Haven’t seen this for a while

It’s been a long while since I’ve seen this mistake on Yahoo!. This time it’s from Yahoo! News‘ “Who Knew”:

If you’re looking for the right word after a preposition like for or in, use a while; awhile never follows a preposition.

Once in a while, you make a mistake

Once in a while a mistake appears on the Yahoo! front page:

Ha-ha! I was kidding. I am a kidder. Mistakes appear on yahoo.com every day. This time it’s the use of the adverb awhile following a preposition like in or for. The correct form is a while.

Writing is a tough

Writing is difficult for some people, even professionals. Writing correctly is impossible for some people, even professionals. For the writer of the Yahoo! TV blog “Primetime in No Time” writing without error proves impossible.

There’s some confusion here about the use of the apostrophe: It’s missing in the possessive host’s, but wrong when included in the plural VCRs and misplaced in what should be ’80s:

If the title of the show doesn’t include a question mark, don’t put it before the closing quotation mark. I haven’t seen this other mistake in a while: If it comes after a preposition (like in, after, or for), use the two-word a while, not awhile:

Writing is a tough. Isn’t it?

Spelling Gordon Ramsay’s name is a tough, too.

Writing is a tough for some people.

Did the writer fall unconscious?

Some time while writing for Yahoo! TV‘s “Daytime in No Time,” the writer may have lost consciousness. She almost made it through this sentence, until she stumbled:

After a preposition (like for), she should have used a while. Easy mistake to make, I guess. But it looks like the writer had fallen unconscious (or simply fell unconscious) when writing this gem:

Perhaps she was still recovering when she wrote this:

Good thing Yahoo! doesn’t require accuracy from its writers. Cuz this writer would have shown the door with that misspelling of Jaden Smith.

It happens once in a while

Every once in a while, there’s an error on the Yahoo! front page:

The word awhile is an adverb meaning “for a short time or period.” Let’s hope we don’t see this usage again for a while.

Once in a while you goof

Once in a while even the best of writers makes a mistake. Take this snippet from Yahoo! Tech:

The writer should have used a while. Awhile, an adverb meaning “for a short time,” is never preceded by a preposition like in and for.

Forget about this for a while

I’m thinking we’ll wait awhile for the next homophonous slip-up from Yahoo! Movies:

While awhile is an adverb, while can be a noun or a conjunction. And a while can follow a preposition, while awhile can’t.

After a while, you become oblivious. Almost

There’s lots and lots of grammatical, spelling, and other language errors on the Web. After a while, you almost become oblivious to them. But some are so blatant that they beg for comment, like this from Yahoo! omg!:

The word awhile is an adverb and can never follow a preposition. If you’re looking for the right word to follow for, in, or after, try two words instead: a while.

Thinking about it for a while

Once in a while, a writer uses awhile (which is an adverb) when a while (an article and noun) is called for. Case in point, this blurb from Yahoo! Shine:

As an adverb, awhile is never preceded by a preposition such as for or in. Think about this awhile or for a while, and choose the correct word.