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**baqir** · 09-30-2006, 09:07 AM

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**soubiri** · 09-30-2006, 09:34 AM

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**soubiri** · 09-30-2006, 08:31 PM

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**baqir** · 10-01-2006, 04:48 PM

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**soubiri** · 10-01-2006, 08:29 PM

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**baqir** · 10-02-2006, 04:42 AM

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A website could be written a web site, according to Associated Press guidelines.However, these guidlines are not applicable in research methodology.
Website or web site is always written in small letters, but it has to follow the rules of capitalization.

**soubiri** · 10-02-2006, 10:02 PM

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Is 'snuck', as the past tense of 'sneak', a real word?There is a helpful summary in The New Fowler's Modern English Usage by R.W. Burchfield (OUP 1998): sneak (verb) Its origins are shrouded in mystery ... From the beginning, and still in standard British English, the past tense and past participle forms are sneaked. Just as mysteriously, in a little more than a century, a new past tense form, snuck, has crept and then rushed out of dialectal use in America, first into the areas of use that lexicographers label jocular or uneducated, and more recently, has reached the point where it is a virtual rival of sneaked in many parts of the English-speaking world. But not in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Britain</place></country-region>, where it is unmistakably taken to be a jocular or non-standard form. Bryan A. Garner calls snuck 'nonstandard' in his Dictionary of Modern American Usage (OUP 1998). Some British dictionaries provide usage notes warning against the use of 'snuck'.

**baqir** · 10-03-2006, 12:38 PM

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Yes, "snuck" is a real word, although it has always been classified as "substandard English." "Snuck" first appeared in the 19th century as a regional variant of "sneaked," and is still considered colloquial English, but is apparently gaining in respectability among literate folk.

**soubiri** · 10-03-2006, 09:12 PM

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Is it acceptable to use 'backwards' instead of 'backward'?This is a point on which British and <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">US</place></country-region> usage differs. Here is advice from two usage guides. R.W. Burchfield, The New Fowler's Modern English Usage (OUP 1998): backward(s) in most adverbial uses, backward and backwards are interchangeable, but usage varies subtly from person to person and from region to region. It is broadly true to say that in North America backward seems to be somewhat more usual than backwards, and in Britain the other way round ... As an adjective, the only form used is backward (without a backward glance). Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern American Usage (OUP <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">USA</place></country-region> 1998): Directional words A. The suffix -ward(s) In AmE, the preferred practice is to use the -ward form of directional words, as in toward, forward, westward. Words ending in -ward may be either adjectives or adverbs, whereas words ending in -wards, common in BrE, may be adverbs only ... Two exceptions in AmE are the adverbs afterwards and backwards, which are almost universally used in preference to afterward and backward. It's anomalous that most people say forward but backwards. The Oxford English Dictionary records that backwards has been in use in English since the 16th century.

**soubiri** · 10-03-2006, 09:12 PM

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Is it acceptable to use 'backwards' instead of 'backward'?This is a point on which British and <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">US</place></country-region> usage differs. Here is advice from two usage guides. R.W. Burchfield, The New Fowler's Modern English Usage (OUP 1998): backward(s) in most adverbial uses, backward and backwards are interchangeable, but usage varies subtly from person to person and from region to region. It is broadly true to say that in North America backward seems to be somewhat more usual than backwards, and in Britain the other way round ... As an adjective, the only form used is backward (without a backward glance). Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern American Usage (OUP <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">USA</place></country-region> 1998): Directional words A. The suffix -ward(s) In AmE, the preferred practice is to use the -ward form of directional words, as in toward, forward, westward. Words ending in -ward may be either adjectives or adverbs, whereas words ending in -wards, common in BrE, may be adverbs only ... Two exceptions in AmE are the adverbs afterwards and backwards, which are almost universally used in preference to afterward and backward. It's anomalous that most people say forward but backwards. The Oxford English Dictionary records that backwards has been in use in English since the 16th century.

**soubiri** · 10-04-2006, 09:30 PM

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<h3 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="left">Should one say unorganized or disorganized?</h3>The answer is 'it depends'. Here are the relevant definitions from the New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998): disorganized not properly planned and controlled; (of a person) unable to plan one's activities efficiently. unorganized not organized. Disorganized is strong and disapproving; unorganized is mild and may be neutral. Compare: Her desk and papers seemed unorganized (but she could find anything she needed in a moment). Her desk and papers were disorganized (and she could never lay her hands on what she needed).

**soubiri** · 10-06-2006, 03:17 PM

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<h3 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="left">What is the correct or more usual written form when writing the time - a.m., am, or A.M.? </h3>British style, as laid down in the Oxford Guide to Style, is <metricconverter w:st="on" ProductID="7.30 a">7.30 a</metricconverter>.m. There is a note that in Scandinavia, <place w:st="on">North America</place>, and elsewhere the full point between the numerals is replaced by a colon (as on digital watches and clocks). The greatest simplicity is achieved by use of the 24-hour clock: 07.30.

**soubiri** · 10-07-2006, 09:23 PM

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<h3 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="left">What is the difference between these and those, e.g. Sonny has many qualities worth recognizing, and the purpose of this letter is to point out two of these/those qualities. </h3> These/those are the plural forms of this/that, and behave in the same way. As a determiner this is used to identify a specific person or thing close at hand or being experienced. As a determiner that refers to the more distant of two things near to the speaker, or to a specific thing previously mentioned. So in the context mentioned these would be best.

**soubiri** · 10-08-2006, 09:20 PM

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<h3 style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" align="left">What is the distinction between enquire and inquire?</h3>The traditional distinction between enquire and inquire is that enquire is to be used for general senses of 'ask', while inquire is reserved for uses meaning 'make a formal investigation'. In practice, however, enquire (and enquiry) is more common in British English while inquire (and inquiry) is more common in US English, but otherwise there is little discernible distinction in the way the words are used.

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