![]() ![]() Users can search in one or more fields, depending on the criteria. Users choose from seven different search fields, including entry word, pronunciation, grammatical function, usage, etymology, date, and definition fields. The product also includes a spelling corrector: if the desired word does not appear, the spelling corrector lists alternatives from which to choose. When the desired word appears, the user can select it from the list without another keystroke. In addition to its treatment of the general vocabulary, the electronic edition includes coverage for more than 6,000 biographical entries, 9,000 geographical entries, 3,000 abbreviations, and 600 foreign words and phrases.Īs the user starts to type, a box opens on the screen that shows the works that begin with the typed letters and then homes in on the desired word as the user adds more letters. The dictionary is easily accessed so that the spelling and meanings of words can be found quickly. The electronic edition, based on the Tenth Edition of the Collegiate Dictionary, contains more than 160,000 entries and features sophisticated search capabilities, spelling correction, and electronic cross-referencing. Merriam-Webster has released the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Electronic Edition on CD-ROM. Directory of Public Libraries in the United Kingdom.Directory of Public Libraries in the United States.Academic Law Libraries in the United States.Independent Research Libraries Association.Society of College, National and University Libraries.Association of Southeastern Research Libraries.And if you still feel bad about your spelling allow us to give you some comforting words on the subject, taken from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage: “Our present-day spelling, then, is a mishmash of archaism, reform, error, and accident, and it is unsurprising that not everyone who is heir to the tradition can handle it perfectly. There are examples of cancelled in American use, and of canceled in British, so you needn’t feel bad about yourself if you mistakenly use the variant that is less common where you live. Webster’s 1806 dictionary has cancelled, but in his 1828 the word is spelled as canceled. ![]() However, while Webster’s early 19th century dictionaries helped solidify many of the spelling differences between these forms of English, in most cases he was simply making note of an orthographic variation that already existed. It is easy, as with the case of many of the words which are spelled differently in the US, to place the blame/credit with Noah Webster. However, if the stress does not come on the syllable that attaches to the suffix then the final consonant is not doubled (as is the case with edit/edited/editing). As explained by Lynne Murphy, American and British English have many similar habits when it comes to past and present participles: both double the final consonant of a word when it follows a short vowel and has the stress on the syllable attached to the suffix (such as remit/remitted/remitting). Canceled and canceling are more common in the US, while cancelled and cancelling are more common in British English. The simple answer to the question of ‘is it canceled or cancelled’ is “either one is fine.” American EnglishĪnother fine example that has answers of varying degrees of complexity is the question of how many Ls one should use in the past or present participle form of the verb cancel. For instance, the question of whether funner is a word may be answered in the following ways: ‘of course it’s a word, and don’t you have better things to worry about?’ and ‘while most dictionaries consider this a word, your own feelings on the matter are likely dictated by whether or not you feel that the word fun has assumed enough of an adjectival state to merit its comparative and superlative forms.’ It can be useful to have two types of answers like this, as it makes it far more likely that we can provide an answer that will annoy everyone. Many questions about grammar and usage have two answers, a simple one and one that is not so simple. Some blame and some credit go to Noah Webster.
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