All rightandalright

We useall rightas an adjective after verbs such asbe, feel, seemorlook, but not before a noun (predicative adjective).It means ‘well’, ‘OK’, ‘satisfactory’:

A:

How are you?

B:

I’mall right.

A:

Is everythingall right?

B:

Yes, fine thanks.

Was your mealall right?

Not:Was it an all right meal?

All rightmay be written asalright, butall rightis more common:

There was an accident and the bus driver was injured, but all the passengers werealright.

We useall rightas anadverbto mean ‘well’, ‘OK’, ‘satisfactorily’:

Jill is really worried about her driving test, but I think she’s doingall right.

A:

Is everything goingall rightfor you these days?

B:

Yes, business is good.

We useall rightto show thatwe want to begin a new topic or a new action:

All right, can we start the music now please?

We also useall rightto show that we accept a point of view, or agree with what needs to be done:

All right, you have a point but I still think we need to get more advice.

We can also useall rightas a question to follow up a statement. This is informal:

A:

I think I’ll leave at 5.All right?

B:

Yes, that’s okay with me.