{"id":17463,"date":"2022-02-26T14:45:53","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T14:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=17463"},"modified":"2023-04-10T20:18:41","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T20:18:41","slug":"good-night-or-goodnight-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/good-night-or-goodnight-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Should &#8220;Good Night&#8221; be Written in One or Two Words? &#8211; Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:56.206088992974%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-2::before{padding-top:56.206088992974%; }img#mv-trellis-img-2{display:block;}img#mv-trellis-img-3::before{padding-top:150%; }img#mv-trellis-img-3{display:block;}<\/style><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether you&rsquo;re a civilian or a soldier, you can always show respect to others by carrying out a certain greeting behavior, notwithstanding the language you use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, whether you run into a friend, a family member, a boss, or a colleague, your short and sweet greeting will always be appreciated and admired.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although greeting people is pretty much a cakewalk in spoken contexts, spelling-related issues often come around and never fail to bother most, if not all, people in writing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, today, we will focus on making the expression &ldquo;good night&rdquo; (or &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo;) clearer in the mischievous world of written texts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shall we begin with a brief yet definitive answer?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Should &ldquo;good night&rdquo; be written in one or two words?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><strong>&ldquo;Good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; are acceptable spellings of the farewell expression used when bidding someone goodbye at night. However, &ldquo;good night&rdquo; is still largely considered as the standard spelling rather than &ldquo;goodnight.&rdquo; &ldquo;Goodnight&rdquo; is only typically used as an isolated exclamation phrase.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>&ldquo;Goodnight&rdquo; vs. &ldquo;Good night&rdquo;: Inspecting the grammar<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/time-is-a-flat-circle\/\"><b>Time is a flat circle<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and language per se is inherently ambiguous. So, it is our responsibility as rational beings to make languages more organized and intelligible in actual usage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the most effective ways of making language more systematic and meaningful are through linguistic disciplines like <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/syntax\/\" title=\"syntax\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">syntax<\/a>, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics among others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, whether we like it or not, some form of limitations pop out every once in a while in these fields, which makes languages even more interesting to explore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One question that bothers many people, natives and non-natives alike, is whether &ldquo;good night&rdquo; should be spelt separately or as one word.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To understand the grammatical constructs that govern this very issue, let us have a look at each of these two expressions one at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>&ldquo;Good night&rdquo;: The grammar and usage of the two-word variant<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18564\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant.jpg\" alt=\"Good Night The Two Word Variant\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant.jpg 854w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-735x413.jpg 735w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18564 eager-load\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20854%20480'%3E%3Crect%20width='854'%20height='480'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"Good Night The Two Word Variant\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant.jpg 854w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-Night-The-Two-Word-Variant-735x413.jpg 735w\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using &ldquo;good night&rdquo; as two separate words suggests the usage of a noun phrase that is composed of two parts. These parts include an adjective modifier and a noun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this noun phrase, the word &ldquo;good&rdquo; serves as an adjective that modifies the noun &ldquo;night&rdquo; by providing detail on its quality or attribute for the sake of making it more meaningful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Daisy, a <\/span><\/i><b><i>good night <\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">means &ldquo;having a bottle of whiskey while watching some zombie drama series.&rdquo;<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The example above shows how to particularly use the adjective &ldquo;good&rdquo; to modify the noun &ldquo;night,&rdquo; which follows the same rule when we say &ldquo;good morning&rdquo; or &ldquo;good afternoon.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, it is also possible to use &ldquo;good night&rdquo; as an isolated exclamation expression to shorten or truncate longer statements.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an example, if we are to put this exclamation in a larger chunk of information, particularly at the clausal level of sentences, we can simply think of the following statements:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example 1:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(shortened) <\/span><\/i><b><i>Good night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, America! We are signing off.&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(complete) (You) have a <\/span><\/i><b><i>good night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, America! We are signing off.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example 2:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(shortened) <\/span><\/i><b><i>Good night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Sam.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(complete) I hope you&rsquo;ll have a <\/span><\/i><b><i>good night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Sam.&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">since humans are intelligent enough to understand language use based on context, the complete versions of the statements above are oftentimes irrelevant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apparently, using &ldquo;have a good night&rdquo; or &ldquo;good night&rdquo; alone should suffice in most cases &ndash; not unless your addressee is on the other side of the world because it is likely daytime there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For that matter, the two-word variant should be the default expression to use when making it part of a longer statement in formal writing contexts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, noun phrases can also denote possessions or a sense of ownership; this construct is known as the genitive case or simply possessive nouns in grammar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When this concept is applied to &ldquo;good night,&rdquo; we may also form possessive noun expressions such as &ldquo;a good night&rsquo;s sleep&rdquo; and &ldquo;a good night&rsquo;s rest.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, we have to remember that the expression &ldquo;have a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">good night&rsquo;s<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> sleep&rdquo; is more grammatically correct than &ldquo;have a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">good night<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> sleep&rdquo; despite the understandability of the latter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be more precise, the meaning &ldquo;good sleep of a night&rdquo; is suggested by the possessive noun phrase &ldquo;a good night&rsquo;s sleep.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(correct) Have a <\/span><\/i><b><i>good night&rsquo;s sleep<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Teddy.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(incorrect) Have a <\/span><\/i><b><i>good night sleep<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Teddy.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clearly enough, the same idea can meanwhile be applied to the phrase <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/two-weeks-notice\/\"><b>&ldquo;two weeks&rsquo; notice&rdquo;<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which also means &ldquo;a notice of two weeks.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Should you want to know more about possessive nouns, please feel free to refer to our other relevant resource material tackling whether <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/businesss-or-business-difference-answer\/\"><b>&ldquo;business&rsquo;s&rdquo; or &ldquo;business&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the right choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that the grammatical details of the two-word variant &ldquo;good night&rdquo; have been made laid out, let us also delve deeper into the one-word variant &ldquo;goodnight.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>&ldquo;Goodnight&rdquo;: The grammar and usage of the one-word variant<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18566\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant.jpg\" alt=\"Goodnight-One-Word-Variant\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant.jpg 854w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-735x413.jpg 735w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18566 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant.jpg\" alt=\"Goodnight-One-Word-Variant\" width=\"854\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant.jpg 854w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant-735x413.jpg 735w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) calc(100vw - 20px), 720px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Goodnight-One-Word-Variant.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-2\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the one-word variant &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; is simply considered as an alternative spelling for &ldquo;good night.&rdquo; This variant is largely used for practical and casual-language related reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Resorting to the alternative spelling &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; in writing suggests informal language use, which is still possible albeit non-standard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;Goodnight&rdquo; is predominantly used as an isolated remark as a result of shortening longer expressions like &ldquo;you have a good night&rdquo; or &ldquo;I wish you a good night.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having said that, &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; are interchangeable when used as stand-alone exclamation expressions in written contexts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(correct) <\/span><\/i><b><i>&ldquo;Good night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,&rdquo; said Amy.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(correct) &ldquo;<\/span><\/i><b><i>Goodnight,&rdquo;<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said Amy.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make things clearer in the context of the one-word variant &ldquo;goodnight,&rdquo; here are two more examples making use of it:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>&ldquo;Goodnight,&rdquo;<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> she managed to say before dozing off.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Please tell Anna I said <\/span><\/i><b><i>&ldquo;goodnight.&rdquo;<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This single-word variant is a result of the morphological process called &ldquo;compounding&rdquo; or the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/web.mnstate.edu\/houtsli\/tesl551\/Morphology\/page6.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>word-formation process<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> based on two unlike words combined into one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More particularly, &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; is technically known as a &ldquo;closed compound&rdquo; type of word. This type can be made up of two or more words written as a single word to create new meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Written as single items, words like &ldquo;rainbow,&rdquo; &ldquo;peanut,&rdquo; and &ldquo;bedroom&rdquo; are other common examples of closed compounds like &ldquo;goodnight.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Closed compounds are the most productive among other types like open compounds (written as separate words) and hyphenated compounds (written with dashes or hyphens).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;Ice cream,&rdquo; &ldquo;police officer,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Christmas tree&rdquo; are open compounds, whereas &ldquo;son-in-law,&rdquo; &ldquo;five-year-old,&rdquo; and &ldquo;great-grandfather&rdquo; belong to the hyphenated type.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As has been noted earlier, &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; is best reserved as an isolated or solitary farewell expression as opposed to being part of a larger clause.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, on top of this usage, &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; may also further function as a modifier for other nouns in sentence construction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When this happens, its job is to identify the type of the noun being referred to. In simpler terms, it aims to answer the question &ldquo;What type of noun is being pointed out?&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apparently, nouns may also perform the job of adjectives when we create sentences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without hesitation, he gave her a <\/span><\/i><b><i>goodnight kiss<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all of a sudden.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you may figure, the nominal word &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; is used to identify the kind of &ldquo;kiss&rdquo; given to the indirect object &ldquo;her&rdquo; in the example above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Was the kiss just a peck? Which part of the body was kissed? How did she react? Well, there&rsquo;s no way for us to know the answers to these questions without further details.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, what we do have the ability to know is that the &ldquo;kiss&rdquo; was given some time in the &ldquo;evening&rdquo; rather than the other times of the day like in the morning or afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the way, people may have different definitions of the word &ldquo;evening.&rdquo; So, you may also want to discover <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/what-time-is-evening\/\"><b>what time evening is<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to understand it more deeply.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, we do know that the &ldquo;kiss&rdquo; was also &ldquo;good.&rdquo; We get to understand the message this way particularly because of the presence of the word &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; before the word &ldquo;kiss.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make things even clearer, here are other examples that make use of &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; as a <a href=\"https:\/\/learnenglish.britishcouncil.org\/grammar\/english-grammar-reference\/noun-modifiers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noun modifier<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I randomly sent him a <\/span><\/i><b><i>goodnight message<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is weird.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her mom used to sing her a <\/span><\/i><b><i>goodnight song<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> when she was young.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other examples of noun phrases that make use of nouns functioning as adjectives are &ldquo;criminal lawyer,&rdquo; &ldquo;football player,&rdquo; and &ldquo;basketball coach.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Other spellings of &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In some of your readings before, you must have encountered other variant spellings for &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; and wondered whether they are acceptable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just to be clear, &ldquo;good night&rdquo; is the standard spelling that should be used as a default expression in all cases, even as a stand-alone farewell expression.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, the variant spelling &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; should only be restricted either to the isolated use of the expression during farewells or as a noun that modifies another noun such as &ldquo;kiss,&rdquo; &ldquo;message,&rdquo; and &ldquo;song.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In even much less formal cases, though, variant spellings like &ldquo;good nite,&rdquo; &ldquo;gudnite,&rdquo; &ldquo;gudnyte,&rdquo; and even &ldquo;g&rsquo;nite&rdquo; may also be observed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These variations are used informally to appear more likeable and amiable, particularly by those people who share intimate relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That said, these variant spellings are best avoided when communicating with authority figures like superiors, professors, and clients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17480\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin.jpg\" alt=\"Good night vs. Goodnight Pin\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-512x768.jpg 512w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-640x960.jpg 640w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-720x1080.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17480 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin.jpg\" alt=\"Good night vs. Goodnight Pin\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-512x768.jpg 512w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-640x960.jpg 640w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin-720x1080.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Good-night-vs.-Goodnight-Pin.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-3\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>The other things you need to know about &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that we already know what the two-word variant &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and the single-word variant &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; are used for, let us also take things to other perspectives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some people wonder whether &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; are called &ldquo;greeting expressions.&rdquo; Actually, they are more specifically classified as &ldquo;farewell expressions&rdquo; instead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another common farewell expression in English is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/see-you-then\/\"><b>&ldquo;see you then&rdquo;<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which is also used when parting ways with another person but expecting to see that person again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the Irish expression <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/top-of-the-morning-to-you\/\"><b>&ldquo;top of the morning to you&rdquo;<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is what we can consider more as a greeting remark instead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;Good night&rdquo; is more widely used than &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; in the online corpora, thereby suggesting that the former is the standard choice, while the latter is less likely used in discourses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For that matter, using &ldquo;good night&rdquo; instead of &ldquo;good night&rdquo; should less likely invite criticism and confusion among readers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Alternative ways to say &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you think using &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; are not that suitable or are very formulaic, you may also make use of other alternative expressions in place of the two.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Note that the examples below are arranged in fairly decreasing formality order.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some of them:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>Have a pleasant night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Mr. Anderson.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>Sleep well<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Martin.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>Night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, dad.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>Night-night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, mom.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>Nighty-night<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Helen. See you soon!<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>Sleep tight<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, honey.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<div class=\"content-box-grey\"><b><i>Sweet dreams<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, dear.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Language is alive and dynamic. Hence, language is expected to change over time due to contributing factors like culture, technology, academic research, and even politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, language change happens for the purpose of meeting the needs or demands of its language users, who are also the very reason why languages exist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This very notion makes certain greeting, or more specifically, farewell expressions like &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;goodnight&rdquo; interesting to discuss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Frequently Asked Questions on &ldquo;Should &lsquo;Good Night&rsquo; be Written as One or Two Words&rdquo;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Is it grammatically correct to say &ldquo;a very good night&rdquo;?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;A very good night&rdquo; is a grammatically correct expression because it follows the established syntactic rules of the English language. This expression is used to describe the quality of the &ldquo;night&rdquo; to a high extent or degree.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>What is the difference between &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;good evening&rdquo;?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While &ldquo;good evening&rdquo; is typically used before any form of interaction with another person starts, &ldquo;good night&rdquo; is more likely used when the interaction is about to end, particularly in the evening. In other words, &ldquo;good evening&rdquo; is more like a greeting expression, but &ldquo;good night&rdquo; is more of a farewell expression.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>What are other examples of words that are commonly written either as one or two words?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&ldquo;Feedback&rdquo; and &ldquo;to feed back,&rdquo; &ldquo;someday&rdquo; and &ldquo;some day,&rdquo; &ldquo;anymore and any more,&rdquo; and &ldquo;everyday&rdquo; and &ldquo;every day&rdquo; are some other words that can be written either separately or as one word among others.<\/span><br>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"Is it grammatically correct to say &ldquo;a very good night&rdquo;?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"&ldquo;A very good night&rdquo; is a grammatically correct expression because it follows the established syntactic rules of the English language. This expression is used to describe the quality of the &ldquo;night&rdquo; to a high extent or degree.\"\n      }\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"What is the difference between &ldquo;good night&rdquo; and &ldquo;good evening&rdquo;?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"While &ldquo;good evening&rdquo; is typically used before any form of interaction with another person starts, &ldquo;good night&rdquo; is more likely used when the interaction is about to end, particularly in the evening. In other words, &ldquo;good evening&rdquo; is more like a greeting expression, but &ldquo;good night&rdquo; is more of a farewell expression.\"\n      }\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"What are other examples of words that are commonly written either as one or two words?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"&ldquo;Feedback&rdquo; and &ldquo;to feed back,&rdquo; &ldquo;someday&rdquo; and &ldquo;some day,&rdquo; &ldquo;anymore and any more,&rdquo; and &ldquo;everyday&rdquo; and &ldquo;every day&rdquo; are some other words that can be written either separately or as one word among others.\"\n      }\n    }\n  ]\n}\n<\/script><br>\n<!--FAQPage Code Generated by https:\/\/saijogeorge.com\/json-ld-schema-generator\/faq\/--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you&rsquo;re a civilian or a soldier, you can always show respect to others by carrying out a certain greeting behavior, notwithstanding the language you use. And, whether you run into a friend, a family member, a boss, or a colleague, your short and sweet greeting will always be appreciated and admired. Although greeting people &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"Article","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,1116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-grammar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17463"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24655,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17463\/revisions\/24655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}