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One difference will make something right go wrong. It feels embarrassing when spelling or grammar mistakes occur, but this is inevitable at times.
The best approach to this is to study what grammatical mistakes are often made to avoid them — and that’s what you’re doing now, so good job!
Now, get ready to stop using one of the most common grammar mistakes.
At least is grammatically correct while atleast is incorrect. It’s common for people to make the mistake of not adding space to refer at least. This is typical because it’s often heard in conversations rather than written down. Thus, a misconception arises as some people think at least is one word.
At least is right and atleast is wrong, but everyday and every day are both proper. Phrases that are also used as one word have subtle differences. In this case, everyday is an adjective, while every day is an adverb.
Here’s a table for you to see other examples:
Phrase | Word | Differences |
Any Way | Anyway | Any way is an adverb, while anyway is an adjective. |
All Together | Altogether | Altogether means entirely or all in all while all together is defined as everyone/everything together. |
Some Time | Sometime and Sometimes | Some time is referred to as a period, sometime is synonymous with someday or at some point, and sometimes means occasionally. |
Any Thing | Anything | Any thing is used as an emphasis in referring to an object. Anything means a thing of any kind. |
Every One | Everyone | Every one refers to each member of a group, while everyone is used to refer to all the people within a group. |
The phrase originates from least’s Old English word læsest. It’s defined as “the smallest or lowest position.” Using læsest for conversations today isn’t ideal since it’s rarely used, but there are still creative ways to use it.
A great idea would be to use læsest when writing a story that occurred in the past where it’s often uttered.
At least is defined as the lowest amount allowed. It’s generally used when you say something shouldn’t go lower than the amount you stated. An example would be, “This shoe costs at least $100 when you buy it online.”
If you want more emphasis on your statements, you may try to add, at the very least.
However, you should know that there are other uses for at least.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, at least has two other definitions:
Definition | Example |
Used to emphasize that something good happened despite being in a bad situation. | Times are tough right now, but at least we have food to eat every day. |
Used to do something even if it’s the bare minimum | You didn’t help us yesterday with the project, at least provide materials tomorrow so we won’t remove you from our group. |
Meaningful examples indeed help you understand a particular topic even better. So here are additional examples of sentences that use at least:
"Give me at least 5 minutes to pick the right colors for this design," Leonard said.
In this sentence, Leonard tells us that he’ll be able to pick the right color if they give him time to choose. At least is used here to indicate that 5 minutes is enough for Leonard to accomplish this task.
Allan said that at least three people are needed to play the game.
Particular games require two or more people to be played. In this example, Allan used at least to explain that the minimum number of players needed for their game is three.
If there's no traffic, it will take you at least 30 minutes to go from here to the store.
This statement implies that going to the store from their location would take 30 minutes without traffic. It answers the question, “How long does it take to go to the store?”
At least is an adverb phrase. This type of phrase is simply a group of words that function as an adverb—it’s used to replace adverbs.
Adverbial phrases contrast with adverbial clauses and single-word adverbs. Unlike an adverbial clause, an adverbial phrase does not contain a subject and a verb.
Grammar-Monster
Here are a few sentences that contain an adverbial phrase:
There are different types of phrases. You can watch this video if you wish to learn more about them:
Grammatical mistakes are avoided by improving grammar skills and following some helpful tips. Using “atleast” is just one of the many grammatical mistakes people make, but don’t worry as this is easily correctable.
Use at least because atleast is grammatically wrong. At least an adverb phrase that means “the lowest amount allowed” came from the word læsest. This phrase is often used to indicate that any amount lower than what’s said won’t be accepted.
Don’t get the wrong idea. Just because atleast is considered grammatically wrong doesn’t mean everyday is also a mistake. Everyday and everyday are both correct, but they’re used differently. There are other examples similar to this so be careful to avoid misconceptions.
If you want to avoid common grammatical mistakes like atleast, it’s ideal to constantly improve your grammar skills. This will allow you to not only alleviate typographical and grammatical errors but also become a better writer.
For the short and summarized version of this article, click here.
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