Tips to Remember When Certain Words Should be Combined into One—and When They Shouldn’t

Including “anytime” vs. “any time” and “someday” vs. “some day”

Image by Morgan Adams on Pixabay

I’ve written more than a few posts about compounds as well as commonly confused words, but I still think twice when asked whether certain compound terms should be written as one or two words. As is often the case when it comes to which words to use when, the answer is usually, “It depends.” While this isn’t the easy answer most people look for, it drives home why it’s so important to understand how different parts of speech work.

With regard to the following terms and whether they should be written as one word or two words, identifying how they’re being used makes all the difference. Let’s start with the pair that seems to trip up writers most often: “anytime” vs. “any time.”

Anytime vs. any time

“Anytime” is defined by Merriam Webster as an adverb that means “at any time whatever.” It’s written as a single word and used in sentences such as “Feel free to visit anytime.” “Any time,” on the other hand, is considered to be a noun phrase since it acts as a noun as in this example: “Feel free to visit at any time.” Notice that “at” precedes “any time” in this example, as it often does, creating a prepositional phrase. If you ever see “at anytime” in a sentence, you’ll know that should be corrected to read “at any time,” instead.

The key here is to remember that while the one-word term “anytime” is an adverb, the two-word term “any time” is a noun phrase often preceded by the preposition “at.” Now let’s look at other potentially tricky pairs of commonly confused words:

Anyone vs. any one

“Anyone” is defined by Merriam Webster as a pronoun that means “any person at all.” It’s also referred to as an “indefinite pronoun” since it doesn’t refer to a specific person. It’s written as a single word and used in sentences such as “He promised not to tell anyone.”

“Any one,” on the other hand, is considered to be an adjective phrase since it acts as an adjective, which means it modifies a noun or a pronoun as in this example: “Any one of those is a good option.” Notice that “of” follows “any one” in this example — as it often does. If you ever see “anyone of” in a sentence, you’ll know that should be corrected to read “any one of,” instead, as in “any one of those.”

Anything vs. any thing

“Anything” is listed twice by Merriam Webster: as a pronoun that means “any thing whatever” or “any such thing” and as an adverb that means “at all.” When used as a pronoun, “anything” can also be referred to as an indefinite pronoun since it doesn’t refer to a specific thing. It’s written as a single word and used in sentences such as “She promised not to buy anything.”

As an adverb, “anything” can be used two ways: to modify a verb, as in the 1989 movie title Say Anything, and to imply the opposite when followed by “but” as in, “The lecture was anything but exciting.”

“Any thing,” as used in the “any thing whatever” definition noted above for the pronoun “anything,” acts as a noun phrase the same way “any time” does. For this reason, many writers use “anything” and “any thing” interchangeably, with “anything” usually winning out. “Any thing” does allow for the addition of an adjective for emphasis as in this example: “He didn’t want to wear just any old thing to the party.” Absent the adjective, either “just any thing” or “just anything” would be okay, but I’d use the more familiar “anything” to avoid tripping up readers.

Everyday vs. every day

“Everyday” is defined by Merriam Webster as an adjective that means “ordinary.” It’s written as a single word to modify a noun or pronoun in sentences such as, “The sight was an everyday occurrence.” “Every day,” on the other hand, is considered to be an adverb phrase since it acts as an adverb usually modifying a verb as in this example: “They visit every day.”

Everyone vs. every one

“Everyone” is defined by Merriam Webster as a pronoun that means “every person.” It’s also referred to as an indefinite pronoun since it doesn’t refer to a specific person. It’s written as a single word and used in sentences such as “He told everyone.”

“Every one,” on the other hand, is considered to be an adjective phrase since it acts as an adjective, which means it modifies a noun or a pronoun as in this example: “Every one of those is a good option.” Notice that “of” follows “every one” in this example — as it often does.

Everything vs. every thing

Like “anything,” the word “everything” is given multiple definitions by Merriam Webster. As a pronoun, “everything” is defined as “all that exists” (on its own or related to a subject), “all that is important,” and “all sorts of other things.” As an adjective, however, “everything” is defined as “having a mixture of toppings” as on an “everything pizza.”

Like “any thing,” the noun phrase “every thing” is not commonly used but can be separated by an adjective as in “She ate every last thing on her plate.” Absent the adjective, however, most readers would likely prefer to read “She ate everything on her plate.”

Someday vs. some day

This pair is very similar to “anytime” and “any time.” While “someday” is defined by Merriam Webster as an adverb that means “at some future time,” “some day” is considered a noun phrase that refers to a day that might be known or unknown.

A musical way to remember when to use “someday” as one word is to think of Disney’s Snow White theme song, which starts with “Someday my prince will come” and ends with “Someday when my dreams come true.” Another classic, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” includes the line “Someday I’ll wish upon a star.” In all these examples using the adverb “someday,” no specific time is referenced. Instead, a general, possibly far-off time is imagined.

In contrast, the noun phrase “some day” is usually used in a much more mundane way as in this example: “The closing is scheduled for some day next week.”

Sometime vs. some time

Merriam Webster defines the adverb “sometime” as meaning “at some time in the future” and “at some not specified or definitely known point in time.” An easily remembered example of this is found in the technically misquoted line attributed to actress Mae West that eventually became the song title, “Come Up and See Me Sometime.”

In contrast, the noun phrase “some time” is used in a more specific way to reflect a period of time, whether it’s short, long, or of an unknown length. The same way that “any time” is often preceded by the preposition “at,” “some time” is often preceded by “at,” “in,” or “for” as in these examples:

• They’ve been out shopping for some time now.

• We haven’t seen them in some time.

• They should return at some time or another.

Someway vs. some way

The adverb “someway” is defined by Merriam Webster simply as a synonym for “somehow,” and most writers use it as an informal alternative. Meanwhile, the noun phrase “some way” is also used, but in a more specific manner. Of this pair, the two-word noun phrase may be more common than the one-word adverb. “There must be some way to get out of here” sounds like a line from a Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, or even Scooby Doo mystery, but it serves as a good reminder of when “some way” should be used rather than the more general “someway.”

A quick review of this post reveals that, within the nine commonly confused pairs covered, about half of the one-word terms are usually used as adverbs, with the rest used as pronouns and/or adjectives. Of the nine two-word terms, though, most are considered noun phrases, with only a few used as adjective or adverb phrases. So when faced with the question of whether a term such as “anytime” or “someday” should be written as one or two words, chances are good you’ll find the answer by asking whether it’s being used as a noun. If the answer is “yes,” chances are also good the two-word option is the best choice as in, “This post should end at any time.”

Key takeaways

• “Anytime” is an adverb; “any time” is a noun phrase often preceded by “at.”

• “Anyone” is a pronoun; “any one” is an adjective phrase usually followed by “of.”

• “Anything” can be used as a pronoun or an adverb; “any thing” is usually only used when an adjective is inserted between “any” and “thing.”

• “Everyday” is an adjective; “every day” is an adverb phrase.

• “Everyone” is a pronoun; “every one” is an adjective phrase usually followed by “of.”

• “Everything” can be used as a pronoun or an adjective; “every thing” is usually only used when an adjective is inserted between “every” and “thing.”

• “Someday” is an adverb; “some day” is a noun phrase.

• “Sometime” is an adverb; “some time” is a noun phrase often preceded by “at,” “in,” or “for.”

• “Someway” is an adverb; “some way” is a noun phrase.

• If one of these terms is being used as a noun, chances are good it should be written as two words.

An earlier version of this post appeared in The Writing Cooperative.

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I write fiction, poetry, and nonfiction when I’m not working as a copy editor. Author of the novel One Sister’s Song and the e-book Not Nearly Everything You Need to Know About Writing.