Storyline, story line, or story-line?
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Storyline, story line, or story-line?
Which of the following are correct or incorrect?
1. The book has a great storyline.
2. The book has a great story-line.
3. The book has a great story line.
Please provide a citation or an explanation for your answers.
1. The book has a great storyline.
2. The book has a great story-line.
3. The book has a great story line.
Please provide a citation or an explanation for your answers.
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Espie
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I am inclined to say that sentences 1 and 3 are correct.
a. References that say the word is correct are the following:
Sentence 1: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dic ... /storyline (American), https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dic ... /storyline (British), and https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/storyline.
Sentence 2: None.
Sentence 3: https://www.merriam-webster.com/diction ... e#examples.
b. The following are the usage frequency data based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English website, https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/:
Sentence 1: 651 (37%)
Sentence 2: 22 (1%)
Sentence 3: 1,072 (61%)
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I have 3 grammar/spelling checkers that I tried this with. 2 say storyline. One said story line.
I don't know which one is correct
I don't know which one is correct
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Stephanie Mounce
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Merriam Webster says story line
British dictionary says the storyline
Oxford language says story line
Grammarly says storyline
Scribens says story line
Online text editor says storyline
I don't have a clue the direction to go from here.
British dictionary says the storyline
Oxford language says story line
Grammarly says storyline
Scribens says story line
Online text editor says storyline
I don't have a clue the direction to go from here.
"Facts don't care about feelings." Ben Shapiro
"If you aren't paranoid, then it's already too late." Marilyn Manson
"If you aren't paranoid, then it's already too late." Marilyn Manson
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Any of these are acceptable since all forms of English are acceptable.
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Both are correct. Remember to be consistent, though! One reviewer got dinged because they used both spellings in the same review.
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