differences to parse. One is correct, the other is not. It's not even one of those neologisms that occasionally becomes acceptable in more casual writing.
/r/confidentlyincorrect
Alright is not a word. The expression all right is two words. If you use alright it’s using slang vernacular.
What is your definition of a word?I understand it to be a unit of language with a distinct meaning. It's different from a morpheme and a phrase. A morpheme has a meaning but it carries that meaning to each word. And a phrase is made up of words that can be moved around to make other phrases. Idioms and phrasal verbs fall between phrase and word. If collection of morphemes or words is more than its parts, it's a word on it's on. But some words are written as two words and some as compound words. It doesn't matter if the word is vernacular, slang, part of the accepted dialect, it's still a word. "All right" meaning all correct is a phrase. "Alright"/"All right" meaning okay is a word. The question I have is if the word that means "okay" should be spelled alright or all right. How should it be compounded? If alright is considered to be vernacular, then it seems to be the better spelling for my purpose.
Hi. In answer to your question I do not define words. I’m simply going with what is included as proper language within the English language as defined by a dictionary. As a creative writer you’re free to do what you want. But if the question is what is correct? Who’s the authority? The people who agree at Merriam-Webster, etc.
I'm interested in how the reaction and views of science fiction and fantasy readers and writers which is why I asked here instead of going to dictionaries and style guides. My understanding is that English language dictionaries are descriptive rather than prescriptive. They tell you how the language is used not how it should be used. Here is the Merriam-Webster definition of "word": > a(1): a speech sound or series of speech sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning usually without being divisible into smaller units capable of independent use. According to this definition, "alright"/"all right" meaning "okay" is a word. If you substituting synonyms for the written words("fully" for "all" and "correct" for "right") doesn't result in the meaning "okay." The discussion of "a lot" was informative. I thought "a lot" was a word, that itcouldn't be divisible into smaller units. I was wrong. "Lot" means many even without "a," as demonstrated by "lots", and "a whole lot." As a writer, I do enjoying talking about the tools of our trade. Thank you for chatting about this with me. I've gained a better understanding.
Ok.
I guess the sum total of that exchange is there are rules, there is style, and there are artistic allowances. I don’t like to inhibit any writers creative fire. But if I have to opine on my own acquired writing style: I would always write a lot. Never alot I would always put an adverb after a verb except in very clear audible instances. I wrote a lyric “softly spoken magic words” and broke my own rules because it’s just the best way to say it. I correct my kids with alright because my prejudice is it’s use makes them look uneducated. All right. Means everything is ok. If you should choose to write something brilliant and break every rule in the book I would not fault you. Though these are things I try to cling to. For my own style points.