Difference Between Alright and All right

Difference Between Alright and All right: The words alright and all right sound just the same. But do they also mean the same? In this tutorial, we will discuss the differences between the terms alright and all right in detail. 

Alright vs All right

How the Word Alright is Different from All Right? 

The difference between the words alright and all right is slight. These words are often used interchangeably. This is because the phrase ‘all right’ has evolved as ‘alright’ over the years, but the word ‘alright’ remains informal and is regarded as incorrect by some writers. 

Let us look at them individually to understand the difference better. 

All Right

All right is a phrase consisting of two words and it is used to refer to something as good enough or satisfactory enough. The phrase can be used both as an adjective as well as an adverb. 

Examples of All Right as an Adjective 

Here are some sentences that use the phrase All Right as an Adjective-

• Despite the flood, everything is all right. 
• The teacher said his basics are all right, he just needs to practice more.
• She doesn’t look all right lately. 

Examples of All Right as an Adverb 

Here are some sentences that use the phrase All Right as an Adverb-

• I am feeling all right in quite a long time now. 
• She danced all right, but her expressions were even better. 
• He is not the best coder, but he is doing all right. 

Alright

The word alright is not an original word itself. It is the result of continuous change that the phrase ‘All Right’ was combined into a shorter form as ‘Alright’. We can also say that alright is the colloquial variant of the term all right. This is just like how the phrase `All-Together’ has evolved as ‘Altogether’ today; the only difference being that it is accepted formally unlike the word ‘Alright’. 

In fact, if you search for the meaning of the word alright on Google, the Google dictionary returns the corrected form as ‘All Right’. However, there are some dictionaries where you will find this word with the same meaning as All Right, that is, something that is good enough or acceptable. 

We can use the term Alright in place of All Right but it is advised to not use it at formal places because all right remains to be the standard and formally accepted term. 

Note that alright, like ‘All Right’, can be used both as an adjective and an adverb. 

Examples of Alright in sentences

Here are some examples that use the word Alright-

• Is it alright if I call you back later?
• Alright, let’s get started with cooking now. 
• She is an alright student, but still, I don’t like her much. 

You can see that all these sentences are quite informal. 

How to decide whether to use All Right or Alright?

Though none of the words is wrong, care must be taken about where these words are to be used. For formal writings like in an email or reports, the phrase All Right should be used. While for informal conversations or writings, using the word alright will be alright!

As an example, there is nothing wrong with the sentence below-

• I wonder if Elsa is alright at school. Today is her first day. 

However, using All Right in the same sentence won’t make any difference. 

• I wonder if Elsa is All Right at school. Today is her first day. 

But say, we have to send an email to a colleague at work. In this case, use of All Right will be better as follows-

• All Right, we will connect at 5 p.m.