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Storyline, story line, or story-line?
Posted: 09 Feb 2019, 15:53
by Scott
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.
Re: Storyline, story line, or story-line?
Posted: 09 Feb 2019, 21:24
by Espie
Scott wrote: ↑09 Feb 2019, 15:53
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.
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%)
Re: Storyline, story line, or story-line?
Posted: 09 Mar 2021, 14:10
by Stephanie Mounce
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
Re: Storyline, story line, or story-line?
Posted: 12 Mar 2021, 05:25
by Stephanie Mounce
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.
Re: Storyline, story line, or story-line?
Posted: 12 Mar 2021, 07:20
by MrsCatInTheHat
Mounce574 wrote: ↑12 Mar 2021, 05:25
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.
Any of these are acceptable since all forms of English are acceptable.
Re: Storyline, story line, or story-line?
Posted: 02 Apr 2021, 18:32
by Manang Muyang
Mounce574 wrote: ↑12 Mar 2021, 05:25
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.
Both are correct. Remember to be consistent, though! One reviewer got dinged because they used both spellings in the same review.