The most important thing to remember when considering alot vs. a lot, that “alot” is not a real word. It is not in the dictionary, and it should never appear in your writing.
“A lot” is always two separate words. So, the correct way to refer to many things is to say “a lot” of things.
Now, to make things more confusing, “Allot” is a real word. It means to set aside for a special purpose. Another meaning is to give something to someone as a task.
Here is an example sentence that correctly uses “a lot” and “allot.”
There is a lot of reading to get through. You should allot at least 3 hours to complete it.
So, to summarise, when considering alot vs. a lot, the answer is always a lot.
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Posted on: 06-11-2015
I know this little e-card meme is just supposed to make me laugh. But it bugs me.
The tone exemplifies what I dislike most about grammar snobbishness. Why would anyone be even a little bothered by someone eliminating a space between a and lot?
And that’s what the humor here is supposed to be getting at. This meme says, “We good spellers of the world are sick of all the ignorant, careless spellers out there who think alot is a real word! Ha! Pshaw! Harrumph! Their ignorance is so annoying! But not really. We’re bigger than that. We can laugh at their stupidity with clever memes! You see, for us good spellers, its obvious that a lot is two words. People who can’t remember that are so dumb.”
The thing is, it’s just not so obvious. Not even to normal, intelligent people.
The analogy in the meme is mostly silly. For those who can’t remember whether a lot is one word or two (almost entirely young writers from my experience), the comparison to a little admittedly works pretty well. You wouldn’t write alittle so you shouldn’t write alot. Both words are used as adverbs:
I like ham sandwiches a little, Bob likes them a lot.
But acantaloupe? aporkchop? If those examples are supposed to reveal how ignorant writers of alot are, it doesn’t work. They are nouns with introductory articles, not adverbs. There’s no logical correlation.
Sure, lot can be a noun too: A lot is a plot of land. But nobody confuses alot for a lot in this kind of usage.
Young people confuse them because a lot of adverbs start with a where a could be misunderstood to be an article: again, aboard, anew, afresh, aloud, around, askew etc. These words are natural parallels to a lot. We never write a gain, a board, a new or a round. The mistake therefore seems perfectly logical.
The truth is, constructions like a lot, a little, and a few are odd. They function as compound adverbs, but they look like nouns with indefinite articles. They act like single words, and we have lots of adverbs that were formed by mashing compounds into single words: already, altogether, meanwhile, moreover, etc. A lot is quirky and idiomatic and therefore naturally confusing.
I’m not suggesting we should accept alot as an alternative spelling. I’m just saying the confusion is perfectly rational. More rational, in fact, than the dumb analogy in this meme.
I know. It’s only a comical meme. I’m surely taking it too seriously. I just don’t like humor that reinforces the general condescension of grammar snobs.
I have created some revised versions of the meme below. I like these better.
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Categories: Grammar and Usage, Posters Tags: a lot, alot, grammar nazi, grammar snobbishness, grammar snobs, meme, memes, spelling, spelling mistakes
There is a surprising amount of confusion between these two words (one of which isn’t actually a word) and which is the correct form to appear in your sentences.
Today, I want to go over the difference between a lot vs. alot and show you a few tricks to remember which of them to use. After reading this post, you won’t ever confuse them again.
While it may be common to see the word “alot” throughout Internet commenting or text messaging, the word is never seen in print, and the reason is simple: it isn’t an actual word.
That’s right. If you go to any dictionary, you will not find the word “alot” as an entry, which makes it all the more interesting why the confusion between the two exists.
What Is a “Lot”?
The two-word construction a lot is just that: two separate words. You have the article a and the noun lot. The word lot is defined as, “a large number or amount, a great deal.”
For example,
- You just drank a lot of milk with dinner.
- Your car uses a lot of gas.
- You read a lot of books.
Just as you wouldn’t combine other instances of article + noun constructions in your sentences, adog, acat, ahorse, etc., you don’t combine the two words a lot. There’s no rhyme or reason to why people combine the words, but plenty of people make the mistake.
And no one knows exactly why. It could be that since the word lot isn’t used in many other instances besides the phrase a lot that writers began to think of alot as the actual word being used and not lot.
Other uses of lot, such as a beautiful lot of land or a parking lot, often pale in comparison to the frequency of the phrase a lot, so it’s easy to see how people could get mixed up. Even this, however, isn’t a totally convincing reason because the plural use of lot (lots) is used correctly with great frequency.
Another possible explanation is the similar features the phrase a lot has with the unrelated word allot.
When to Use Allot
Despite sounding similar to—and being spelled similar as—a lot, the single word allot is an unrelated verb. To allot something is “to give or apportion something to someone as a share.”
For example,
- Will you please allot me my share of the inheritance?
- The lawyer allotted the remained assets from the will.
- During the debate, equal time will be allotted to each party.
As I said above, the fact that this word sounds alike and looks similar to a lot may cause some people to confuse the two.
Remember the Difference
Now that we know a lot is the correct choice for our sentences, here are a few tricks to remember this fact.
Something my grade school English teacher would say to help us remember is,
- A lot is a lot of words.
Another great trick I learned from a reader of mine is similar to the analogy I gave above about combining words like a dog into adog.
- You cannot say “alittle,” so you cannot say “alot.”
Makes sense doesn’t it?
Summary
It’s important to keep track of these two words in your writing because alot vs. a lot are very different.
Alot is not a word.
A lot is the correct choice.
Contents
- 1 Alot vs. A lot?
- 2 What Is a “Lot”?
- 3 When to Use Allot
- 4 Remember the Difference
- 5 Summary
A lot is used to describe something of great quantity of frequency. A common error is to combine the indefinite article a with lot to form alot, but this is best avoided. A lot is also sometimes confused with allot, which means «to assign as a share or portion.» Keep this in mind the next time you «allot a lot of lots.»
There’s a lot happening in that lot.
Use ‘A Lot’ Rather Than ‘Alot’
A lot is a common phrase formed by combining the indefinite article a with the noun lot (“a considerable quantity or extent”).
Specifically, it can be used adverbially to mean «by a great degree» or «frequently» (“Her current apartment is a lot nicer than her last one”; “he goes swimming a lot during the summer”) or as a noun phrase meaning «a great amount» (“We had a lot of fun at the party”; “There were a lot of people at the beach”).
Sometimes you will see the article run together with lot to form alot, but most usage experts would consider this an error. The a is an indefinite article that functions just as it does in “I bought a dozen roses,” and should not be considered part of the noun itself.
In fact, lot can be modified with a word (such as whole) that separates it from the article, as in “They got into a whole lot of trouble.”
Lot is also found in a plural form not introduced by any article, as in “a painting with lots of color” or “Lots of people eat at that restaurant.” Such use tends to be found in less formal writing.
Adding to the confusion is that there is also a verb allot, meaning “to assign as a share or portion, or to distribute by lot or as if by lot.”
The budget plan also focuses on education.
It sets aside $231.5 million to cover a pay raise of $3,000 for more than 52,000 teachers in South Carolina. It also allots $13.8 million for additional teacher recruitment and retention.
— Jason Raven, WIStv.com, 13 Jan. 2020Finally, there is a classic trivia quiz, with chances to spin the prize wheel for a random number of points per question. Pap says there are more games, but not all can fit into the time allotted.
— Kalyn Over, The Charleston Post and Courier, 17 Jan. 2020They ended up in Uganda, in the enormous Nakivale refugee settlement. They slept on the ground. Each person was allotted one bottle of oil, 1 pound of corn, 1 pound of beans per month. Those allotments weren’t enough to survive on.
— Lisa Gray, The Houston Chronicle, 11 Jan. 2020
One way to keep these words straight might be to remember that the verb is close in meaning to allocate, which also has two L’s, while the noun phrase consisting of the greater number of words (that is, two) applies to the large amount of something.
The rapper born Anthony Ray, meanwhile, spells his stage name as Sir Mix-a-Lot.
More Commonly Confused Compounds
Is it one word or two? 27 words with commonly confused spacings