Make Your Editor Cry: Every Day vs Everyday
Glad’s slogan on their Glad Wrap is “Seals in Freshness. Everyday.” They’ve even trademarked it! The same goes with OfficeWerks. “Lowest prices everyday!” Obviously, they are not reading my writing tips.
But I get it. It’s a tough one. One of the most common mistakes I see is the confusion between every day and everyday. And I have an internal dialogue every time. It goes like this. I read:
I drink coffee everyday. No. No, you don’t. You drink coffee every day.
Everyday comes before the noun, and is used to describe something that is commonplace. Example:
These are my everyday clothes. I save my best outfits for church, weddings, and funerals.
Every day comes after the noun, is much more common, and describes how often you do something. Example:
I wear these clothes every day. Yes, I probably should expand my wardrobe.
Everyday comes before the noun you’re describing. Every day comes after the noun. Examples:
Incorrect:
These are my every day clothes. I wear these clothes everyday.
Correct:
These are my everyday clothes. I wear these clothes every day.
If you’re still not sure which you should use, try replacing every with each.
If each fits just as well as every, you should use two words: every day. If not, use everyday.
NOTE: For the nitpickers, yes, I know that technically the word each is for two or more while the word every is for three or more. I understand. Please chill. No need for snarky private emails. It’s about the same meaning, irrelevant to the topic and hand, and this trick works so please just don't. Now back to the article.
Mixing these two up is an easy mistake to make, but it shouldn’t really happen now that you are armed with this trick.
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.