Here’s another installment of Word Knots, where we discuss common instances of words and phrases that are often confused or misused. In this installment and the next we’ll look at two phrases. First we’ll look at one case that should clearly be two words (but is often written as one).

Our source for this installment is The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books). This is a great book to browse: I highly recommend it.

From Fiske:

Alot

Idiotic for a lot.

As Fiske says (excerpted):

Some people misspell the word even worse: • So in a sense allot of people are blind to tradition and think tradition in any form is evil. USE a lot.

Some people—not a few college students among them—cannot even manage to spell two words, four letters, correctly.

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If you type in “alot” in Microsoft Word, it should automatically change to “a lot.” And if you look in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, you won’t find it as one word. In the online version, “alot” will be changed to “a lot” and show this definition (excerpted):

a lot

adverb

1  :  to a considerable degree or extent: much, lots

2  : often, frequently

So in this case, what’s correct is indisputable: “Alot” is incorrect and should be written as “a lot.”

Here’s an example:

A lot of people travel to Enterprise in Oregon to take in the beautiful mountain views.

As always, word choice is critical, which is why checking your work is an important step toward ensuring that your intended meaning is clear.

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