Do you know the difference between these two homophones? By the way, homophones are two words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings and (usually) different spellings.
altogether is an adverb that means "completely" or "totally" or "including everything."
Since altogether is an adverb, it needs to be describing a verb in the same sentence.
Examples:
He has stopped smoking altogether. In other words, he has completely stopped smoking.
Yuko wanted to see the movie tonight. My brother also wanted to go to a movie, but I decided to skip the movies altogether and stay home tonight. I wanted to totally skip the movies and stay home.
all together is a two-word phrase that means "all in one place" or "all at once."
Examples:
Let’s go all together to the meeting. Let’s all go together to the meeting.
She put all together the birthday presents. She put all the birthday presents together.
There were so many ideas that the facilitator decided to put it all together for the group. The facilitator put all of it together for the group.
Did you notice that in the second sentences, the "all" and the "together" were separated? If you can separate them, you should use "all together." When using "all together," think of separate things or ideas you are putting in one place.
Challenge: Notice the use of these two homophones when you are reading English. Practice using both of them in their correct contexts.
|