Language, like life, evolves. Often the changes are slow, almost imperceptible, happening to the spellings and pronunciations and meanings for just a handful of words at any given time. Every time is one such word in transition, as it increasingly is spelled as one word, everytime.
That every time is undergoing change is not surprising as similar words – every where, every day, and every one – are now commonly spelled as everywhere, everyday, and everyone.
And while everytime is more common, that spelling hasn’t quite gained universal acceptance. Most editors and grammarians would change it to every time as in Every time you smoke a cigarette, you lose 7-11 minutes of your life.
So, for the time being, stick with tradition and spell the word as every time.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.