A lot vs. Alot

What Is the Difference Between A Lot and Alot?

The short answer is – A lot is correct. And Alot is not a word. 

A lot is like any two-word phrase with the indefinite article (a) followed by a noun (lot). For example, a dog, a bed, and a mojito are similarly constructed phrases, but no one would write adog, abed, and amojito.

Unfortunately, spell check may not catch Alot as a misspelling. So, try to remember that Alot is not a word.  The only proper usage is A lot.

This spell check guideline goes for a lot of small words. Whenever you get to a small word in a report like a, is, if, the, etc.  Pump the brakes a bit and read it carefully.  Sometimes you may simply mistype a word like is when you actually meant to type if, and spell check won’t catch this.

More of these types of usage errors will be covered in the future.