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Tuesday, April 17, 2007
One word or two words?
What is the difference between using "every day" and "everyday"; "can not" and "cannot"; "never mind" and "nevermind"; "alright" and "all right"; and so on?
In the phrase "every day," every is an adjective and day is a noun. Here are a few examples:
My mom calls me every day.
He writes a little in his journal every day.
Thanks for including alright in your question, which means the same thing as all right. What I wrote you before was incorrect, I have learned from reading Grammar Girl. Alright is as correct as altogether, almighty, albeit, always, and so forth.
Nevermind does not appear in my dictionary; it may be added one day, but for now, I would say that you should not make never mind a closed compound. That is, it is not a word like policeman or hometown.
According to my dictionary, cannot is far more common than can not, and the latter should be used only in constructions like this:
He can not only sing well but play the piano also.
Everyday is an adjective, as in these sentences:
ReplyDeleteUse everyday language to write your essay.
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In the phrase "every day," every is an adjective and day is a noun. Here are a few examples:
My mom calls me every day.
He writes a little in his journal every day.
Thanks for including alright in your question, which means the same thing as all right. What I wrote you before was incorrect, I have learned from reading Grammar Girl. Alright is as correct as altogether, almighty, albeit, always, and so forth.
Nevermind does not appear in my dictionary; it may be added one day, but for now, I would say that you should not make never mind a closed compound. That is, it is not a word like policeman or hometown.
According to my dictionary, cannot is far more common than can not, and the latter should be used only in constructions like this:
He can not only sing well but play the piano also.
Good post. I've always wondered about cannot and can not.
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