Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,150,326 members, 7,808,098 topics. Date: Thursday, 25 April 2024 at 07:11 AM

All Right Vs Alright, Well Vs Good Etc - Literature - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Entertainment / Literature / All Right Vs Alright, Well Vs Good Etc (556 Views)

Everything Feels Alright (2) (3) (4)

(1) (Reply)

All Right Vs Alright, Well Vs Good Etc by Areolad: 6:08pm On Feb 19, 2015
All right vs Alright
Are all right and alright interchangeable? All right has a range of meanings including “safe,” as in Are you all right? or “reliable; good,” as in That fellow is all right. As an adverb, it means “satisfactorily” as in His work is coming along all right, or “yes,” as in All right, I’ll go with you.

The form alright is a one-word spelling of the phrase all right. Alright is commonly used in written dialogue and informal writing, but all right is the only acceptable form in edited writing. Basically, it is not all right to use alright in place of all right in standard English.

The popular song “The Kids Are Alright” by The Who is evidence of popular acceptance of the informal alright. However, the creators of the 2010 film The Kids Are All Right couldn’t bring themselves to use the informal variant even if the title was a clear nod to The Who

Good vs Well
You may have been scolded you for saying, I’m good, instead of the more formal I’m well. But is the response I’m good actually incorrect? Not technically. Let’s explore the rules and conventions governing these two terms.

Well is often used as an adverb. Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Good is most widely used as an adjective, meaning that it can modify nouns. The expression “I am good” causes some to bristle because they hear an adjective where they think an adverb should be. But adjectives (like good) are used in combination with linking verbs like smell, taste, and look. A linking verb connects or establishes an identity between the subject and predicate, as opposed to an action verb which expresses something that the subject can do. Linking verbs take adjectives, whereas action verbs take adverbs. Think about the sentence: Everything tastes good. It would sound strange to say Everything tastes well, and the adjectival good is correct in these cases. Typically when well is used as an adjective after look or feel, it often refers to health: You’re looking well; we missed you while you were in the hospital. In general, use well to describe an activity or health, and good to describe a thing.

To go back to common complaint above: in that instance, either good or well work because they both function as adjectives, and that phrase is widely used in informal, colloquial speech. However, in formal speech or edited writing, be sure to use well when an adverb is called for as in He did well on the quiz.

Towards vs Towards
Do you move toward something or towards something? It turns out, you can do both, though some contexts favor one over the other.

According to the Chicago Manual of Style, the preferred form in American English is toward without the -s, while the preferred British English form is towards with the -s. This general rule works with other directional words, including forward, backward, upward, and downward, along with afterward.

However, what applies to formal written English does not always apply to informal settings, both written and spoken. American English speakers often use towards in colloquial speech and writing, and toward sometimes pops up in British English.

Additionally, things have not always been this way historically. For example, Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in a time before English spelling was standardized. Despite being a British text, he uses toward without an -s, the accepted American English variant today. Looking at American English data from Google Books Ngram Viewer, towards appears to have been used more widely in American English texts up until about 1900, when it was overtaken by toward.

(1) (Reply)

Nigerians! Don't Sleep At This Hour / My Life As A Fifty Naira Note Part One / Intellectual Confidence Is A Rare Commodity Among Nigerians

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 12
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.