Blast from the Past: "awhile" vs. "a while"

[whymzycal.livejournal.com]

Happy Monday, fellow grammar lovers, and welcome to another round of "Blast from the Past"! Today we'll revisit the tricky awhile and a while, whose subtle differences were first covered by the most splendid green_grrl over here.

With examples from Supernatural.

As green_grrl points out, a while, meaning "a period of time," consists of an article and a noun, and it follows a preposition, like "for" or "in":

Dean banged on the motel rooms' connecting door. "Cas, what're you doing? You've been in there for a while. You need help figuring out which shoe goes on which foot or something?"

Castiel sighed as he contemplated the Gordian knot of his shoelaces. "I do not need your help, Dean. I will be ready soon, so please be patient."

Awhile, on the other hand, comes with the preposition built right in—it's an adverb that means "for a short time"—so unlike a while, it shouldn't follow a preposition:

Sam glanced around the bar and then looked back at Dean. "I'm going to go sit over there awhile," he said, nodding toward a corner table where a pretty, artsy-looking brunette sat.

"I'm sure you are," Dean said with a grin. "I'm sure you are, Sammy."

Interestingly, a while has been in use since about the year 900, but awhile hasn't been around quite as long—it's existed in its single-word form only since the 13th century. So we've had a while for a while longer than its younger cousin, awhile.

For more information on the difference between a while and awhile and several more examples and explanations, pop on over to the original entry right here.

Sources:
"Awhile" at dictionary.com
"While" at dictionary.com