Is "anytime" OK? | The Grammar Exchange

Andrew Van WagnerMember

I couldn't seem to get clarity from the NYT archive on this.

Here's my situation:

a former coworker who they play golf with and feel comfortable directly texting or calling anytime with questions

See here:

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/anytime-any-time/

A century ago, it was standard to write any time as two words in all contexts. But it’s now perfectly acceptable to write anytime as one word when you’re using it as an adverb. However, some readers still consider it a casualism, so you may want to stick to the two-word version for extremely formal writing.

7/26/224:48 PM

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

David, ModeratorModerator

Bryan Garner (Modern English Usage, 4th Ed., 2016) ranks anytime (adverb = at any time; whenever) at Level 5 ("fully accepted") in his Language Change Index, commenting as follows: "Some writers consider this term a casualism, but it is highly convenient and has—for whatever reason—gained more widespread acceptance than anymore (in positive contexts) and *anyplace" (p. 58).

Andrew Van WagnerMember

Thanks!

So my bolded example above can definitely be "anytime" (one word)?

And is Garner saying that you can literally do "anytime" anytime you want?

Add Reply

Sign In To Reply

<div id="{%=id%}" class="reveal-modal small h-alert-modal-popup" data-reveal>
    <div class="first-modal-focus focus-utility-element" tabindex="0" aria-label="Inside Modal"></div>

<h4 id="{%=id%}_title" class="margin-bottom-10 popup-title"></h4>
    <div id="{%=id%}_body" class="margin-bottom-10 popup-body">
        </div>

<ul id="{%=id%}ButtonGroup" class="button-group h-popup-buttons even-button-group even-1">
    <li id="{%=id%}Okay_buttonContainer"><a id="{%=id%}Okay" href="javascript:void(0);" class="button success no-margin-bottom h-alert-modal-ok-button" role="button">OK</a><script type="text/javascript">
        (function() {
            function {%=id%}Okay_click(event, data) {
            {%=id%}Popup.hide();
        }
        
                $('#{%=id%}Okay').on('click', {%=id%}Okay_click);
        })();
    </script></li></ul><a href="javascript:void(0);" class="close-reveal-modal" aria-label="Close Modal">&#215;</a><div class="last-modal-focus focus-utility-element" tabindex="0"></div>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
        (function() {
            {%=id%}Popup = new SS.Popup.ModalPopup('{%=id%}');
        })();
    </script>