The Difference Between Alot, A Lot and Allot

The Difference Between Alot, A Lot and Allot Since there is such a lot of confusion about homonyms (words that are pronounced in the same way but spelled differently such as wether, weather and whether), its time to allot the task of explaining this trio to you. That last sentence may already have explained the difference between allot and a lot quite economically, but lets have some fun with our words and also get around to alot. Spoken and Informal English When we speak, we seldom think about the individual words we use as much as we think about the phrases. So when you say How are you? you probably chose the whole phrase out of your mental linguistic archives rather than thinking about every word. Its almost as if your brain sees the phrase as a word in itself. When we say phrases like this, we often run the words together so that they almost sound like one word, and thats where a lot of English errors have their origin. Is Alot a Word? When we use English to write informally, we sometimes lump words together, even when they dont really belong together. Alot is one of these, and under current English rules, its really incorrect. People use it to say a lot, and although some argue that the contraction without the space isnt a big deal and may be accepted as correct English at some time in the future, it isnt correct today. If alot does ever become an accepted form, it will be strictly informal. Other lumped together words that are accepted in informal writing are gonna and wanna, but you definitely wont be using them in a business letter or school assignment. To avoid confusing your friends, a lot is definitely the way to go, and it means exactly the same thing its the opposite of a little bit. So I hope you have learned a lot already, and that you wont be using alot in future. What Does Allot Mean? Returning to our introduction, I said its time to allot the task of explaining this trio to you So obviously, I am using the word to describe giving a task. I could also say: Reading my essay on How to Write a College Admissions Essay is your allotted task for today. Or I might say I am allotting you the task of, or I allot you the task of So I can use the word allot to share out tasks or work. I could also use it to describe something else that well