Hi!
Today's prompt is on a somewhat controversial theme. Many will say it's okay to do one thing, and others will say you'd better avoid doing that thing at all. Let me say something before I go on: these aren't hard-fast rules, but I believe it's best to know the "rules" so you can know when to break them. Or to know that there's even a controversy surrounding them.
That said, let me tell you what I'm talking about:
- Irregardless versus regardless
- Alot versus a lot
- Alright versus all right.
Here are the rules according to the best English teacher (bless her heart, wherever she may be) I ever had:
Don't say "irregardless." The correct word is "regardless." (And I haven't had much argument on this one. :-))
Alot is considered substandard. A lot (two separate words) is considered to be correct.
Alright is considered substandard. All right (two separate words) is considered to be correct.
You'll hear people argue about alot and alright all the time. Personally, I avoid using either, but I know I'm in the minority these days. :-)
All right. (There I go again. :-)) The challenge for today is another freestyle-type prompt. I want you to describe the smartest person you know. Whether they're smart because of life-experience, education, common sense, natural intelligence, or whatever, I want you to tell us why you feel they are smart. How do you know them? Are you drawn to them, or repelled? And I want this to be someone you've actually met, who has had an impression on you in one way or another.
As part of the challenge, use the three words above (in whichever form you choose: regardless, a lot, and all right, or the other way around). Make sure they fit in naturally with what you're saying. :-)
Remember:
You have until Thursday, April 26, 2012 at midnight to write and post, and it can be in any format.
I will read, comment on, and feature your responses a week from today.
* Have your title say FWE or Friday Writing Essential, and have the initials "LNPS" (Little, Nit-Picky Stuff) in it.
* Make sure to post to the Writing Essential Group.
* Put FWE or Friday Writing Essentials and the initials "LNPS" in your tags. (I won't find your post without these tags.)
Can't wait to read your responses!
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Comments: 31
anywho....very good~!
Irregardless is a lot (Not alot) like the famous new word "misunderestimate" coined by President Bush: When he said "Don't miunderestimate me" everybody understood that he meant "Don't misunderstand, and don't underestimate me!" Irregardless" is a similar contraction of two words, regardless and irrespective and is a colloquialism from Indiana which has spread like a virus throughout North America. Since ir- means not, it should mean the opposite of regardless, but is used as a simile for it, so should not, ever, be used.
But I do like your topic and challenge as is and I hope to write to it!
I can't wait to see the responses. If you have time, I'd love to see who you choose to speak about.
But I completely agree. These aren't that big of a deal, but man! I've had a lot of writers get mad at me for telling them to stop saying "alot." :-)
I agree with your teacher, Andrea.
I hate to see nite or lite. In fact, all the mistakes in spelling that advertisers do - people start to think that's the correct spelling.
On the other hand, I love dialects and regional coloring.
I graduated 5th in my class and got a 3.5 GPA throughout school.
And, most of my family barely graduated or didn't graduate at all. They mostly dropped out because they had kids
Firefox corrects my use of "Alot" all the time, even though it defies logic that I just don't tap the space bar; somewhere very far back in my mind typing it "a lot" somehow diminishes it's emphasis. I still use it informally to get my point across to anyone who may share this particular hangup <<<(hyphen... no hyphen?)
It seems pretty simple: go ahead and use “all right” as two words, and stay away from “alright” as one word. But the esteemed Brian Garner (6) notes that “alright” as one word “may be gaining a shadowy acceptance in British English.” And the American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style (7) seems to contradict itself. It states that “alright” as one word “has never been accepted as standard” but it then goes on to explain that “all right” as two words and “alright” as one word have two distinct meanings. It gives the example of the sentence “The figures are all right.” When you use “all right” as two words, the sentence means “the figures are all accurate.” When you write “The figures are alright,” with “alright” as one word, this source explains that the sentence means “the figures are satisfactory.” I’m not sure what to make of this contradiction. The many other grammar sources I checked, including a large dictionary, reject “alright” as one word.
I have the site bookmarked now.
Thanks Andrea, my computer was down all but one day last week so I had the perfect excuse for not writing anything!!