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Falling for "a while"
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If it's been, um, a while since you've reviewed the rules for a while and awhile, it's easy to get confused about when to include a space and when not to. "Awhile" is an adverb, while "a while" is a noun phrase. So in last week's quiz, the correct answer was "awhile," but most of you chose "a while": If the sentence had been, "Once they arrived, they made it clear they planned to stay for _______," then the answer would have been "a while." And that's the tip in our style guide: Use "a while" if the phrase is preceded by a preposition such as "for" or "in." Monday is the fall equinox, which means we have a season change coming up. So we have a season-themed quiz:
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