A while and awhile are tricky. Sometimes it is two words, and sometimes it is just one word. This lesson will teach you when to use which word.
a while
A while is a noun that means an unspecified amount of time.
Example: It has been a while since the dinosaur played checkers.
awhile
Awhile is an adverb that means an unspecified amount of time.
Example: The dinosaur asked her to wait awhile.
How you can tell when to use awhile or a while
Since awhile is an adverb (a word that describes a verb), you can replace it with another adverb. Let’ s use patiently.
Example: The dinosaur asked her to wait patiently.
However, note our first example. You can’t replace a while with an adverb, or else it looks funny:
It has been patiently since the dinosaur played checkers.
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So, if you replace awhile / a while with an adverb and the sentence still makes sense, then use awhile (one word). If it doesn’t make sense, use a while (two words).
Another trick is to look for the verb. If awhile comes directly after a verb, then it should be one word. Note our earlier example:
The dinosaur asked her to wait awhile.
You can see that awhile comes directly after the verb wait.
What about prepositional phrases?
If you see a preposition (such as for or in) before a while, make sure you have written a while as two words.
Example: The dinosaur asked her to wait for a while.
Example: The dinosaur said he’d come back in a while.
Quiz
Test your word choice skills with a little quiz. Replace the blank with either a while or awhile. The answers are at the bottom.
1. The dinosaur eyed his prey for _______.
2. The dinosaur hid ______ and eyed his prey
3. It had been _______ until the dinosaur made his attack.
Answers: 1. a while (because it’s in a prepositional phrase) 2. awhile (because it’s an adverb) 3. a while (because it’s a noun)
Erin Servais is happy to clear up word choice issues in your next manuscript. Learn how to hire her to be your book editor: www.dotanddashllc.com
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Grammar Party 
Next to the “like” button there should be a “love” button so I can both like and love this post.
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Thanks so much, Stef. If I knew HTML, maybe I could figure out how to change that. . . .
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Here’s a question:
Since “a while” is a noun, is it a countable noun, because it takes the indefinite singular article “a”? Surely it can’t be, because it can’t be pluralized, nor can it take the definite article “the”. I guess it’s just a noun phrase then, yeah? I should know this, shouldn’t I? Bleh, it’s too late.
Nice post! 🙂
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I would characterize it as an indefinite countable noun that can’t be plural. That is, you can count to one. It does take “the,” as in “all the while.”
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Found your blog through another blog that you had liked. I really like what I see here. And I’ve often wondered about a while and awhile – never knew there was a difference in usage because one was a noun and the other an adverb. Thanks for the education!
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You’re very welcome, Sue. Thanks for the kind words.
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You could do a whole post about the differences between single words and their two word equals.
If a man turns in to a motel, he’s probably just a commercial traveller. If a man turns into a motel, there was magic involved.
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Are you sure about the answer for question 3? Isn’t “been” a verb? Wouldn’t that make the answer “awhile”?
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