Writing for Business - A Whatis.com Blog » one word or two

The difference between “onto” and “on to”

Ivy Wigmore — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:30:25 +0000

Which is correct?

At the end-of-quarter gathering, the CEO climbed ___ his desk and yelled triumphantly: “We survived! Now let’s move ___ the celebration.”
a. onto / onto
b. on to / on to
c. onto / on to
d. on to / onto

Answer: c

Explanation
Onto is always the correct choice when something is physically placed on top of something else — in this case the CEO places herself on top of her desk. You want on to when you’re indicating a movement toward something from something else. In this case, maybe from work toward pizza and beer.

Here’s the Oxford Dictionary’s explanation:

The preposition onto meaning ‘to a position on the surface of’ has been widely written as one word (instead of on to) since the early 18^th century, as in the following sentences:

He threw his plate onto the floor.

The band climbed onto the stage.

Nevertheless, some people still don’t accept it as part of standard British English (unlike into) and it’s best to use the two-word form in formal writing.

In US English, onto is more or less the standard form: it seems likely that this will eventually become the case in British English too. Remember, though, that you should never write on to as one word when it means ‘onwards and towards’. For example:

√ Let’s move on to the next point.

X Let’s move onto the next point.

√ Those who qualify can go on to university.

X Those who qualify can go onto university.

For other situations, especially in U.S. English, onto is often preferred, as in catch onto, latch onto, hold onto and so on.

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Workout vs. work out

Ivy Wigmore — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 13:30:31 +0000

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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The difference between “someday” and “some day”

Ivy Wigmore — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:14:46 +0000

Which is correct?
The message from human resources asked if she could come for an interview __________ next week.
a. someday
b. some day

Answer: b.

Explanation:
“Someday” refers to an unspecified time in the future, as in “Someday my prince will come.” As two words, “some day” refers to an unspecified but specific day: The interview will be scheduled for a particular but unspecified day the following week. “Someday” is incorrect in that context.

Confusingly, you can substitute “some day” for situations where “someday” works — but not vice versa.

Grammarist explains more about “someday” vs. “some day.”

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Are you in the “all together” or the “altogether”?

Ivy Wigmore — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:48:44 +0000

Which is correct?
Tapes go bad and data can become corrupt or get erased ___________.
a. altogether
b. all together

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.

Notwithstanding; not withstanding

Ivy Wigmore — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:40:40 +0000

Which is correct?
Anything Apple is hot, the general hatred for iTunes ______________.
a. notwithstanding
b. not withstanding

Answer: a

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.

A piece or apiece?

Ivy Wigmore — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:37:56 +0000

Which is correct?
The iPhone cases that are retailing for $45 were manufactured for $1 ______.
a. a piece
b. apiece

Answer: b.

Explanation:
These two are easy to confuse because the meanings are similar. They are distinct, though. Apiece means each. For example: The movie tickets cost $9.50 apiece.

As two words, a piece means per piece, for something that comes in discrete pieces. For example: “We sold cake for $5 a piece” means that we sold each piece of cake for $5. If we said we sold cake for $5 apiece, that would mean that we sold each cake for $5. So make sure you get the signs right at your bake sale if you want to make any money.

Paul Brians explains the difference between apiece and a piece in Common Errors in English Usage.

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Do you login or log in?

Ivy Wigmore — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:31:44 +0000

Which is correct?

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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Health care or healthcare?

Ivy Wigmore — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:12:03 +0000

Which is correct?
The ___________ records of UK offenders are now available electronically.
a. health care
b. healthcare

Answer: a, according to both the AP Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style. Standards differ, however. Within the health IT industry, the preference is overwhelmingly for spelling it healthcare. And as we’ve seen with the change from Web site to website over the last decade, the modern trend is toward one word. Nevertheless, if you’re required to conform to AP or Chicago style, you’ll have to spell it as health care, at least for now.

Michael Millenson discusses health care vs. healthcare and identifies a tipping point in favor of the latter.

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Wherever or where ever?

Ivy Wigmore — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:30:38 +0000

Which is correct?
_________ a virtual server runs, its storage volumes should be accessible.
a. Wherever
b. Where ever

Answer: a.

Explanation:
Wherever is the approved MLA, AP and APA style. I suspect the same holds true for whenever and whatever.

I did a quick Google poll on these:
wherever: 57,800,000 hits
where ever: 4,020,000 hits

Just for fun, I threw in “whereever” and got 78,000 hits. Not close to 57,800,000 but still a significant number. And among the prominent results were references to song titles by Metallica and Shakira and, um, “Brayan” Adams. I don’t like to cast aspersions on the spelling ability of Shakira and Metallica fans but… they say Google doesn’t lie.