"Are you all right?" Ranma asked Akane, peering sideways to catch a

glimpse

of the Tendo girl struggling to breathe.

    all right -- alright (I think)

I've often wondered about this.  I've written a few fanfics in my
time, and sometimes I get C&C saying 'alright' should be 'all right',
sometimes I get C&C saying the opposite.  I don't know if it's an
American thing or just differing opinions between various writers.

    http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=alright&r=2

    Depends on what you think. I tend to pronounce it as a single word
when I speak it, so I suggest the shortened version. Of course, this is
dialogue, so I would think that if you can write in slurs and speech
impediments, 'alright' would be just fine, all things considered.

    But, I'm probably wrong.

    In this case, it almost looks like you didn't fully read the definition
you quoted.  It says right up top that it's 'nonstandard' and later tells
you to look at the notes under 'all right'.  Speaking for myself, I always
use 'all right', and would recommend that if you use the nonstandard
spelling, you only do so in dialog, where it can represent a speech habit.

    Here's the quote from the other page:

    Usage Note: Despite the appearance of the form alright in works of such
well-known writers as Langston Hughes and James Joyce, the single word
spelling has never been accepted as standard. This is peculiar, since
similar fusions such as already and altogether have never raised any
objections. The difference may lie in the fact that already and altogether
became single words back in the Middle Ages, whereas alright has only been
around for a little more than a century and was called out by language
critics as a misspelling. Consequently, one who uses alright, especially in
formal writing, runs the risk that readers may view it as an error or as the
willful breaking of convention.

   Ja mata,
   Larry F

   The Lost Library of Florestica:
   http://rakhal.com/florestica/

   La Biblioteca Perdida de Phantasia:
   http://phantasiaca.tripod.com



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