Which is correct?
I never take my iPhone to the gym when I go to _________ because things often go missing from the lockers.
a. work out
b. workout

Answer: a.

Explanation:
Here’s the rule, for work out, set up, log in and so on:

As a verb, use two words: You work out. You set something up. You log in. These are known as phrasal verbs.

As a noun or adjective, make it one word: You do a workout. You plan a setup. You complete a login procedure.

June Casagrande explains more about compound words and phrasal verbs.

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Explanation:
Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Diffuse and defuse sound alike but the first one means to spread something so it’s less concentrated. The second word, defuse, means to make a dangerous situation safe — or at least safer. As with removing the fuse from a ticking bomb.

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Answer: a

Explanation:
All together means collectively, simultaneously — we sing “Happy Birthday” all together when we sing it in unison.

Altogether means entirely, completely. The data is gone, Baby, gone.

If you’re nude, you’re in the altogether — you’re completely naked.

@GrammarGirl Mignon Fogarty explains these and related words in a post on all right vs. alright.

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Explanation:
There’s no real rhyme or reason to which phrases we make into compound words and which ones we don’t. This is one of the former. “Notwithstanding” means “despite” — despite the widespread (and well-deserved, IMO) hatred for iTunes, Apple’s gadgets continue to be sprinkled with fairy dust.

When my husband was an English prof, he used to get some interesting errors in student essays. One student was particularly fond of “bethatasitmay.” Which seems pretty bad, until you start to think about a few of the legit compound words:

hereinafter
nevertheless
wherewithal
insofar
aforementioned
heretofore

The Grammarphobia blog explains more about compound words, their origins and uses.

I could admit that I thought “notwithstanding” was two words, but I just admitted last week that I thought the expression was wracking my brains. So I will not admit that I thought that.

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Your Apple ID is the user name you use to _____ to iCloud, iTunes and the app store.

a. log in

b. login

Answer: a

Explanation:

The general rule is that the verb phrase is two words while the noun or adjective form is the single compound word. So you log in to something — as long as you can remember your login info.

Here’s a list from The Chipmunk of Doom. Ignore at your own peril.

Verb form is the first example in each case:

• set up vs. setup
• make up vs. makeup
• work out vs. workout
• pick up vs. pickup
• get up vs. getup
• turn out vs. turnout
• log in vs. login
• turn over vs. turnover

See more examples and explanation here.

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Answer: b

Explanation:
Back up is correct when it serves as a verb; backup is a noun.

By the way, the same rule holds for other words that are sometimes separate and sometimes used as a compound: When you WORK OUT you listen to your WORKOUT playlist. (Yes, I am yelling — that one drives me crazy.)

Grace Fleming covers Confusing Compounds for About.com.

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Answer: a. and/or b., depending on where you are.

Explanation: Another day, another surprise — the OED has added moreso as a U.S. variant of more so.

Language Log explores the moreso issue in more depth.

Answer: a. and/or b., depending on where you are

Explanation: Life is full of surprises and here’s another one for me: Anymore is considered correct in the US. In Canada or the UK, it’s traditionally not been considered proper use, although that’s changing.

In the US, anymore means any longer and any more refers to quantity.

This one sneaked up on me, somehow. I suspect that I’ve never written anymore as one word in my life and managed to be mostly oblivious to its use in the media, probably assuming it was a typo when I saw it.

As Margaret Rouse pointed out, anymore can be useful to make a distinction in meaning.

It still looks wrong to me… but I expect I’ll adapt.

Answer: a

Explanation: As two words, any way means the same as by any means. As a single word, anyway means in any case or regardless.

For example: Despite the difficulty of ensuring compliance, organizations that want to avoid fines are advised to do their best anyway.

Answer: a or b in the US, a in the UK

Explanation: To my surprise, anytime has become acceptable in the US. Not so long ago, there was a distinction between compound words made with any: anyone and anywhere, for example, being acceptable but anytime not. However, it makes sense that usage would slide towards a common form.

Datsplat reports on anytime vs. any time.

The question is also answered in this issue of The Grammar Logs. Another surprise in that issue is the fact that obsolete has been acceptable as a verb since the mid-1600s. I would have put money on that use being at least as recent as impact as a verb. Good thing no one suggested a bet.