I just realized "never" came from "not ever."
(but shouldn't the kids be writing "alittle" just to balance it out?)
ballmeans.
gnome sane?
When it comes to the use of language, the tainted liberality of colloquial speech v 'proper English,' one only has to ask the question, "What would Jane Austen do?"
As an English professor, I acknowledge that I've already lost the battle with alright, (well, most of the time anyway), but I have not abandoned the thankless task of making sure my students write a lot. I also force their little fingers to type that Oxford comma. They don't understand me.
OMG (to coin a typer-friendly shorthand--or is that already in use?)
In my second-grade spelling bee my so-called word was "all right." So I thought to myself, Alright, I can do that, and did, and was quickly sent back to my seat
in shame...
and learned the "all right" rule. But in the SECOND GRADE?!
(but I never forgot)
But what about "already"? Wouldn't that have been shortened from "all ready"? Why aren't second graders being tricked in public for *that* one?