a while and awhile
"Awhile" and "a while" both mean "a period of time," but "awhile" is an adverb, and "a while" is a noun with an article.
After a preposition we need the noun form.
- After a while Smedley got tired of waiting.
- He decided to play pool for a while.
- Once in a while Smedley came to work on time.
We need the noun form after a linking verb.
It will be a while before you can get an appointment.
We need the noun form to function as a direct object after a transitive verb.
It will take a while to get used to our way of doing things.
If the word clearly modifies a verb, we need the adverb form:
- He was going to wait awhile before he made a decision.
- He loitered around the office awhile before he went home.
BUT: He loitered around the office for a while before he went home.
back to confused and misused