All right vs alright

[Kharkhun]

Would you please kindly tell me which of the following link would be correct in the usage of "allright and alright"?

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=749720878395980&id=247802875254452&stream_ref=10
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....251564004947905.47255.205523986218574&type=1

 

[SoothingDave]

"All right" (two words) is the correct, traditional use.

"Alright" was traditionally seen as an error. Many still regard it as an error. I am included.

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

I've been writing "alright" for my whole life. What a shame!

 

[Amigos4]

I've been writing "alright" for my whole life. What a shame!

Live and learn, Boris! Stick with UsingEnglish and everything will be all right! ;-)

 

[emsr2d2]

If it's any consolation, I had been using "alright" for several decades until I joined this site. Being a native speaker doesn't mean I get everything right.

 

[5jj]

[h=2][FONT=&quot]Usage Discussion of [FONT=&quot]ALRIGHT[/FONT][/FONT][/h] The one-word spelling [FONT=&quot]alright[/FONT] appeared some 75 years after [FONT=&quot]all right[/FONT] itself had reappeared from a 400-year-long absence. Since the early 20th century some critics have insisted [FONT=&quot]alright[/FONT] is wrong, but it has its defenders and its users. It is less frequent than [FONT=&quot]all right[/FONT] but remains in common use especially in journalistic and business publications. It is quite common in fictional dialogue, and is used occasionally in other writing <the first two years of medical school were [FONT=&quot]alright[/FONT] — Gertrude Stein>.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alright

 

[emsr2d2]

My learnt spelling of the word as a child was reinforced by the popular 70s/80s TV blooper show "It'll Be Alright On The Night".

 

[Rover_KE]

Those of us who write alright are in good company (click on the underlined link).

 

[SoothingDave]

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/all-right-versus-alright?page=1

The Grammar Girl notes that "that “alright” as one word “may be gaining a shadowy acceptance in British English.”

 

[emsr2d2]

Oooh, I've always hankered after some shadowy acceptance!

 

[5jj]

The Grammar Girl notes that "that “alright” as one word “may be gaining a shadowy acceptance in British English.”

It's more than a 'may' and a 'shadowy' acceptance. There are over 8000 citations in the British National Corpus.

 

[5jj]

It seems to be a more British than an American spelling but, with 1,981 citations in COCA, there seem to be quite a few Americans who think it's alright.

 

[MikeNewYork]

American Heritage dictionary marks "alright" as "nonstandard".

The usage note states:

Despite the appearance of the form alright in works of such well-known writers as Langston Hughes and James Joyce, the single word spelling has never been accepted as standard. This is peculiar, since similar fusions such as already and altogether have never raised any objections. The difference may lie in the fact that already and altogether became single words back in the Middle Ages, whereas alright has only been around for a little more than a century and was called out by language critics as a misspelling. Consequently, one who uses alright, especially in formal writing, runs the risk that readers may view it as an error or as the willful breaking of convention.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/all+right

 

[5jj]

It will catch up one day.

 

[emsr2d2]

Ooooh, I never knew I was such a rebel. I've been going around wilfully breaking with convention for about 43 years! ;-)

 

[5jj]

What did you do for the first twenty?

 

[emsr2d2]

Cheeky so-and-so!

 

[Tdol]

The fact that many BrE speakers are blissfully unaware that there is any controversy about the spelling suggests that it's more accepted than Grammar Girl thinks in the UK. I happily use alright, except in formal writing.

Oxford simply give it as a variant: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/alright
As do Collins: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/alright
Cambridge list it as non-standard: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/alright
Macmillan hedge and say that many consider it wrong: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/alright