English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)
COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS
AWHILE or A WHILE?
He has been here ~for awhile~ (nonstandard).
He has been here *for a while* (standard).
“A while” is a noun phrase and it means “a period of time”. It is used with the adverb “ago” after it or with the preposition “for” before it:
He was here *a while ago*. ✅
He was here *for a while*. ✅
I rested ~a while~ after the long drive (nonstandard).
I rested *awhile* after the long drive (standard).
While “a while” as a noun phrase means a period of time, “awhile” (a single word) is an adverb which means “for a short time”.
He had been on the project *for a while* so he decided to rest *awhile*, then continued.
GAB
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