Thursday, December 20, 2012

Inquire vs Enquire

I've never been sure of the correct usage of 'enquire' so I finally looked it up...and it turns out it's only relevant in Britain, as "enquire" is rarely used in American English.

According to the Oxford dictionary:

The traditional distinction...is that enquire is used for general senses of 'ask' while inquire is reserved for uses meaning 'make a formal investigation'. In all senses inquire and inquiry are the more usual forms in US English, whereas enquire and enquiry are chiefly restricted to British English.

I think "chiefly" is also chiefly British...


No comments: