The difference between “every day” and “everyday” is that the former means “each day” while the latter means “ordinary”. To determine which to use, substitute “ordinary” or “every” in the sentence. Confusing them is a common grammar mistake.
The difference between “every day” and “every day” is quite simple, and there is a simple rule of thumb that people can use to determine which phrase would be a good fit. In short, “daily” is an adjective that describes something ordinary or mundane, while the phrase “every day” means “every day”. Confusing these two is a very common grammar mistake, but it can usually be avoided.
It should be easy enough to determine which of these sentences is correct once you understand what each means; however, a writer can substitute “every day” and see if it works in the sentence. For example, if a person can’t decide whether the “train goes every day” or the “train goes every day,” he might instead use “every” and say “the train goes every day.” In this case, the correct sentence is “every day”, because it describes an event that occurs every day. On the other hand, “the passing of the train is an everyday event” does not work like “the passing of the train is an everyday event”.
Instead of using “every day,” a person can also substitute “ordinary” in a sentence. A sentence like “I go grocery shopping” doesn’t sound right, so it has to be “I go grocery shopping every day”. On the other hand, the phrase “a trip to the post office is an ordinary event” sounds perfectly normal, so the correct word is “every day”. Keeping the meanings of these terms in mind, most people find it extremely difficult to confuse them.
By being aware of the difference between the two terms, people may find themselves noticing them used incorrectly more often, especially in grocery stores, which are notorious for curious grammatical errors. Many people, including highly educated people, don’t always think about the words and phrases they use, so this common misconception can be found in newspapers and even books, despite the fact that these publications are regularly edited by a team of people to catch such errors.
Incidentally, the word “everyday” appears to date back to the early 1600s, when it was used to describe informal dress, differentiating such attire from the formal attire worn at church and large events. The sense of “ordinary” emerged about 150 years later, while “whenever” and “however” also enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the 1800s, but never caught on.
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