Word Confusion: All Right versus Alright

Posted April 24, 2012 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Pinterest pin for All Right versus Alright

Yes, I’ve seen alright used in writing. Doesn’t mean it’s all right, unless you’re using it to give the impression of someone who is not well-educated. After all, you see all kinds of typos and misspellings, grammar issues, and more in books. And you know it isn’t right. Same thing applies here. Alright is not all right.

So many people learn English from reading novels that I think authors and publishers have an obligation to provide the best possible text, and that includes proper word usage.

That’s not to say that I don’t approve of colloquialisms — god knows I use ’em often enough — but I do believe there is a time and a place for ’em. And there’s no real good reason to use alright except to create an effect in a character’s dialogue or to make the character seem somewhat uneducated or lazy in his/her speech.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “All Right versus Alright” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

All Right	Alright
OK Hand Sign by Google is under the Apache License 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. — Another way of saying “all right”.	Queen’s ‘Doin’ Alright’ by Trident Management (Trident Studios) is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Informal usage of alright.
Part of Grammar:
Adjective; Adverb; Exclamation	Nonstandard Variant spelling of all right
Adjective: Satisfactory but not especially good Acceptable [Of a person] In a satisfactory mental or physical state Permissible Allowable Adverb: In a satisfactory manner or to a satisfactory extent Fairly well Used to emphasize how certain one is about something Exclamation: Expressing or asking for assent, agreement, or acceptance	Common in informal writing and fictional dialogue.
Examples:
Adjective: Is he going to be all right? The tea was all right. “Are you all right? You were screaming.” It’s all right for you to go now. Adverb: Everything will turn out all right. “Are you sure it’s him?” “It’s him all right.” He does all right at work. She has pneumonia all right. Exclamation: All right, where is he? All right! I’ll tell you.	Adjective: “It’s alright,” she said, standing. “Alright. I’ll check in tomorrow,” Tamer said. Adverb: It was a good one alright — a good one to stump her. You fell asleep alright, but we didn’t get that far. Exclamation: Alright! Alright? Alright? You think it’s all okay, just because you said so?
History of the Word:
Its first known use was in 1808.	Its first known use was in 1810.

Return to top

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

Return to top