A LOT / ALLOT / ALOT
The casual term a lot means “much” or “many”: I ate a lot of candy last night; I own a lot of shoes. The word allot means “assign a share or portion” or “distribute.” The “word” alot, often used to mean a lot, is not recognized as a proper word in the English language.
INCORRECT: I love to read, so I have alot of books.
CORRECT: I love to read, so I have a lot of books.
INCORRECT: We shall alot each speaker ten minutes’ presentation time.
CORRECT: We shall allot each speaker ten minutes’ presentation time.
REMEMBER: If you have a lot of something, then you surely have more than one, so the single word alot won’t cover it. Use the two-word term a lot instead.
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