NewsBlues mrsbgrammar Page 102
92
Mrs. Bluezette's Grammar Guide
"alot"/a lot/ allot
A spellchecker is helpful ... most of the time.
But here's an example from Sacramento of when one hurt more than
helped.
"This actually came up last week in a newsroom where I was
freelancing. One of the anchors couldn't understand why her
spell checker wouldn't accept the word `a lot' as in `It rains A
LOT in Northern California.' Eventually she thought she had
found the solution when her spellchecker accepted the word
`allot.'"
Brian Shields
"Allot" is a verb meaning to distribute or to allocate.
v
The news director ALLOTTED each of us a drawer for our files.
(Notice in the past tense, the "t" in "allot" is doubled.)
"A lot" means a great deal.
Mrs. B leaves you with the inimitable words of former Yankees
catcher Yogi Berra:
"You can observe a lot by watching."
