It seems there is quite a debate about the usage of “all right” versus “alright” rampaging among English grammariticians. A cursory review of the debate reveals that traditionalists prefer writers to use the “all right” form of the expression while others argue “alright” is an acceptable evolution, or truncation, of the expression.
Some links to explore this heated debate:
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/azar/grammar_ex/message_board/archive/
http://p211.ezboard.com/Alright/fwordoriginsorgfrm23.showMessage?topicID=62.topic
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/is-alright-all-right/
Academically speaking, it’s probably safer to use “all right”. However, as many linguists will point out, a language is not static…unless it’s a dead language like Latin…and so it sounds as if “alright” may one day become as acceptable as “all right”. Considering our tendency to shorten words or expressions, this evolution, or “de-evolution” depending on your preference, is probably as good a bet as a $10,000 investment in Google stocks.
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