Is "alright" all right? by rowland

Did you know that the word 'alright' is not in the English dictionary, although it is very common in every day speech? 
A teacher might say, "Your sums are all right," or "Your essay is all right," but in the latter sentence the concluding words are only tepid in their approval. 'All right 'clearly means 'passably good.' So which do we use? In some circles, 'alright' has become an accepted usage interchangeable with most uses of all right, particularly in dialogue:
For example 'Rob, do you want to come to the party with me?'
'Alright.'  
 Generally, most editors and grammarians don't think "alright" is all right. If you're in doubt, it's best to stick with the more widely accepted two-word "all right," especially in formal academic or professional writing.
                                        What a great language English is.

Good writing.

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Comments

Carl

04 December 2008

Alright, I shall :D

louise

12 December 2008

I've always been told it's all right, but thought it was a English thing with American being alright?

Don9307

13 April 2009

If you are a published author with many acalades to your credit, then it will be all right to use "alright."

JD Higginson

25 April 2009

Honestly never knew this. We learn something new every day...

JD

writer113

06 September 2009

My Collins Concise dictionary has both. It reads: All right alt. Alright. I use both where appropriate. As in your example:

'Rob, do you want to come to the party with me?'
'Alright.'  

I use it as above, but if asking if someone is all right, I break the words into two. 

I consider "alright" to be an agreement to a question, more than 'passably good.'

Lee

bobchoi

06 September 2009

Oh boy!  And I thought this is the kind of problem that is exclusive to people who learnt English as a second language!

Also see: Cliches (rowland) • Poor punctuation can ruin your love life. (rowland) • Contractions/ Conjunctions (rowland) • GRAMMAR (rowland) • Punctuation (rowland) • Editing and critique (rowland) • Written English (rowland) • Plain english (Carl)

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Writer rowland	Total posts: 105
Roles: Writer

Xabia Alicante, SPAIN

Rowland has been writing for pleasure all his life. His first award for writing came in 1953 aged nine years when he won a UK school story writing competition and has been smitten with the writing bug ... (Read more)

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