A Lot versus alot
Apr. 29th, 2004 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yrieithyddI just did this grammar quiz and I got 'Grammar God status (despite the fact that a number of the questions mark English/American disputes), but I was wound up by question 17 because of the error embedded in it. It's fine on what it's testing (not writing alot) but there's a mistake in it. A lot is singular therefore it is 'there is a lot of things which could be better' although it sounds utterly bizarre! Thus one should avoid the problem and say 'there are lots of things...'!
Actually, from a descriptive rather than a prescriptive perspective one could argue that, as people say 'there are alot of things' naturally and that insisting on 'there is a lot' sounds really really odd, 'a lot' (that is a group of things, like a lot in an auction) has in fact become one word with a plural sense and should be written as 'alot' and used with a plural verb. I think it's an example of grammaticalisation except for the fact I cannot work out which part of speech it has become.
(Just proving that my username is true!)
Actually, from a descriptive rather than a prescriptive perspective one could argue that, as people say 'there are alot of things' naturally and that insisting on 'there is a lot' sounds really really odd, 'a lot' (that is a group of things, like a lot in an auction) has in fact become one word with a plural sense and should be written as 'alot' and used with a plural verb. I think it's an example of grammaticalisation except for the fact I cannot work out which part of speech it has become.
(Just proving that my username is true!)
