Sometimes it is two words, and sometimes it is just one word. When two words have largely the same meaning, it can be difficult to choose between them. David gaughran design diversity editing email newsletter first lines and first chapters frances caballo grammar girl jane friedman joanna penn kristine kathryn rusch. The second tells us the period of time to stay and uses a noun. A while is noun phrase and used after prepositional phrases. Awhile, an adverb, is never preceded by a preposition such as for, but the twoword form a while may be preceded by a preposition. What is the differencesimilarity between take a long time and take a while. The twoword expression a while is a noun phrase, consisting of the article a and the noun while which means a period or interval of time. Online sensation grammar girl makes grammar fun and easy in this new york times bestseller. Obviously, sit down, stay awhile and sit down, stay for a while are both correct. A while is a noun phrase and means a period of time.
The word nerd explains, with a lot of help from grammar girl. On the other hand, a while is a twoword expression used as a noun phrase consisting of the article a and the noun while. Congress delayed the vote awhile, but eventually the bill passed. The article a before while is a sure sign that youre dealing with a noun. Note also that while is a subordinating conjunction, which starts dependent clauses.
A while is two words, the article plus a noun, usually used after the preposition for. As usual, she teased out the subtle grammar points. In part, it depends on the structure of your sentence. In contrast, awhile is an adverb, and it means for a time. We ate our sandwiches as we walked around the park. Books similar to grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. If you look at the words, you see theres only a slight difference in spelling in awhile, theres no space between a and while. A while versus awhile kim sieveri am a copywriter and copyeditor.
Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Awhile versus a while commonly confused words thoughtco. While and whilst english grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary. Homonyms are sometimes confusing words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. How to reference books and articles in text grammar and. When for a while cannot be substituted for awhile, awhile should be a while. The for is optional, and a while is indistinguishable from awhile in speech, so they have no differences in meaning, or in grammar. Just try to remember that awhile is an adverb and while in the twoword version a while is a noun. Bourne is the author of four novels including her newest, a woman of two minds.
While this book is highly recommended, i could not get past the sugary over self confidence of the author. Grammar quizzes connectors connective prepositions when vs. Grammar girl explains the difference between a while and awhile. Awhile is an adverb and cannot appear after prepositional phrases. Grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing is a very modern book, discussing rules for email and twitter, how to punctuate urls, and the proper way cite websites in news articles or papers. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers.
Most us authors, including stephen king, always use awhile, while uk authors almost exclusively use a while, whatever the circumstances. Awhile one word means for a period of time, as in grandpa waited awhile before turning himelf into a bat. If you dont want to teach or learn grammar by yourself, click here to see how i can help you. Submit a bargain ebook submit a free ebook check bargain book openings. A is an article, and while is a noun meaning a period of time. Books similar to grammar girls quick and dirty tips for. But awhile should only be used to mean for a while. If a while is used in a prepositional phrase, as in, she ran for a while, you use a while because the object of a preposition must be a noun, not an adverb awhile. While or whilst most americans find whilst quaint, oldfashioned, or literary. Do i italicize the series title and put the book title which i know is normally italicized in quotes. But sit down, stay a while can also be understood as telling us not how to stay but how long to stay for so a noun would also be correct. Our little baby girl was napping when i phoned my family. A while is a noun phrase which means a period of time. Now you can listen to the grammar girl podcast on youtube.
I have to tell people that its ok to split infinitives, and that in some cases its fine to end a sentence with a preposition or use the word between when theyre choosing among more than two. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes. S hays is the author of outlaw security and the devon day and the sweetwater kid short stories, about a couple of. When used as a conjunction or an adverb, while and whilst are interchangeable. In english, awhile is used as an adverb which means for a short time. While she waited for the bus, the lady rested for a while on the bench. Waiting and awaiting are both perfectly fine words with similar meanings, so which should you use.
If you look at the words, you see theres only a slight difference in spelling in awhile, theres no space between a and while, and in a while there is. If you see one of those little words, you should use a while. In this case, while is a noun, and ais a prefix that says this is an adverb. The twoword phrase a while is getting pushed aside by awhile. Awhile is an adverb which means for a period of time. While and whilst mean the same when we use them as conjunctions. The difference between while and whilst grammar lesson. Whilst and while are two words with identical meaningsusually. Generally, you should use the two word form, a while, when following a preposition i will read for a while, or with the words ago or back a while agoback. Awhile is an adverb that means for a while, whereas while is a noun meaning a period of time. Language experts actually have theories about why people say they could care less instead of they couldnt care less.
Most brits, on the other hand, will swap happily between while and whilst, although some brits also find whilst a little outdated. It took a while, but i was convinced after thinking it over awhile. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but i sometimes throw in my thoughts. Awhile is an adverb, with the same meaning as the adverbial prepositional phrase for a while. It has been a while since the dinosaur played checkers. I was staring at her little face while i was holding her.
Our authors and subject matter experts like grammar girl and nutrition diva offer short, actionable advice for you to live a better, smarter, healthier life. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing on. The oneword awhile is an adverb that means for a short time or period. English grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary. Sit awhile adverb and sit for a while noun are both correct. Typically, brits use whilst and americans use while. Its probably out there it is the internet, after all, but in any case, if i want to reference, in a single sentence, both the title of a book series as well as one of the books in the series, what are the rules. Quick and dirty tips is a website and podcast network helping you do things better. Some grammarians engaged in the while whilst debate claim that, in the meaning during the time that or at the same time as, whilst should be used for a short period of time, and while.
I often have to tell people that their pet peeves arent actually hardandfast grammar rules. The article and noun are the object of the preposition. I also found a great tip on grammar girl s quick and dirty tips blog. Posted on october 17, 2014 by julia tomiak 14 comments. In this weeks show, we talk about the difference between a while and awhile. Thank you for your suggestion to elaborate on the grammar tip its vs. You should be able to replace awhile with another adverb, like quickly. But the adverb awhile means for a while, which clearly should not follow take compare stay awhile, which survives expansion to stay for a while. The awhilea while grammar error is, obviously, more of a written error than a spoken one. When i called home, my brother picked up the phone. Before i removed every awhile from my manuscript, i consulted grammar girl. In all three examples, awhile is used to refer to the amount of time it took or people waited for a certain condition or event to happen.
The quick and dirty tip is that awhile and a while both describe a vague length of time, but you use the oneword version when you need an adverb and the twoword version when you need a noun. A while is a noun phrases but can also function adverbially. All combinations of for a while, for awhile, a while, and awhile can be used as adverbial phrases, with identical sense and usage. Youve probably noticed that this can either be one word awhile or two words a while. Although these words can be tough to remember, its important to use them correctly because a while vs. Also, fogarty is okay with using their as a singular pronoun instead of his or her. The phrase a while generally means a period, length or interval of time.
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