Subject: Alright VS All Right
Author:
Posted on: 2014-02-06 18:17:00 UTC

IN THIS CORNER, the Grammar Nazis, who insist that alright is wrong because their second grade teacher told them so, with such phrases as "Alright is never all right," and "Alright is Alwrong!" They hold that the rules of grammar are not arbitrary, and that the modern English language should never, ever, ever change.

IN THIS CORNER, the Alright users, who say that there is a clear difference between Alright and All Right. They say that language changes over time, and the phrase that once had two different definitions will now have one clear definition. 'Alright' is for OK, acceptable, fine; where All Right is to be used for 'collectively correct.' Consider these sentences:

The speech was all right. Did the speaker state all facts correctly, or was the presentation acceptable?

The students were all right. Are the students unharmed, or did they all pass a test with flying colors?

More importantly, there are times one is appropriate, where the other is not. For example, using examples from somebody else on a voting poll debating this issue (alright is ahead with 53% of the votes):

A) What did you think of the movie?
B) It was all right.

A) How did you do on the quiz?
B) I got it alright.

In the first example, it seems more suitable, in my opinion, to use "alright", while the second example feels completely wrong.

There is a clear difference and distinction. I, myself, will continue to use alright where appropriate. As it is unlikely to appear in formal writing for the context I use it in, I should have no fear of being reprimanded by a professor.

Alright? Alright.

PS. hS, that example of alday was silly. I see what you were trying to show, but it is just purposefully insulting. There is never any way the phrase 'all day' could ever mean anything then 'a collective period of time lasting around 24 hours.' However, as I have pointed out, alright and all right do have different uses. Good day.

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