We have words like almost, always, already, altogether and although, analogous to ‘alright’, which is found mostly in AmE. Why not do away with all right and use alright instead?
Hi TH,
It very much depends on whether you cling on to the old ways. Personally I have a fondness for ‘all right’.
Alan
Thank you, Alan. I also use ‘all right’, as we are supposed to follow the BrE System, particularly in formal contexts like an academic examination or an official communication.
Americans are supposed to use “all right” in written English, but in vocal form, “alright” is used, often as an interjection. We won the game? Alright! It isn’t pronounced the same; instead of all right, it sounds more like awright.
It takes quite a while for vocal english to migrate to the written page. Novelists tend to be cutting edge. in the name of authenticity, but novelists have been writing alright since 1893, and “ain’t” even longer without the word being acceptable in newsrooms and Miss Grundy’s junior high English composition classes.