Everday or Every Day?

Hey there! I’m Mr Joshua, a teacher at Lil’ but Mighty. In previous videos, we’ve explored differences between commonly mistaken words like “Affect” and “Effect” and “Compliment” and “Complement”. Today, we’re going to be looking at yet another set of two commonly mistaken words. These words are often confused with each other and students often use them interchangeably or wrongly. Today, our pair of often mistaken words is – Everyday and Every day!

At this point, you might be thinking, “You must be mistaken! Those two words are exactly the same!” Let me first quickly point out there is actually a difference between how the two words are written! One is written as one word (everyday) while the other is actually two words (every day). How about in terms of meaning, is there a difference between them? Well, watch on and find out!

Let’s first take a look at how the two words are used in sentences:

1. Rice is an everyday staple in many Asian countries.
2. In many Asian countries, people eat rice every day.

In the case of the first sentence, to say that rice is an everyday staple means that it is food that is typically or usually eaten in Asian countries. Here, the word ‘everyday’ functions as an adjective.

However, the second sentence refers to people eating rice every day, i.e. it is eaten each day. ‘Every day’ is used to modify the verb ‘eat’ to answer the question “how often” or “when”, making it an adverbial phrase when used in this way.

So, how do you remember how to tell them apart? When you’re writing and can’t quite remember which one to use – every day or everyday – use these simple tricks:

1. If you can replace the word with “regular”, use “everyday”.
   e.g. Rice is an everyday (a) regular staple in many Asian countries.
2. If you can replace the word with “daily”, you should use “every day”.
   e.g. In many Asian countries, people eat rice every day daily.

To see if you have got the hang of it, try the following questions. Remember to use the simple tricks I taught you if you get them mixed up!

1. Joanna took off her high heels and changed to her (everyday / every day) shoes.
2. Alex goes to the gym (everyday / every day).
3. Hearing my neighbour’s excessively loud music is an (everyday / every day) occurrence.
4. You need to take the dog out for a walk at least twice (everyday / every day).

Did you manage to choose the correct option? Let’s check your answers now!

1. Joanna took off her high heels and changed to her (everyday / every day) shoes.
2. Alex goes to the gym (everyday / every day).
3. Hearing my neighbour’s excessively loud music is an (everyday / every day) occurrence.
4. You need to take the dog out for a walk at least twice (everyday / every day).

For Q1 and Q3, the answer is ‘everyday’. For Q1, the sentence is referring to the shoes that Joanna usually wears while Q3 shows that having to endure my neighbour’s loud music is something that happens to me all the time. If you have tried placing the word ‘regular’ in these two sentences where the word ‘everyday’ should be, you would have realised that it fits perfectly!

On the other hand, Q2 and Q4 refer to events that happen daily. The phrase ‘every day’ indicates how often Alex goes to the gym. Similarly, I am expected to take the dog out for a walk at least twice each day.

I hope you got those questions correct! If you did, you’re definitely on your way to using “everyday” and “every day” in your everyday vocabulary. Are there other 2 words that you have difficulty differentiating? Tell us in the comments section so we can help you sort them out!