Quote vs. Quotation, Invite vs. Invitation

Quote vs. Quotation, Invite vs. Invitation Quote vs. Quotation, Invite vs. Invitation Quote vs. Quotation, Invite vs. Invitation By Maeve Maddox One of my college professors insisted that quote is a verb and quotation is a noun and never the twain shall meet. For example, a writer quotes from an author, but the quoted material is a quotation, never â€Å"a quote.† Although I still observe the distinction in my own writing, I have become aware that both the OED and Merriam-Webster recognize the use of quote as a noun. Most English words ending in -tion have French cognates, for example: information, confirmation, and position. Such words came into English in the Middle Ages from French. In M.E. the ending of these French borrowings was spelled -cioun; later the ending came to be spelled -tion in both languages. Through the centuries, many -tion words have lost their endings, and more are in the process of doing so. English words ending in -tion tend to lose the suffix when the first part of the word retains the word’s meaning without it. Here are some shortened -tion nouns that have become accepted into standard English: quote from quotation ID or I.D. from identification insert from insertion Here are some that the OED still labels colloquial or slang: invite from invitation info from information admin from administration prep from preparation promo from promotion (in the sense of publicity) ammo from ammunition NOTE: M-W does not agree with OED on all of the shortened -tion words. For example, while M-W labels the noun invite â€Å"chiefly dialectal,† it admits ammo as a standard word. OED does not have an entry for specs with the meaning specifications, but M-W has. Many speakers cringe when they hear or read invite used as a noun, but the tendency to drop -tion when the rest of the word is sufficiently meaningful without it, is strong in English. I may not like hearing invite used as a noun, but enough speakers use it that way for it to make a comeback. Yes, comeback: 1659  Ã‚   H. LEstrange Alliance Divine Offices 326  Ã‚   Bishop Cranmer..gives him an earnest invite to England. OED documentation. A second tendency with -tion words that I find it difficult to accept with equanimity concerns verbs. The function of the suffix -tion is to change a verb into a noun: examine/examination, locate/location, converse/conversation, interpret/interpretation. Some speakers, however, perhaps because they are not familiar with the underlying verb, create a new verb via back formation. For these speakers, orientation become orientate; interpretation becomes interpretate, and conversation becomes conversate. NOTE: Back-formation is the formation of what looks like a root-word from an already existing word which might be (but is not) a derivative of the former. Of the words I just listed, orientate has become standard in British English, but it is still regarded as nonstandard in American English. Interpretate does appear in the OED, but it is labelled â€Å"rare or obsolete†; the most recent example of its use is dated 1866. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Idioms About Legs, Feet, and ToesDoes "Mr" Take a Period?20 Ways to Cry

Cholera Map of Dr. John Snow

Cholera Map of Dr. John Snow In the mid-1850s, doctors and scientists knew there was a deadly disease called the cholera poison rampaging through London, but they werent sure how it was being transmitted. Dr. John Snow used mapping and other techniques that would later be known as medical geography to confirm that the transmission of the disease occurred by swallowing contaminated water or food. Dr. Snows mapping of the 1854 cholera epidemic has saved countless lives. The Mysterious Disease While we now know that this cholera poison is spread by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, scientists in the early 19th century thought it was spread by miasma (bad air).  Without knowing how an epidemic spreads, there is no way to stop it. When a cholera epidemic occurred, it was deadly. Since cholera is an infection of the small intestine, it results in extreme diarrhea. This often leads to massive dehydration, which can create sunken eyes and blue skin. Death can occur within hours. If treatment is given quickly enough, the disease can be overcome by giving the victim a lot of fluids, either by mouth or intravenously. In the 19th century, there were no cars or telephones and so getting quick treatment was often difficult. What London needed was someone to figure out how this deadly disease spread. The 1849 London Outbreak While Cholera has existed in Northern India for centuries (and it is from this region that regular outbreaks are spread) it was the London outbreaks that brought cholera to the attention of British physician Dr. John Snow. In an 1849 cholera outbreak in London, a large proportion of the victims received their water from two water companies. Both of these water companies had the source of their water on the Thames River, just downstream from a sewer outlet. Despite this coincidence, the prevailing belief of the time was that it was bad air that was causing the deaths. Dr. Snow felt differently, believing that the disease was caused by something ingested. He wrote down his theory in the essay, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, but neither the public nor his peers were convinced. The 1854 London Outbreak When another cholera outbreak hit the Soho area of London in 1854, Dr. Snow found a way to test his ingestion theory. Dr. Snow plotted the distribution of deaths in London on a map. He determined that an unusually high number of deaths were taking place near a water pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street). Snows findings led him to petition the local authorities to remove the pumps handle. This was done and the number of cholera deaths was dramatically reduced. The pump had been contaminated by a dirty baby diaper that had leaked the cholera bacteria into the water supply. Cholera Is Still Deadly Although we now know how cholera is spread and have found a way to treat patients who have it, cholera is still a very deadly disease. Striking quickly, many people with cholera dont realize how serious their situation is until it is too late. Also, new inventions such as airplanes have aided the spread of cholera, letting it surface in parts of the world where cholera has otherwise been eradicated. According to the World Health Organization, there are up to 4.3 million cases of cholera each year, with approximately 142,000 deaths. Medical Geography The work of Dr. Snow stands out as one of the most famous and earliest cases of medical geography, where geography and maps are utilized to understand the spread of disease. Today, specially trained medical geographers and medical practitioners routinely use mapping and advanced technology to understand the diffusion and spread of diseases such as AIDS and cancer. A map is not just an effective tool for finding the right place, it can also save a life.