ALOT is NOT a word!

jewgal84

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:31 am

DefyGravity wrote:

There's a space - it's two separate words!!!!

I have a lot of cash. You don't have alot of cash. It's not a word!!!! Look it up.

Furthermore, You don't loose weight. You lose weight. However, you may have a loose tooth.

Totally a gree!

Must of been the ways we'd been taught.
Or perhaps the laziness of passin Grammar in School?
Lack of Education?
No Education?
On line lingo?

Whatever the ex cuse, sometimes it makes me laugh alot but lately it's been drivin me crazy!

Squash

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:34 am

Defy, you're brave.

I get so "nervous" when I see people writing alot. I don't profess to be perfect in grammar, but it's amazing to see how many people aren't aware that it's two separate words.

We had a teacher in twelfth grade who wanted to show us visually, once and for all, that a lot is two separate words. She went to one end of the classroom and said "a" and then she ran to the other end and said "lot". It was really a riot, especially because she tripped on a chair on the way to the other end of the room (and the whole class was rolling - including the teacher). Trust me, ALL of my classmates write a lot and not alot. We all remember that lesson.

amother

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:48 am

Quote:

We had a teacher in twelfth grade who wanted to show us visually, once and for all, that a lot is two separate words. She went to one end of the classroom and said "a" and then she ran to the other end and said "lot". It was really a riot, especially because she tripped on a chair on the way to the other end of the room (and the whole class was rolling - including the teacher). Trust me, ALL of my classmates write a lot and not alot. We all remember that lesson.

You know, that story sounds vaguely familiar. I'm really trying to remember which teacher that was (unless I heard it from someone else) Scratching Head

btMOMtoFFBs

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:53 am

My husband - with two classical languages degrees - swear that "ain't" is proper English for first person usage.

So its grammatically correct to say: "I ain't going to work today" (first person)

Its not correct in second or third person - so don't say: "Ain't you going to work today?" or "My daughter ain't going to work today."

Try that one on your favorite English teacher! LOL

Anyone from England? DH says "ain't" is more acceptable English in England.

Chanie

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 9:15 am

DefyGravity wrote:

In 8th grade I had a teacher that wrote "alot" and I corrected her. She didn't believe that she was wrong, so I opened up a dictionary!
I had just learned the year before that "a lot" was two separate words.

that reminds me of my 8th grade teacher using et cetera as an extra credit word on our spelling test. Everyone thought it was one word.

Ima'la

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 9:41 am

momof3 wrote:

My mother has been an English teacher for 30 years so she is always correcting our grammar. Something she taught me years ago that irks me whenever I hear people say it is, "I chose "these ones' because I didn't like 'those ones' ". The word "ones" is redundant because these or those means they are there, ie you are looking at or pointing to them, so you don't need to say "ones"!!!!!

I have just started correcting dh on this one (not to be a nag, but otherwise the kids will learn it from him) and he couldn't believe that it was incorrect...but watch out when you correct people! I corrected dd (age 6) the other day for saying "these ones" - and then a few minutes later, I realized she was right! We were playing Rummykub and she was referring to a set of three ones!!! LOL

Reminds me of joke I heard when I was little:
TEACHER: Johnny, give me a sentence beginning with "I."
JOHNNY: I is...
TEACHER: No, Johnny - always say, "I am."
JOHNNY: Okay. I am the ninth letter of the alphabet

Ima'la

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 9:44 am

Ima'la wrote:

momof3 wrote:

I have just started correcting dh on this one

I MEAN "ON THIS"!!! OOPS!!! embarrassed

greenfire

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 9:53 am

Ima'la wrote:

I is laughing LOL Rolling Laughter

Tefila

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 1:56 pm

Ok Defy I know I do alot of these mistakes, alot of the time Twisted Evil

but hey thats why I don't plan on teaching english anytime soon. As long as people still catch the drift of what I am trying to say......... then alot will still remain part of me Tongue Out

mumoo

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 2:08 pm

HindaRochel wrote:

I know I know.
But ALOT should be a word, and one day it just might.
Apparently apron use to be a pron, at least I think it did....but it changed.

apron was originally a napron (like napkin, nappy). the 'n' seems to have drifted toward the article

withhumor

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 2:53 pm

Defy, now I’m really funcused. Who has a lot of cash, me or you? And if you’re the one with all that cash, why are you worrying about other people’s grammar?

Chani

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 3:10 pm

Here's one for y'all (and please don't irritate southerners by using y'all for anything other than second person PLURAL):

There are two words that have as their vowels a, e, I, o, and u appearing in that order and with each vowel being used once and only once. (Okay, there's actually 4 words because -ly could be added as a suffix to each of the two mentioned above).

Ex. Adventitious isn't one of the words b/c although the vowels are in the right order, I is used twice.

Anybody want to try? Very Happy

mumoo

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:40 pm

Chani wrote:

one begins with an 'a' and the other with an 'f'
you could add 'ly' to the end of each to make six vowels in order

(I don't want to spoil the game too soon, Chani, but I couldn't resist showing off with a hint)

Last edited by mumoo on Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

GAMZu

Mon, Feb 05 2007, 8:42 pm

DefyGravity wrote:

Maybe we should just start attaching "a" to any word that comes after it.

I live in ahouse. I wish I owned ahorse. Would you like to join me for amovie?

...write posts as amother... I guess there IS a pattern after all! Wink