Grammatical Pet Peeve - Alot is not a word

Three common misspellings that people do that drive me crazy are spelling "a lot" (correct) as one word "alot" (wrong), spelling "definitely" (correct) with an "a" in the middle instead of an "i" "definately" (wrong), and spelling "y'all" (correct) with an apostrophe in the wrong place "ya'll" (wrong).

I ran across this today and thought it was a funny way to help people remember how to spell "a lot".  The is a picture of an "alot" .  The pictures and text below are from this website.

"The Alot is an imaginary creature that I made up to help me deal with my compulsive need to correct other people's grammar.  It kind of looks like a cross between a bear, a yak and a pug, and it has provided hours of entertainment for me in a situation where I'd normally be left feeling angry and disillusioned with the world."  

"For example, when I read the sentence "I care about this alot," this is what I imagine:"

"Similarly, when someone says "alot of _______", I picture an Alot made out of whatever they are talking about."

"If someone says something like "I feel lonely alot" or "I'm angry alot," I'm going to imagine them standing there with an emo haircut, sharing their feelings with an Alot."  

"The Alot is incredibly versatile." 

"So the next time you are reading along and you see some guy ranting about how he is "alot better at swimming than Michael Phelps," instead of getting angry, you can be like "You're right!  Alots are known for their superior swimming capabilities."

funny comics illustrating when to use an apostrophe

funny comic illustrating how to use a semicolon

10 words to stop misspelling

 

   

 

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