Everyday and Every Day

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question from Yuna from Japan.

Question:

I would like to know the difference between "everyday" and "every day." Thank you.

Answer:

Dear Yuna,

Thank you for emailing us. People often confuse "everyday" (one word) and "every day" (two words) because they can be used in similar ways.

Everyday

Let us start with the one word "everyday."

We use "everyday" (one word) as an adjective to describe nouns. Its meaning is something that happens regularly, from day to day.

My everyday schedule includes waking up early, going to the gym and making breakfast.

In this example, "everyday" (one word) describes the schedule or the plan of activities that happen every morning.

Another way we can use "everyday" as an adjective is to mean in an ordinary or usual way.

He wears sneakers as his everyday shoes.

In this statement, the sneakers are his usual shoes.

Every day

Now let us look at the two-word form of "every day." This form is a grouping of two separate words, "every" (adjective) and "day" (noun). It means the same as the expression "each day."

We use "every day" (two words) as an adverb phrase to describe verbs, other adverbs and adjectives. Compare these examples.

The children go to school every day.

Eating vegetables every day is important for our health.

In the first example, "every day" (two words) can be replaced by "every single day", "each day" or even another expression like "every week" or "every month."

In the second example, "every day" (two words) describes how often we should eat our vegetables.

Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Yuna.

Next week, we will answer a question from Melvin about "daily" and "everyday". If you are interested in how these expressions are similar or different, please come back next week to find out!

What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@VOAnews.com

And that's Ask a Teacher.

I'm Faith Pirlo.

Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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schedule – n. a plan of tasks and when to do them

sneakers – n. cloth shoes that are worn for informal times and for sports

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