The letter “a” is the shortest and first word alphabetically in the dictionary. It’s also a part of speech called an article. It joins “an” and “the” in the category as words that pair with nouns — for example, “a dog,” “an apple,” and “the bike.” Then we can insert adjectives and quantifiers to flesh out the noun phrases: “a young dog,” “a lot of apples,” “the green bike.” Seems simple enough. So why is removing the space and turning “a lot” into “alot” such a common mistake?
Let’s first examine what the words mean. The phrase “a lot” means “a large amount.” (For example: “There are a lot of children in the family.”) “Alot” is not a word, but it’s a common misspelling of “a lot,” which should always be written as two words. The words “lots” or “many” can also be used to mean the same thing.
The word “allot,” meanwhile, has an entirely different definition. It’s a verb that means “to apportion a share or task.” (For example: “Each child will be allotted one cookie before bedtime.”) It’s related to the noun “allotment,” which means “the amount of something allocated to a particular person.”
The mistake of “alot” may be a simple typo, but if it’s done on purpose, the confusion likely comes from the words “apart” and “awhile.” These are words. “A part” is a phrase meaning “a piece of,” including the article “a” and the noun “part,” while “apart” is an adverb used to describe things that have been separated. “Awhile” is an adverb that means “for a short time,” and “a while” is a noun phrase meaning “a period of time.”In speech, these distinctions won’t be obvious, but in writing, a missing or misplaced space can change the meaning. Check your articles and “a” words to make sure you’re not piling up a lot of mistakes.
