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Alot, A Lot, and Allot

A Lot, A lot, or Allot?

There is often confusion over alot, a lot and allot.

The most common mistake involving these words is writing alot instead of a lot. Remember, the word alot does not exist (unless you mean the Indian town of Alot). Alot ought to be two words; i.e., it is a misspelling of a lot.

Alot

The word alot does not exist. It is often mistakenly written instead of a lot. For example:

• I know alot about precious stones.
• I know a lot about precious stones.

Note: Alot does exist as a proper noun. It is a town in India.

A lot

The term a lot is the opposite of a little.

As a noun, lot means a large extent, a large amount, or a large number. As an adverb, a lot means to a great extent or to a great degree. For example:

• Mark has a lot of toys.
(Lot is a noun in this example.)
• He cheats a lot.
(A lot is an adverb in this example.)

Allot

The verb to allot means to give out, to apportion, to divide, or to distribute. (Other forms of the verb are allots, allotted, and allotting.)

• The peasant was allotted just 25m² to grow his monster pumpkins.
• I will allot a radio to each group.
• You need to allot each syndicate sufficient time to question the presenter.

A Quick Test

• This test has questions.
• You will score at least 5 points for a correct answer.
• You will score bonus points for answering the questions quickly.
• Be careful though. Wrong answers score 0 points.
• The maximum score is .

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