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Inquiry vs Quotation - What's the difference?

inquiry | quotation |

As nouns the difference between inquiry and quotation

is that inquiry is the act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning while quotation is a fragment of a human expression that is repeated exactly by somebody else most often a quotation is taken from literature or speech, but scenes from a movie, elements of a painting, a passage of music, etc, may be quoted.

inquiry

Alternative forms

* enquiry

Noun

(inquiries)
  • The act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning.
  • Search for truth, information, or knowledge; examination of facts or principles; research; investigation; as, physical inquiries.
  • Usage notes

    According to Fowler's Modern English Usage'' (1926), ''inquiry'' should be used in relation to a formal inquest, and ''enquiry'' to the act of questioning. Many (though not all) British writers maintain this distinction; the Oxford English Dictionary, in its entry not updated since 1900, lists ''inquiry'' and ''enquiry'' as equal alternatives, in that order. Some British dictionaries, such as ''Chambers 21st Century Dictionary'' [http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?title=21st&query=inquiry], present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general sense, but prefer ''inquiry'' for the "formal inquest" sense. In Australian English, ''inquiry'' represents a formal inquest (such as a government investigation) while ''enquiry'' is used in the act of questioning (eg: the customer enquired about the status of his loan application). Both spellings are current in Canadian English, where ''enquiry'' is often associated with scholarly or intellectual research. (See Pam Peters, ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage , p. 282.) American English usually uses inquiry .

    References

    *

    quotation

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fragment of a human expression that is repeated exactly by somebody else. Most often a quotation is taken from literature or speech, but scenes from a movie, elements of a painting, a passage of music, etc., may be quoted.
  • "Where they burn books, they will also burn people" is a famous quotation from Heinrich Heine.
  • The act of naming a price; the price that has been quoted.
  • Let's get a quotation for repairing the roof before we decide whether it's worth doing.

    Synonyms

    * quote * citation

    Derived terms

    * quotation mark * RFQ (request for quotation)