‘Alright’ vs. ‘All Right’ Explained: When to Use ‘Alright’ vs. ‘All Right’

“Alright” is an English language word, as acknowledged in publications like The Chicago Manual of Style, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage, and Garner’s Modern American Usage. It is a one-word compression of the standard English phrase “all right,” which means "favorable" or "yes."

The one-word spelling of “alright” was popularized by nineteenth-century American author Mark Twain after he used it in his 1865 short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Today, “alright” appears in many cultural forms of the English language, including British English and American English. In most cases, it appears in informal writing and may be flagged as a misspelling of “all right” by some style guides.

The word “alright” can appear in a sentence in several forms.

• As an affirmative statement: "She invited me, so I said alright."
• As an adjective: "To quote the Who, 'the kids are alright.'"
• As an adverb: "I thought we played alright."
• As a single-word acknowledgment: "Alright. I heard you."

“All right” takes on different meanings in the English language.

• As an adjective: When used as an adjective, “all right” means "good." The degree of good can range from "passable" to "fantastic," depending upon context and a speaker's inflection.
• As an adverb: The adverbial form of “all right” means "well."
• As an affirmation: You can say “all right” to affirmatively respond to a statement or question.
• As an adverb and adjective: Sometimes “all right” is a two-word phrase using different parts of speech. If you tell someone their answers were "all right," it means every one of them was correct.

There are multiple uses for “all right” as a two-word phrase.

• An affirmative statement: "All right. I will do it."
• As an adverb: "It was working all right until this morning."
• As an adjective: "The breakfast at the hotel restaurant is all right."
• As a two-word phrase with multiple parts of speech: "I went through your answers; you got them all right."

The choice between these two commonly confused words comes down to context.

• In formal writing, “all right” is a safer bet. In formal writing, the two-word version is always accepted as a correct spelling. High school English teachers and English grammar stylebooks tend to favor the two-word form. When in doubt, use this two-word English spelling for formal purposes like academic papers, letters of recommendation, and business plans.
• Beyond formal writing, the word choice is subjective. The one-word “alright” appears in many prominent novels, poems, and public letters. Similarly, the two-word “all right” appears in all forms of media and is favored by many writers—even in an informal context. For instance, in 1965, English rock band the Who recorded a hit single called “The Kids Are Alright.” In 2010, director Lisa Cholodenko released a film called The Kids Are All Right starring Julianne Moore. Both spellings are correct, and the two versions of the word are effectively synonyms.

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