Date:  Tue, 6 Jun 1995 10:37:30 EDT

From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: <No subject given>



In addition to Allan Metcalf's observation, which is what I would have said (at

least the part about 'a while' being a noun phrase and 'awhile' being an

adverb), it's worth mentioning that the original examples--



   Examples:



   A WHILE



   "For a while, the hope of achieving such a standard rested on the

   shoulders of WorldFIP and ISPF. "



   "Lastly, I'd like to go on record as advocating banishing from the

   English language, at least for a while, the word 'paradigm.'"



   AWHILE



   "They are often looking for test systems that will be around for quite

   awhile."



--actually both involve NPs, and would be (prescriptively) instances of 'a

while'. On the other hand, we'd have the adverbial use in e.g.



   "They are looking for test systems that will be around awhile."

   "They decided to rest awhile."





--Larry





















































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