Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. Today, we will explore the differences between alot, a lot, and allot. Do you know the difference?
Let's cut to the chase right now and eliminate alot from the conversation. It's not a word, even though the correct spelling (a lot) sounds like it should be one word when you say it.
That leaves a lot and allot. Let's discuss.
A lot (two words) refers to a large amount of something.
* I ate a lot of food over the holidays.
* My kids received a lot of presents for Christmas.
Allot (double L) sounds the same but means to divide or allocate portions of something.
* The police didn't have enough facts to allot blame to either suspect.
* Both lawyers were allotted equal time to make their arguments.
Thanks for reading! If you like our grammar lessons, here are a few more blog posts on the differences between into and in to, there, their, and they're, your and you're, compliment and complement, and last and past.
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*STEVE GAMEL is the President & Owner of Edit This, LLC, a writing and editing services company located in Denton, TX. Steve handles anything involving the written word. Give him a call today to help give your business a clear voice.