Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog post, we'll discuss awhile vs. a while. Do you know the difference between the two?
Some of you might. But far too many people get tripped up more than they care to admit.
So, let's dive right in, shall we?
Awhile (one word) is an adverb used instead of the phrase "for a period of time."
Steve decided to rest awhile.
Leslie waited awhile for Steve to do the laundry.
Jake worked awhile as a bank teller.
A while (two words) is a noun phrase that refers to an unspecified period of time. As our friends at Grammarly eloquently say: "When something hasn’t happened for a long time, we say that it’s been a while. If something takes very long to happen, we say it takes quite a while. Something that happened a long time ago might have happened a while ago. If something happens after a period of time, you say it happened after a while."
Please watch Jackson for a while.
After a while, Dan decided to leave.
We need to leave in a while to catch the movie.
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We hope you enjoyed today's blog. If you want to have Edit This® handle your company's content writing and editing needs, call us today! We can write copy from scratch or spruce up your writing. When it comes to grammar, everyone could use an extra set of eyes.
STEVE GAMEL is the President & Owner of Edit This®, a writing and editing services company in Denton, TX. He is also the author of Write Like You Mean It: Mastering Your Passion For The Written Word. Steve handles anything involving the written word. Give him a call today to help give your business a clear voice.