Is also one word or two

When it comes to our writing, we don’t often know all the rules. This is especially true when it comes to starting sentences with different parts of speech. We also do different things and follow different rules when we speak versus when we write, and the two can get carried over. With all that in mind, we’ll discuss whether or not you can start a sentence with also.

Also is one of those great, overused words that helps to link sentences together. It’s a highly useful little word, which technically means, in addition, and can get rid of any potential fragmented sentences when it’s placed between two sentences, tying the information together neatly and creating a coherent thought.

What is also?

Before we jump right into how and when to use it, we should just quickly explain what also is. Also is a conjunctive adverb. An adverb is a word that modifies an adjective or verb. It helps to give a relation of place, manner, cause, time, and the degree to the rest of the sentence. In short, it gives you the word to describe things.

Now, let’s get on to also and where it can be put in a sentence.

Starting a sentence with also

It is acceptable to begin a sentence with also. You’ll find it a widespread occurrence, even in scientific writing. As we mentioned, it helps to join thoughts together, so it is useful in science when trying to make cohesive links between sections.

For example, the first sentence could be:

Our research demonstrates that dogs like food.

Second sentence:

Also, they like to be hugged.

By placing the also at the start of the sentence, these two separate pieces of information are now linked together. Be aware though; you’ll need to add a comma directly after the also when beginning a sentence in this manner.

Why shouldn’t you start a sentence with also?

One of the main reasons you might have been told not to start a sentence with also is because it can make the writer sound disorganised. It can make the sentence that follows also seem like an afterthought.

Example:

Also, the dog wanted food.

This is commonly something we use in speech rather than writing and where it can trip us up. In writing though, readers might spend some time trying to figure out what the rest of the sentence was relating to, rather than moving on with the reading. So, be careful!

Inverted sentences and fronting

There are other times when also might appear at the start of the sentence. This will be in cases where the verb appears before the subject.

Example:

Also enclosed are the tickets.

Fronting, which is placing a word or a phrase in front of the sentence when it should be on the latter part, is often used in more formal writing. This also triggers inverted sentences, in which adverbs start the sentence:

Example:

Also important is the dog’s health.

This sees also accompanied directly by an adjective and is also entirely correct in its usage.

Should you also start a sentence with also?

Using also at the start of a sentence, whilst sometimes being frowned upon in formal writing, is okay if you are continuing a train of thought. Issues arise if the thought is fragmented and unrelated to the rest of the information present. It’s also slightly more informal than some of the other words such as furthermore, which can be used instead. Similar to other grammar issues, try and avoid using it in consecutive sentences. Otherwise, the result will be choppy.

Now that you have learnt when you can start a sentence with the word also, it’s time to use your skills in practice. Sign up to become a freelance writer with our content writing company and earn money writing content! Become a part of our writers’ community providing our clients content writing services.

.

There are some rules for joining two different words into one, but they do not cover all cases

AREAS OF UNCERTAINTY ABOUT JOINING WORDS TOGETHER

Is it correct to write bath tub, or should it be the single word bathtub? Is every day a correct spelling, or everyday? Uncertainties like this are widespread in English, even among proficient users. They are made worse by the fact that in some cases both spellings are correct, but mean different things.

Are there any guidelines for resolving such uncertainties? It seems that in some cases there are and in some there are not. I wish here to indicate some of these guidelines. They mostly involve combinations that can make either one word or two, depending on meaning or grammar.

.

ORDINARY COMPOUNDS

Ordinary compounds are the area with the fewest guidelines. They include words like coursework, which I like to write as a single word but my Microsoft Word spellchecker tells me should be two. As a linguist, I usually disregard computer advice about language (see 68. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong), but the question of why ordinary compound words give especial problems is interesting. First, these words need to be defined.

One can think of a compound as two or more words joined together. Linguists, though, like to speak of joined roots or stems rather than words, partly because the joining into a compound stops them being words (a few are not even words by themselves, e.g. horti- in horticulture).

Another problem with “joined words” is that some, such as fearless, are not considered compounds at all. The -less ending is called not a “root” but an “affix”, a meaningful word part added to a root to modify its meaning. Most affixes (some named suffixes, e.g. -less, -ness, -tion, -ly, -ing; some prefixes, e.g. -un-, in-, mis-, pre-) cannot be separate words, but a few like -less can (see 106. Word-Like Suffixes and 146. Some Important Prefix Types). Thus, words like fearless, unhappy and international are not compounds because they have fewer than two roots. Other compounds are swimsuit, homework and eavesdrop.

Suggestions for recognising a compound are not always very helpful. The frequency of words occurring together is no guide because it ignores the fact that many frequent combinations are not compounds (e.g. town hall and open air). The grammatical classes of the words and the closeness of the link between them are sometimes mentioned, but are unreliable. The age of a combination is also suggested, the claim being that compounds originate as two separate words, and gradually evolve through constant use first into hyphenated expressions (like fire-eater or speed-read – see 223. Uses of Hyphens), and eventually into compounds. However, some quite recent words are already compounds, such as bitmap in computing.

Much more useful is the way compounds are pronounced. Single English words generally contain one syllable that is pronounced more strongly than the others (see 125. Stress and Emphasis). This means compounds should have just one strong syllable, while non-compounds should have more. The rule applies fairly universally (see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #3). For example, home is the only strong syllable in homework, but one of two in home rule. I write coursework as one word because course- is stronger than work.

The only problem with this approach is that you have to know pronunciations before you start, which is not always the case if English is not your mother tongue. The only other resort is a dictionary or spellcheck!

.

NOUNS DERIVED FROM PHRASAL VERBS

Happily, some compound words have some other helpful features. Most are words whose roots, if written as two words, are also correct but have different meaning and grammar, so that the meaning indicates the spelling or vice versa. A particularly large category of such words is illustrated by the compound noun giveaway (= “obvious clue”). If its two roots are written separately as give away, they become a “phrasal” verb – a combination of a simple English verb (give) with a small adverb (away) – meaning “unintentionally reveal” (see 244. Special Uses of GIVE, #12).

There are many other nouns that can become phrasal verbs, e.g. takeover, takeaway, makeup, cutoff, breakout, setdown, pickup, washout, login and stopover. In writing there is always a need to remember that, if the two “words” are going to act as a verb, they must be spelled separately, but if they are going to act as a noun, they must be written together.

.

OTHER CHOICES THAT DEPEND ON WORD CLASS

In the examples above, it is the choice between noun and verb uses that determines the spelling. Other grammatical choices can have this effect too. The two alternative spellings mentioned earlier, every day and everyday, are an example. The first (with ev- and day said equally strongly) acts in sentences like a noun or adverb, the second (with ev- the strongest) like an adjective. Compare: 

(a) NOUN: Every day is different.

(b) ADVERB: Dentists recommend cleaning your teeth every day.

(c) ADJECTIVE: Everyday necessities are expensive. 

In (a), every day is noun-like because it is the subject of the verb is (for details of subjects, see 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices). In (b), the same words act like an adverb, because they give more information about a verb (cleaning) and could easily be replaced by a more familiar adverb like regularly or thoroughly (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs). In (c), the single word everyday appears before a noun (necessities), giving information about it just as any adjective might (see 109. Placing an Adjective after its Noun). It is easily replaced by a more recognizable adjective like regular or daily. For more about every, see 169. “All”, “Each” and “Every”.

Another example of a noun/adverb contrast is any more (as in …cannot pay any more) versus anymore (…cannot pay anymore). In the first, any more is the object of pay and means “more than this amount”, while in the second anymore is not the object of pay (we have to understand something like money instead), and has the adverb meaning “for a longer time”.

A further adverb/adjective contrast is on board versus onboard. I once saw an aeroplane advertisement wrongly saying *available onboard – using an adjective to do an adverb job. The adverb on board is needed because it “describes” an adjective (available). The adjective form cannot be used because there is no noun to describe (see 6. Adjectives with no Noun 1). A correct adjective use would be onboard availability.

Slightly different is alright versus all right. The single word is either an adjective meaning “acceptable” or “undamaged”, as in The system is alright, or an adverb meaning “acceptably”, as in The system works alright. The two words all right, on the other hand, are only an adjective, different in meaning from the adjective alright: they mean “100% correct”. Thus, Your answers are all right means that there are no wrong answers, whereas Your answers are alright means that the answers are acceptable, without indicating how many are right.

Consider also upstairs and up stairs. The single word could be either an adjective (the upstairs room) or an adverb (go upstairs) or a noun (the upstairs). It refers essentially to “the floor above”, without necessarily implying the presence of stairs at all – one could, for example, go upstairs in a lift (see 154. Lone Prepositions after BE). The separated words, by contrast, act only like an adverb and do mean literally “by using stairs” (see 218. Tricky Word Contrasts 8, #3).

The pair may be and maybe illustrates a verb and adverb use:

(d) VERB: Food prices may be higher.

(e) ADVERB: Food prices are maybe higher.

In (e), the verb is are. The adverb maybe, which modifies its meaning, could be replaced by perhaps or possibly. Indeed, in formal writing it should be so replaced because maybe is conversational (see 108. Formal and Informal Words).

My final example is some times and sometimes, noun and adverb:

(f) NOUN: Some times are harder than others.

(g) ADVERB: Sometimes life is harder than at other times. 

Again, replacement is a useful separation strategy. The noun times, the subject of are in (f), can be replaced by a more familiar noun like days without radically altering the sentence, while the adverb sometimes in (g) corresponds to occasionally, the subject of is being the noun life.

.

USES INVOLVING “some”, “any”, “every” AND “no”

The words some, any, every and no generally do not make compounds, but can go before practically any noun to make a “noun phrase”. In a few cases, however, this trend is broken and these words must combine with the word after them to form a compound. Occasionally there is even a choice between using one word or two, depending on meaning.

The compulsory some compounds are somehow, somewhere and somewhat; the any compounds are anyhow and anywhere, while every and no make everywhere and nowhere. There is a simple observation that may help these compounds to be remembered: the part after some/any/every/no is not a noun, as is usually required, but a question word instead. The rule is thus that if a combination starting with some, any, every or no lacks a noun, a single word must be written.

The combinations that can be one word or two depending on meaning are someone, somebody, something, sometime, sometimes, anyone, anybody, anything, anyway (Americans might add anytime and anyplace), everyone, everybody, everything, everyday, no-one, nobody and nothing. The endings in these words (-one, -body, -thing, -way, -time, -place and –day) are noun-like and mean the same as question words (who? what/which? how? when? and where? – see 185. Noun Synonyms of Question Words).

Some (tentative) meaning differences associated with these alternative spellings are as follows: 

SOME TIME = “an amount of time”

Please give me some time.

SOMETIME (adj.) = “past; old; erstwhile”

I met a sometime colleague

.

SOMETHING = “an object whose exact nature is unimportant”.

SOME THING = “a nasty creature whose exact nature is unknown” (see 260. Formal Written Uses of “Thing”, #2).

Some thing was lurking in the water.

.

ANYONE/ANYBODY = “one or more people; it is unimportant who”

Anyone can come = Whoever wants to come is welcome; Choose anyone = Choose whoever you want – one or more people.

ANY ONE = “any single person/thing out of a group of possibilities”.

Any one can come = Only one person/thing (freely chosen) can come; Choose any one = Choose whoever/whichever you want, but only one.

ANY BODY = “any single body belonging to a living or dead creature”.

Any body is suitable = I will accept whatever body is available.

.

ANYTHING = “whatever (non-human) is conceivable/possible, without limit”.

Bring anything you like = There is no limit in what you can bring; Anything can happen = There is no limit on possible happenings.

ANY THING = “any single non-human entity in a set”.

Choose any thing = Freely choose one of the things in front of you.

.

EVERYONE/EVERYBODY = “all people” (see 169. “All”, “Each” and “Every” and 211.General Words for People).

Everyone/Everybody is welcome.

EVERY ONE = “all members of a previously-mentioned group of at least three things (not people)”.

Diamonds are popular. Every one sells easily.

EVERY BODY = “all individual bodies without exceptions”.

.

EVERYTHING = “all things/aspects/ideas”.

Everything is clear.

EVERY THING = “all individual objects, emphasising lack of exceptions”.

Every thing on display was a gift.

.

NO-ONE/NOBODY = “no people”

No-one/Nobody came.

NO ONE = “not a single” (+ noun)

No one answer is right.

NO BODY = “no individual body”.

.

NOTHING = “zero”.

Nothing is impossible.

NO THING = “no individual object”. 

There are other problem combinations besides those discussed here; hopefully these examples will make them easier to deal with.

Also, as well and too are adverbs and mean ‘in addition’.

Also

Also is commonly used in writing, but is less common in speaking. Also occupies different positions in a sentence.

We use also in front position to emphasise what follows or to add a new point or topic:

It’s very humid. Also, you can easily get sunburnt.

[on the telephone]

OK, I’ll phone you next week and we can discuss it then. Also, we need to decide who will be going to Singapore.

We use also in the normal mid position for adverbs, between the subject and main verb, or after the modal verb or first auxiliary verb, or after be as a main verb. In this position, the meaning of also usually connects back to the whole clause that comes before:

She works very hard but she also goes to the gym every week.

I’ve been working in the garden this week, and I’ve also been reading a lot.

In end position, also normally connects two phrases. We use as well and too instead of also, in end position, especially in speech:

She contacted him in the office but he didn’t answer the phone. His mobile phone was silent also. (or His mobile phone was silent too. or … was silent as well.)

As well

Spoken English:

As well is much more common in speaking than in writing, and is more common in speaking than also.

As well almost always comes in end position:

[In a restaurant. Customer (A) is ordering from a waiter (B)]

A:

I’ll have steak please.

A:

And I’ll have the mixed vegetables as well.

Too

We usually put too in end position:

Gill’s having chicken. I’ll probably have chicken too.

She looks really tired and she must be really hungry too.

Too can occur immediately after the subject, if it refers directly to the subject. It does not normally occur after a modal or auxiliary verb. We sometimes write commas before and after too:

I too thought she looked unwell.

We, too, have been very pleased to receive the prize on her behalf.

Not: We have too been very pleased …

Too is especially common in responses to fixed expressions such as giving good wishes, and in responses consisting of a single object pronoun:

B:

Thanks. You enjoy your evening too. (preferred to You enjoy your evening as well. or You also enjoy your evening.)

A:

I need to go to the gym.

B:

Yeah, me too. (preferred to Yeah, me also. or Yeah, me as well.)

In imperative clauses, as well and too are normally preferred to also:

[customer in a post office, buying books of first and second class stamps]

Give me a book of ten first and a book of ten second as well then please. (preferred to … and a book of ten second also then please.)

Linking negatives

We use either not also, as well or too to connect two negative ideas:

Bill’s not here. I don’t think Dave is either, is he?

Not: I don’t think Dave is also/as well/too.

A:

That’s not in paperback yet. It’s not been in any book clubs either, has it?

Not: It’s not been in any book clubs also/as well/too, has it?

Also, as well and too: typical error

• We don’t use as well at the beginning of a clause. As well usually comes at the end of a clause:

I just ignored it. I think everybody else did as well.

Not: As well I think everybody else did.

All are grammatically correct, but can have slightly different meanings.

You also are allowed to see your son.

This could mean that in addition to other things that you are allowed to do, you are allowed to see your son. Depending on context, it could mean that in addition to others being allowed, you are too. E.g. «Your son’s wife is allowed to see him. You also are allowed to see him.»

You are also allowed to see your son.

Pretty much the same as the previous. We would be less likely to use this form to say #2 above, i.e. that you are allowed along with others who are allowed. This would more likely mean #1, in addition to other things, you are also allowed, etc.

Also, you are allowed to see your son.

In addition to other things, you are allowed to see your son. This differs from the first two in that it can be used when the other things are not permissions, while the first two would generally be used only to discuss several different permissions. That is, for example:

You are allowed to have a lawyer present during questioning. You are also allowed to see your son.

Versus:

Your deposit will be refunded. Also, you are now allowed to see your son.

Finally,

You are allowed to see your son also.

This one is most different. It would normally be used if there are specifically others that you are allowed to see, and your son is one of those. Like, «You are allowed to see your daughter. You are allowed to see your son also.» You wouldn’t use this form with other permissions or with other things that are not permissions.

But note that if you put a comma between «son» and «also», then it becomes the same as «Also, you are …»