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