For a short time. If we suppose that there’s no need to analyze what the article here means, we can focus on the noun: while is an unspecified amount of time. If you are planning to stay a while, rent a covered cabana with cushioned chairs. —TIME.
5 Tips to Make Remote Interviewing a Breeze, The 5 Best Writing Tools All Writers Need. It is also obvious that using awhile or a while makes no great difference to the reader.
Biden's favorite word? —Mark Warren, Esquire, April 2015, At a luncheon I attended recently, a speaker shared with the audience something I had said a while ago.
"A while" and "awhile" have different meanings. for a while synonyms, for a while pronunciation, for a while translation, English dictionary definition of for a while. The word awhile is an adverb meaning \"for a while.\" The two-word expression a while is the article a plus the noun while, which means \"a period of time\" (as in \"stay here for a while\") or \"the time and effort used\" (as in \"worth your while\"). Obviously, you can say awhile and a while aloud without noticing any difference between the two. (Dracula, by Bram Stoker) And while credit should be given where credit is due, there is one thing about the song that might annoy sticklers—awhile shouldn’t have been used in the title of the song. Garfield waited patiently for … for the moment. The singular word "awhile" should be used to modify a verb (I will wait awhile) and can usually replace any usage of "for a while.".
Noun phrases denoting time periods can often be used as adverbs, as one day in …
awhile; for a while. A while is a noun phrase made up of two words—the article a and the noun while. After awhile, the plant goes back to normal. for a spell. for a little while. Adv. If you don't trust your own feeling for language that far, you can use a rule of thumb based on the consensus of the handbooks: use a while after a preposition and before ago or back, and use awhile in other places. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Do you know what languages these words come from? —The Guardian, There are two chairs on the pavement outside the front of the shop for customers to rest awhile, which works because the ready-to-eat goods at Becca’s can all be eaten with one hand. The adverb awhile works the same way: A while is a part of many phrases we commonly use.
You have been successfully subscribed to the Grammarly blog. Delivered to your inbox!
It is obvious that both awhile and a while are in wide use in places where some language commentators believe the opposite form belongs. The origin of awhile can be traced to Middle Englishānehwīle, having originated before 1000BCE. —Constance C. R. White, Essence, November 2012, Living deep in the Pennsylvania woods a while back, I became familiar with the trees that shaded my house and provided fuel for the stove…. So Staind’s song title actually said “it’s been for a while,” and that doesn’t sound right, does it? You’ve probably noticed that none of these phrases use awhile. The remembrance seemed for a while to overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her husband's sustaining arm. Being an adverb, awhile is used just like any other adverb. —Liza Mundy, The Atlantic, June 2015, She was having computer trouble, she told him, and would be offline for a while. 'Awhile' is typically used to modify a verb: "I'm going to sit and read awhile." Here Be Dragons: A Creature Identification Quiz. And both words have something to do with time, so how much difference can a single space really make? The rules governing usage of the adverb and phrase are frequently broken, however. It’s true that awhile and a while have plenty of things in common, but they are still very different. briefly. Consider these examples. Awhile is an adverb that means "for a while," whereas "while" is a noun meaning "a period of time." In fact, some people who observe language patterns note that the usage of awhile after a preposition or with words like ago or back is becoming so common that it may eventually become standard. If you look at the words, you see there’s only a slight difference in spelling—in awhile, there’s no space between a and while, and in a while there is. On the other side, there is frequent use of a while as an adverb. Learn a new word every day. for a bit. When it is used as the object of thepreposition it is separated into two words awhile. In this case, the difficulty of deciding what form is correct is complicated by the fact that a number of noun phrases can function as adverbs. —Laurence A. Marschall, Natural History, May 2015. Define for a while.
temporarily.
'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'? Generally, you should use the two word form, "a while," when following a preposition (I will read for a while), or with the words ago or back (a while ago/back).
You can follow your own feel for the expression and write it as one word when that seems right and as two words when that seems right. If something happens after a period of time, you say it happened after a while. It is an adverb denoting the amountof time that is spent somewhere.
You can’t use awhile with prepositions either, because you can’t say “come here in for a while.” A while on the other hand, is much more versatile. It is believed that it can be traced back to the Germanic word weilenmeaning "to linger or to s…
'A while' is typically used after a preposition: "I'm going to read for a while longer.". Usage Note: The adverb awhile and the noun phrase a while can lead to confusion because they sound the same and the noun phrase can function like an adverb. For African Business and Consumer Services. This is why a while is used more often than awhile. Context example: the baby was quiet for a while. The two-word expression a while is the article a plus the noun while, which means "a period of time" (as in "stay here for a while") or "the time and effort used" (as in "worth your while"). It should have been a while. To this day, it remains one of the band’s most recognizable songs, in no small part due to its emotional content and the lead singer Aaron Lewis’s powerful vocals. These adverbial noun phrases beginning with a and a space make it difficult to say that a while should not be used in such contexts.