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Subject:Re: QUESTION: British vs. American spelling From:Joe Miller <joemiller -at- CANBERRA -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 4 Nov 1997 15:41:50 -0500
Ed,
>How about "preventive maintenance" or "preventative maintenance" ? My
>British and Australian colleagues insist on the latter. I believe that
>"preventative' is the noun form and should not be used in this way (as an
>adjective).
The Merriam-Websters Tenth New Collegiate Dictionary calls "preventative"
both an adjective and a noun (first used ca. 1666), and defines it as
"preventive".
Though I have noticed a fairly recent trend in the US to use "preventive",
this dictionary says "it's a distinction without a difference".
