Alright or All right?

Wow, that certainly is not all right in my books, not at all. Hi, James from EngVid.

It seems in America, 100 years after everyone else, Alabama voters get another chance to

dump segregation. That is not all right. You're probably going to wonder, "Chance to dump

segregation? What is this?" Okay, you don't need to know that, but what

we have to work on today is "all right". What is all right? This certainly is not all right.

Anyway, let's go to the board. When we're looking at "all right", what does that mean?

Well, "all" means complete; everything. "Right" means correct. That situation is "not all

right." And if you put the words together "all right" means completely right, or completely

correct. And that's what we've got here. And why am

I talking about it? Well, many people who are starting out with English, they do kind

of like a pidgin English. They put things together and it's acceptable. Now in speech,

a lot of these things you can get away with, because well, you're talking. Nobody can see

what you're doing. But as soon as you put it to paper, we get

to see exactly where you are in your vocabulary, or your grammar, or your syntax. I want to

help you fix a mistake that even Canadians or Americans or British people do, because

something has come into our language that's acceptable in one area, but it is not acceptable

in another. And they may not even be able to help you.

So let me slow down a little bit. I'm getting tongue-tied. "Tongue-tied" means your tongue

is moving too fast, so you start making mistakes. And we're going to go to the board. Let's

see what's "all right" to write, okay? All right, you'll notice already, Mr. E's

here with me saying "Which one is correct?" One is in red and one is in blue. I'm sure

you can figure out which one is correct, but let's just pretend and play along anyway.

Here, I'm off the board, but look: "Acceptable for all forms of writing." It's acceptable

because it's the full form. Everybody accepts this form, whether it's

formal writing, informal writing, or dialogues for plays or for books and movies, okay? What

does it mean? Here, well it's acceptable because, hey, it's acceptable. Acceptable or adequate

-- that's what it means. Remember I said, "completely right"?

Well, in this case what we're saying is, "It's completely right. There is nothing wrong.

I have no complaints. I am not upset about anything." "The room looked all right in the

magazine." I have no complaints. It is okay. It is adequate; acceptable.

The second meaning for "all right"; seeming to be the same -- and "seeming" means kind

of or looks like, but not the same -- is permissible. Yes, it's a nice long "permissible",

long word. What does it mean? It means "you are allowed to". The first one, acceptable,

means "It's okay for me." The second one is someone is saying you have

the power to do something. You're "allowed to" do it; permissible. Is drinking permissible

in Canada under 19? No. It has nothing to do with acceptable. You're not allowed to

do it, okay? Cool. "Is it all right to come in?" Well,

just imagine, I'm a lady getting changed. And you knock on the door. I'll go -"Hello."

-"Is it all right if I come in?" Is it permissible? Do I have permission? -"Yes." Okay?

Great, so now you know the difference, and that's what "all right" means in this form.

Now what came into our language recently, and I don't really know exactly when, so I'm

not going to lie to you, because that wouldn't be "all right", was another version of it,

very similar, but you'd find it more in magazines or comics, or books, or dialogue. "Dialogue"

is when someone is speaking. So in the book when someone says, Mr. E said "It's alright

if you help me." that's dialogue. You'll see quotation marks, quotes.

So if you look over here, you'll notice I have quotes, "alright"? And that tells me

someone is speaking, so it's acceptable to use it in this form, okay? So don't use it

on a formal essay -- you'll get in trouble. Your teacher will say you have to write it

the correct way. But for dialogues it's okay. So know that

it's not for formal writing; used for dialogue. Now here's another small mistake. A free lesson

for you, okay? You came for one, I give you free. It's a deal today, two for one. Students

often write "OK" like this. Not on formal papers. When we use it in dialogue "all right"

means "okay", right? For instance, you are sitting there

watching the game. You know you like the game, you could be eating some chips or some chili,

whatever you're doing watching the game. Your girlfriend comes in: "James, James, the sink

is broken again. Are you going to fix it?" You're trying to watch the game. -"James,

James..." -"Okay, all right, all right, I'll fix it, all right." In this case I'm saying,

"Okay, okay." It's not that it's acceptable. See, that's over here. It's not permissible.

I'm using it as, you know, common language to say, "Okay, okay, okay." So "all

right" here means "okay." Now what about the other one? Well, in this

case they're similar to acceptable and satisfactory, but satisfactory means almost the same -- almost

the same, but just this meaning here. And you'll see it once again, when people go "Does

my butt, bottom, buttocks..." (it's down here. It's not that big, but you can look) "...look

okay in my jeans?" Well, you be the judge. No, not today, another

day, okay? But in that case I'm saying, "Is it satisfactory, or is it kind of acceptable?"

So in this case, they're similar, but you'll notice what the differences are, yeah? Cool,

all right? Okay, in this case. I think we've done our lesson well enough.

A quick overview to make sure we've learned what we've learned. "Alright" when it's written

like this in red -- danger, means not for formal writing, but if you're writing in a book and

you use quotes for dialogue you can use it. And it means okay or satisfactory, okay? All

right. Now, if you want to use it formally, all right?

See I said it again, "All right?" We go here and we want to talk about it for all forms

of writing, it doesn't matter, you'll be okay, you can use it for the word "acceptable" and

you can use it for the word "permissible" or that understanding.

Good, now we've got that. I've got to get going, but before I do let me entertain you

with www.engvid.com - 'Eng' as in English, 'vid' as in video. I'd like you to go there

and pick up some of our other lessons. They're all right. I think. See you.

Learn English for free www.engvid.com