Is it enquiry or inquiry?

I read recently businesses need more inquiries. I thought the last thing a business needs is an inquiry. Whilst in America there’s only the single spelling inquiry, in Australia the words are different and are used in slightly different ways. The word inquiry is used more in a legal sense, such as the government held an inquiry. The spelling enquiry, is used in a less formal situation, such as when you go to a store and wish to make an enquiry. Businesses want more enquiries, but shouldn’t be so keen for an inquiry.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au
The preferred Australian English spelling.

Is the spelling co-operation or cooperation?

Over time our language changes. It is hard to imagine anyone spelling the words today or tomorrow as to-day and to-morrow, but if you read an early copy of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to-day and to-morrow is how Lewis Carroll spelt today and tomorrow.

If you read a dictionary from the 80s you’ll see cooperation spelt as co-operation with a hyphen. Times change, styles change. Today the preferred spelling of cooperation is without a hyphen.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au
The preferred Australian English spelling.

Is the spelling Organisation or Organization?

In this post we discuss the words Organisation and Organization. I’ve capitalised the words for a particular reason. First we need to consider the ise versus ize spelling. Both spelling variations are valid in Australia. The most commonly used and thus the preferred spelling, is Organisation using the ise spelling .

A common error made by media companies is to use the ise spelling when referring to the World Health Organization. In this case to use the ise spelling is incorrect. WHO, the Word Health Organization, spells its name with a z. It isn’t correct to change the spelling of the name of an organisation.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au
The preferred Australian English spelling.

Is the spelling practice or practise?

The words ‘practice' and ‘practise' are very tricky for many people to master. Practice with a ‘c’ is the noun and practise with an ’s’ is the verb. As an example, 'you go to practice to practise'. The idiom “practice makes perfect” doesn’t quite look right, but is correct. A common error is the use of 'Accounting Practise' to refer to the firm or company, which should in Australia be 'Accounting Practice'.

When reading articles on the internet keep in mind the American spelling is always ‘practice”, for both the noun and the verb. You’ll sometimes find incorrect usage as articles may be sourced from overseas, or the journalist themselves may originally be from America.

Kelvin Eldridge

www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au

The preferred Australian English spelling.

Is the spelling forego or forgo?

This is actually a trick question. Like the words to, too and two, forego and forgo are known as homonyms. Two or more words that sound same, that are spelt the same or differently, but have different meanings.

Forgo has the meaning to go without and forego has the meaning to precede. A couple of tips to help remember when to use which spelling are: forgo has no e, so goes without, forgo starts with the same letters as does forget, whereas forego starts with the same letters as before.

Forego is listed as a secondary spelling variation of forgo. This would appear to be because so many people incorrectly use forego when they actually mean forgo, that the spelling becomes recognised as a secondary spelling variation.

The following sentences show the different usage. When dieting I will forgo dessert. Often soup will forego the main course.

Because forgo and forego are so similar, it’s a foregone conclusion people may confuse the two words.

Kelvin Eldridge

www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au

The preferred Australian English spelling.

Is the spelling Aging or Ageing?

Whether it’s debtors ageing/aging or ageism/agism in business, a search of the internet reveals around a third of articles on Australian sites use the secondary spelling aging. The American spelling is aging without the ‘e’, but in Australia there are two spelling variations.

According to both the Macquarie and Oxford dictionaries, the preferred Australian English spelling is ageing with an ‘e’. Aging without the ‘e’ is listed as a secondary spelling.

Kelvin Eldridge

www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au

The preferred Australian English spelling.

Word of the Month appearing in Credit Matters newsletter celebrates nearly 3 years of articles.

Sometimes when we look back we wonder where has the time gone. Today I was writing my latest Word of the Month for the Credit Matters newsletter. Much to my surprise I'd written 33 Word of the Month articles. That's three years of Word of the Month articles. Where has the time gone?

The following are the artiles which have so far appeared in the Credit Matters newsletter. Many of these articles have also been published in this blog.

debateable or debatable
nana or nanna
disruptor or disrupter
adaptor or adapter
“awhile” or "a while"
learnt or learned
driver’s licence, drivers’ licence, drivers licence, or driver licence
pre recession, prerecession or pre-recession
veranda or verandah
forego or forgo
in-store, in store, or instore
Labor or Labour
program or programme
grey or gray
business person or businessperson
Aging or Ageing
disorganised or unorganised
Fathers Day, Father’s Day, or Fathers’ Day
curb or kerb
percent or per cent
defence or defense
licence plate or license plate
ensuite or en suite
cash flow, cash-flow or cashflow
comradery or camaraderie
doughnut or donut
judgment or judgement
spellchecker or spell checker
enquiry or inquiry
thank you or thankyou
co-operation or cooperation
Organisation and Organization
practice and practise

Hundreds of people have read these articles and it is my hope people have enjoyed reading about words which they may also have trouble with. Hopefully the articles have added value to people's lives.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au
The preferred Australian English spelling.