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Post by Paul Doherty on May 3, 2008 16:20:20 GMT
9. GENERALLY
There is no single authority which mandates what is right and wrong in the English language, so words like wrong and incorrect are best avoided. Indeed, the word rules is best avoided -- language rules are actually conventions. Usage which has become widely accepted is by definition correct (although we'd be better to say standard or accepted) even if it's not what we were taught at school.
Sometimes there are two or more acceptable ways of doing something: jail or gaol; St Thomas' Hospital or St James's Park. We can have preferences, of course.
Dictionaries exist to record usage; style guides exist to help choose between acceptable alternatives.
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