Friday, October 9, 2009

Come Awhile & Stay For A While :-)

I just love the English language. Its idiosyncrasies sure keep me guessing, even after all these years. When I doubt myself, there's usually good, correctable reason. Et vous?

When “awhile” is spelled as a single word, it is an adverb meaning “for a time” (“stay awhile”); but when “while” is the object of a prepositional phrase, like “Lend me your monkey wrench for a while” the “while” must be separated from the “a.” (But if the preposition “for” were lacking in this sentence, “awhile” could be used in this way: “Lend me your monkey wrench awhile.”)

Please check out the link quoted from, as you listen to Neil for a while. I know, I know, it's an October morn...