Monday, January 31, 2005

For the gramatically inclined...is it "a while" or "awhile"? Does it depend on usage?

As in, "He waited a while before deciding to leave."

Or,

"It'll be awhile before I can help you with your homework."

This is one of those words that loses meaning after you say it enough times. awhile. a while. *grin*
Posted by at

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, despite the fact that I have an English degree and I even taught English, LOL, I am bad at grammar, but.... I think it's "a while" UNLESS "for" is in front of it. As in, "for awhile" vs "a while later."

Suzanne

5:41 AM
Stacey said...

Thanks, Suzanne! I'm a former English major as well, but either these burning questions never arose during college or I once knew the answers and have since forgotten them. Knowing me, it's probably the latter. *grin*

This is a good tip. I'm going to add it to my chapter checklist as something to watch for on my final edit.

8:44 AM
lost said...

I agree with Suzanne, but I'd not put 'for' in front of awhile because 'awhile' has already said it, e.g. "I'll be here awhile" -> I'll be here [for] awhile". If we were to include 'for', it'd come out as "I'll be here for for a while".

OK, I have to google to make sure that I'm not that insane. :D Yay! Got it right: http://www.bartleby.com/64/C003/039.html Good luck. :)

5:41 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)