Sometime everyday, may be
Since most English words are just spliced and modified smaller words, it's little wonder that people have urges to continue the tradition. But sometimes it leads to applications that are plainly wrong. The examples given in this section are not, as far as I am aware, dividing academics, but given a few years to fertilise, somebody with clout will cite them as acceptable.
We're talking here about words like "maybe" being used interchangeably with the phrase "may be"; "some time" becoming "sometime"; "everyday" replacing "every day". Examples are so common as to be almost unnoticeable, but wrong is wrong, and copy editors and proofreaders exist to right wrongs, not write them.
May be, maybe
"Maybe" is synonymous with "perhaps". "May be" is a subjunctive form of "is". The similarities in meaning and feel are obvious, but confusion makes for sloppy copy.
Sometime, some time
"Sometime" means former (Jean, 87, sometime under-80 pole-vault champion) or "at an undefined time" (Come up and see me sometime). "Some time" means "an amount of time", the amount itself depending on context (Mammals arrived some time after the dinosaurs; I need some time).
Everyday, every day
"Everyday" means "mundane", "common" (an everyday occurrence). "Every day" means "on each day" (Brush your teeth every day).
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