Difference between ‘alright’ and ‘all right’ in English

by Jakub Marian

Tip: Are you a non-native English speaker? I have just finished creating a Web App for people who enjoy learning by reading. Make sure to check it out; there's a lot of free content.

The only traditionally accepted way to write the expression “all right” (meaning “acceptable, satisfactory”) is as two separate words. For example:

Is that all right?
Thank you, that’s quite all right.

Perhaps the following terrible pun will help you remember the correct spelling:

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.

Other al- words

The spelling of “all right” may seem counterintuitive, since the majority of expressions of the form “all + something”, where “all” is used to mean “in a general manner”, are spelled as a single word, for example,

already, almost, although, altogether, always.

One notable exception is “all-around”, which is spelled with a hyphen:

He’s an all-around good guy.

However, “all right” is never spelled with a hyphen. So, how should you write “all right + noun”, as in “he did an all right job?” The answer is: You shouldn’t. Using “all right” as an adjective before a noun is generally discouraged and considered acceptable only in colloquial speech, but not in formal writing.

By the way, have you already seen my brand new web app for non-native speakers of English? It's based on reading texts and learning by having all meanings, pronunciations, grammar forms etc. easily accessible. It looks like this:

0