Carolynn’s Clues :: One Word or Two, Revisited

by Carolynn Carey

Last month my blog centered around words such as “alright” (nonstandard) and “all right” (preferred). This month I’d like to mention a few others that may cause us problems.

Although I don’t see these as a common problem, we should at least be aware of the difference between every day (used as an adverb) and everyday (used as an adjective). An example might read, “These are my everyday shoes, but I sure don’t want to wear them every day.”

Similar words are every one and everyone. We use everyone in the same way we would use everybody. When we say every one as two words, we are emphasizing one (similar to saying “each and every one”).

Then there is on to and onto. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which is correct. Thus I’m going to quote from The Chicago Manual of Style’s explanation: “When is on a preposition and when is it an adverb? The sense of the sentence should tell, but the distinction can be subtle. Onto implies a movement, so it has an adverbial flavor even though it is a preposition {the gymnast jumped onto the bars}. When on is part of the verbal phrase, it is an adverb and to is the preposition {the gymnast held on to the bars}. One trick is to mentally say “up” before on: if the sentence still makes sense, then onto is probably the right choice. Alone, on does not imply motion {the gymnast is good on the parallel bars}.”

I suspect that most of us use these words correctly without even thinking about it, but if you have questions, consult a good style manual or a dictionary.

Tagged as: every day, every one, everyday, everyone, grammar, on to, onto