The Sisyphus Comments

Report Writing Tip #51 – One or Two Words

Back in the “bad old days”, those of us that were “spelling challenged” carried a paperback dictionary in our briefcases so that we could manually spell check our work. A little later on, the electronic spellers came into vogue but they were fairly expensive for their limited capabilities. Fortunately, today most law enforcement agencies provide an electronic reporting system that includes a spell checker so the chances of a misspelled word slipping into your offense report is fairly slim, right? Wrong!

There are several problems with the concept of depending upon a spell checker to guarantee that you can submit an error free report. One problem is that many words sound alike but mean different things when put into writing. This week we will look at the problem of deciding whether to use one word or two.

All ready/already

• all ready: used as an adjective to express complete preparedness
• already: an adverb expressing time

At last the SWAT team was all ready to go, but the criminals had already left.

All right/alright

• all right: used as an adjective or adverb; older and more formal spelling, more common in scientific and academic writing: Will you be all right patrolling on your own?
• alright: Alternate spelling of all right; less frequent but used often in journalistic and business publications, and especially common in fictional dialogue: He does alright investigating accidents.

All together/altogether

• all together: an adverb meaning considered as a whole, summed up: All together, there were 10 officers on the platoon.
• altogether: an intensifying adverb meaning wholly, completely, entirely: His comment during the traffic stop raises an altogether different problem.

Anyone/any one

• anyone: a pronoun meaning any person at all: Anyone who can solve this problem deserves a medal.
• any one: a paired adjective and noun meaning a specific item in a group; usually used with of: Any one of those reports could serve as an example.

Note: There are similar distinctions in meaning for everyone and every one

Anyway/any way

• anyway: an adverb meaning in any case or nonetheless: He objected, but they instituted the policy anyway.
• any way: a paired adjective and noun meaning any particular course, direction, or manner: Any way we chose would lead to danger.

Awhile/a while

• awhile: an adverb meaning for a short time; some readers consider it nonstandard; usually needs no preposition: The chief decided to stay awhile.
• a while: a paired article and noun meaning a period of time; usually used with for: We talked for a while, and then he confessed.

Maybe/may be

• maybe: an adverb meaning perhaps: Maybe we should wait until the snow stops to begin patrolling.
• may be: a form of the verb be: This may be our only chance to win the shooting match.