The word "a little bit": how is it spelled? You can find out the answer to this question from this article. In addition, we will tell you about which part of speech such an expression belongs to, as well as what rule it falls under.
General information
The word "a little bit" raises doubts among most people who use it in a letter. And this is not surprising. Indeed, not every person who has long graduated from a general educational institution can recall the rule that explains the spelling of this expression. However, one thing should be noted that this word can be written either through a hyphen or separately. That is, there is no question of its unity in this article.
We determine the part of speech
The word "a little bit": how is it written in the text? In order to answer the question posed, we need to determine the part of speech to which this expression refers. After all, this is the only way to find a suitable rule of the Russian language, which will explain its spelling.
So, to determine the part of speech, we need to ask the corresponding question to this word. So that this does not cause any difficulties, we give an example sentence where this expression is involved:
"We (a little) cut off a little sweet cake, and left the rest for tomorrow."
In this example, the word “a little bit” answers the question “how much?” And also has the meaning “a little”. According to the Russian language, this expression is an adverb and stands for measure and degree.
Basic rule
Adverb "a little bit": how to spell it right? To answer this question, you need to find exactly the rule that will explain the separate writing of this part of speech or through a hyphen. Let's consider in order.
Separate spelling of adverbs
Such spelling of adverbs, as well as any adverbial combinations can be determined by tradition or depend on how this part of speech was formed.
So, we write separately if:
- An adverb was formed from another adverb and is a combination of a preposition with an immutable word, which is used in the meaning of a noun. For example: the pies went off with a bang, reduce communication to nothing, pass the session perfectly.
- The dialect was formed from the numeral; it has the preposition “by” and the collective numeral (three, four, etc.).
- An adverb was formed from a pronoun with a preposition (on this issue, on that case, etc.).
- The dialect was formed from the adjective in the case form and the preposition (in the open).
- An adverb was formed on behalf of a noun in homonymous form with a preposition (from the beginning or from the beginning).
Remember
Among other things, you need to remember that the following adverbs are always written separately: for centuries, to the place, not to hurry, to no avail, to no avail, without a twinge of conscience, without restraint, to the cut, to the drop, to death, to the dump, with pantalyk, with a condachka, in excess, under the hood, with a run, under the match, with evil, under the arm, with a fright, with a sweep, under the nose, under the hood, etc.
As you may have noticed, the above rule does not include the word “a little bit”. How to spell this expression, you can already guess now. After all, if it cannot be used in the text separately, then, therefore, it is written through a hyphen. But in order to be convinced of this, another rule of the Russian language should be similarly considered.
When is a hyphen set?
Adverbs are written with a hyphen in the following cases:
- If they are formed from pronouns-adjectives or full adjectives using the prefix-suffix method (with suffixes -em, -om, -i and prefix -po). Here is a good example: in a different, truly human way, in English, in French, in fox, etc.
- If an adverb was formed from an ordinal numeral using the prefix-suffix method (with prefixes in- or in- and suffixes of -th or -th. We give a clear example: firstly, thirdly, secondly, fifthly, in -fifties, etc.
- If the adverb has the prefix something and postfix, either, then, then, somehow. For example, for some reason, somehow, sometime, someday, well, somewhere, all the same, somewhere, etc.
- If an adverb was formed by repeating:
- the same word (barely, barely, just about);
- synonyms (from the bay-flounder, at the very least, I’ll pick up-late, unexpectedly;
- the same root, which was complicated by suffixes and prefixes (just, apparently, invisibly, after all, little by little, willy-nilly, a long time ago).
“A little bit”: how is this word spelled? From the presented rule, it becomes clear that this expression should be written only through a hyphen. After all, such an adverb was formed by repeating the same word. Therefore, it is necessary to write correctly: “We cut off a little sweet cake, and left the rest for tomorrow . ”
To summarize
Similarly, you can explain the spelling of absolutely any word. The main thing in this case is to determine its part of speech, and also to consider all those rules that may be directly related to it.