# A lot! One word or two words. (Alot of words?!) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127 "2012-03-29T06:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/21 "2012-03-29T14:31:45Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > [Hyperbole and a Half: The Alot is Better Than You at Everything](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.jp/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html) > > Two words, right? I have an ‘‘I care about this alot’’ t-shirt. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/22 "2012-03-29T14:43:58Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I just realized that one reason it hasn’t “fused” as a written convention, is because it is still parsed by English speakers as a divisible phrase: we can say “ **a whole lot** ”. > > I wonder if an Oxford dictionary cite for this is “Page/Plant, 1969” 😉 I think you nailed it. _shakes fist at **Ravenman** for screwing up the poll_ ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/23 "2012-03-29T15:00:52Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Why is ‘cannot’ okay as one word, but ‘alot’ is wrong despite popular usage? > > Looks to me like a bunch of uptight OCD prescriptivist ninnies, wanting to hurt people for not being OCD prescriptivist ninnies. > > And where’s the option for both? That’s pretty much my thoughts on it too. “Alot” is one word and means the same thing as “a lot” which is two. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/24 "2012-03-29T15:06:22Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > It is clearly two, and there is zero justification for it being one. +1 ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/25 "2012-03-29T15:09:53Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > zero justification for it being one. “Illiteracy” isn’t a justification? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/26 "2012-03-29T15:22:36Z")
Now, now…as I posted before, the word “word” can mean two different things. When we use the definition of “a collection of letters the standard form of written English today happens to set off by spaces”, then, yes, people who call it “one word” are the same people who write it “alot” – and, yes, these same people are writing it nonstandardly. In other words, in almost any social context, _wrong_. (They’re not quite “illiterate”, however.) But, if we use a more linguistically subtle and profound definition of “word”, there is SOME justification for considering “a lot” to be a single “word”. (But, we still have to spell it “a lot”, if we want to be taken seriously.) ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/27 "2012-03-29T15:28:09Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > No I will not deal with it. Clearly. > [@](#): > > You cannot condemn ‘alot’ without condemning ‘cannot’. Can so. Just did, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/28 "2012-03-29T15:37:06Z")
> [@Spectralist](#): > > That’s pretty much my thoughts on it too. “Alot” is one word and means the same thing as “a lot” which is two. They “mean” the same thing in terms of _denotation_ – they’re both adverbial intensifiers of degree or amount – but they mean different things in terms of _connotation_. The first connotes “I am not a skilled speller”\*, and the second connotes “I know how to write standard English.” (\*There was a thread in GD a couple months ago about what this really means – stupidity? carelessness? attitude of cultural relativity? a specific brain malfunction? Needless to say, there was little agreement about this.) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/29 "2012-03-29T16:14:36Z")
Not just adverbial, come to think of it. Functions as a **noun** , too, e.g., in “_We have a lot riding on this decision_.” Essentially, stands in for “a large amount” or “many things”. I’m pretty sure “mucho” and “beaucoup” can be used in this way, as well. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/30 "2012-03-29T16:20:34Z")
**Autolycus** , You mentioned that there was a 300 yen bet on this question. Is English the first language of the person who thinks “a lot” is one word? English is my first language. I’m damn good at it, and I guarantee you that _a lot_ is two words. In the expression _a lot_, _lot_ is a noun, and _a_ is an article. _A lot_ is the opposite of _a little_, which is also two words. **Ravenman** , thanks for letting us know you voted in error. That explains one of the three votes for “one word”. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/31 "2012-03-29T17:02:28Z")
Not being mentally retarded, I say it’s two words. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/32 "2012-03-29T17:03:17Z")
The word “lot” means “a large number or quantity”. Just because it often gets paired with an indefinite article doesn’t make “a lot” a single word any more than any other pair of words that frequently appear together. To approach it another way, a “[word](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/word)” is “a written or printed character or combination of characters representing a spoken word”. A “[space](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/space)” is “a blank area separating words or lines”. As a “space” is “a blank area” rather than a “character”, it isn’t part of a “combination of characters” and thus any group of characters that also includes a space falls outside the definition of a “word”. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/33 "2012-03-29T17:19:56Z")
“Lot” isn’t always paired with “a”. Sometimes we say we have lots of guests. But sometimes they piss me off, and I say to hell with the lot of them. So two words. Obviously. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/34 "2012-03-29T17:33:18Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I have an ‘‘I care about this alot’’ t-shirt. …I had no idea there were T-shirts! Of course there are! I think I’m going to have to get one of these. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Quixotic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Don\_Quixotic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Quixotic)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/35 "2012-03-29T17:47:31Z")
I think that there is a two-word noun usage and a one-word adverbial usage. I use the phrase like this: 1) A lot of people read The Straight Dope. 2) I read The Straight Dope alot. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/36 "2012-03-29T17:52:28Z")
> [@Don\_Quixotic](#): > > 1. I read The Straight Dope alot. No, the complete sentence would read, “I read The Straight Dope alot, but even so I am largely illiterate.” ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/37 "2012-03-29T17:52:31Z")
I posted this same question when I first joined The Dope and the consensus seemed to be “two words.” But I sure would like to know where the memory of seeing “alot” in my grade-school spelling book comes from. > [@Don\_Quixotic](#): > > I think that there is a two-word noun usage and a one-word adverbial usage. I use the phrase like this: 1) A lot of people read The Straight Dope. 2) I read The Straight Dope alot. ^ I’m sure I learned this in school. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/38 "2012-03-29T17:53:02Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Why is ‘cannot’ okay as one word, but ‘alot’ is wrong despite popular usage? Well, it’s NOT majority popular usage. In particular, “alot” is especially prevalent on the Internet. If indeed it’s shifting, the shift is _starting_, not established. _A lot_ of semi-literate yahoos on the Internet do not constitute the final authority on usage. If that were so, _rogue_ would be spelled _rouge_, and we’d “hone in on” targets, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/39 "2012-03-29T17:54:52Z")
I think everyone is still missing what the OP is asking… Both he and his friend concede that the spelling is “a lot”. The question is, because it is listed in the dictionary as a single entry, does that mean “a lot” (written that way, not ‘a lot’ vs ‘alot’) is one word or two? ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127/40 "2012-03-29T18:23:03Z")
There are a lot of dictionary entries defining two words. For example, _pot pie_ or _prepositional phrase_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-one-word-or-two-words-alot-of-words/617127.md?page=3)