Saturday, January 24, 2015

A lot vs lots

After seeing my previous post, someone asked me the difference between 'a lot' and 'lots.' I think they are the same except that 'lots' sounds more casual than 'a lot.'

I have lots of friends - Casual
I have a lot of friends - More formal

Thursday, January 15, 2015

One word vs two words

Have you ever written sentences like these?

Enter your log in name
Login to the server

Verbs (words that convey an action) are sometimes combined with other words to make up what we call phrasal verbs. For example, 'log in' is a phrasal verb. You write phrasal verbs as separate words; not as one word. 

The single-word form (login) is actually a noun or describes a noun (adjective). Phrasal verbs usually have such a noun/adjective form, which is often a single word but is sometimes hyphenated. Writing the noun/adjective form as two separate words is just as incorrect as writing the verb as a single word.

So, the correct way to write the above sentences is,

Enter your login name
Log in to the server

In summary
  1. If you convey an action, use separate words. 
  2. If you convey a subject or describe a subject, use one word. 
Here are few more examples:
  1. Did you print out the letter?
  2. The printout of the letter is clear.
  3. He forgot to shut down the server.
  4. The shutdown was caused by a power failure.
  5. This is a drop-down list.
  6. Zoom in to get a detailed view of the image.
  7. The zoomed-in view of the image is clear.
  8. She walked up to the check-in counter to check in her bags.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Anytime Vs Any time

Anytime (one word) means whenever or at any point in time
Any time (two words) usually mean any amount of time

Example: if you say "I can go for a swim anytime tomorrow," you are saying that you can swim at any point in time within the day tomorrow. If you say "I do not have any time to swim tomorrow," it means that you do not have any amount of time tomorrow to swim as you are busy with other work. 

One point to note is that if you use 'anytime' with 'at,' you should always use the two-word form. So, both these sentences are interchangeable:
"I will go for a swim anytime tomorrow" or "I will go for a swim at any time tomorrow." 

More examples:

  1. The sick man will pass away anytime.
  2. You can ask me questions anytime and I will answer them when I have any time.
  3. The rain might fall at any time.
  4. I can visit my mother anytime.
  5. Did you call me at any time yesterday? No, but I will call you anytime today.