play illustrated notebook that says everyday vs every day
Commonly Confused

'Everyday' vs. 'Every Day'

A simple trick to keep them separate


They're two of the most-confused words in English. Here's a simple method to sort them out.

Transcript

The choice between everyday, one word, and every day, two words, depends on how it's used. Everyday, one word, is an adjective meaning "used or seen daily," or "ordinary." "The phone calls were an everyday occurrence." Every day, two words, is an adverb phrase meaning "daily" or "every weekday." "They go to the coffee shop every day." One trick to remember which is which is to see if you can put another word between "every" and "day," as in "every single day." If you can, you want the two-word adverb.

Up next

play illustrated notebook that says everyday vs every day
'Everyday' vs. 'Every Day'

 

A simple trick to keep them separate

play alt-5db61f2bd1cc5
How Do You Pronounce 'Groceries'?

 

Is there one standard way?

play video cynic
The History of 'Cynic'

 

How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.

play ismo merriam webster tip
Some Odd Words with ISMO: "People Tipping"

 

Comedian ISMO on the complexities of the word 'tip'

play serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it
Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?

 

Thawing one of the mysteries of English

play ismo merriam webster one
Some Odd Words with ISMO: "The One-derful Won"

 

Comedian ISMO tries to figure out 'one' and 'two'

play image1815466723
How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

 

And is one way more correct than the others?