On-line, Online, or On line: Which Is Correct?
“Surprising Things You Can Do On-line” was a headline found on the front cover of the Reader’s Digest in November 1999 issue.
“Swiss Post Moves Some Mail Online” was a headline of the America’s most reliable newspaper in 12 July 2009 The New York Times Internet issue.
“On line computer recalibration of instruments” was the title of an article published by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and hosted by the Harvard University domain name.
With over billions of Web pages on the Internet, as these appeared on 18 July 2009 via the Google search engine including http and www-starting domain names, various Web sites use any of the three forms of “online” regardless of their credibility and fame. Three of the world-renowned reference and university Web sites show nonstandard variants of “online” to the usage of the Internet and technical language. The Reader’s Digest used “on-line” as a prepositional phrase, The New York Times used “online” as preposition, and the Harvard University or the ADS used “on line” as an adjective. This is what makes the loss of standard; thus, it must be put into a serious scrutiny to avoid proliferating inappropriate syntax in the cyberspace.
What is the etymology of “online” used in the cyberspace? This word has been common since the 18th century, and is used in asking and/or answering during telephone calls such as “May I know who’s on the line?” In the 19th century America, Douglas Engelbart coined the term “online” when he developed the first prototype computer mouse as part of the oNLine System (NLS) in Stanford Research Institute. Few years later, computer programmers began to use the simplified “on line” of the telephone etiquette, “on the line.” However, usage of the term “online” always leads numerous scholars and experts of American language and Internet language to different arguments.
Writers and editors of our team are required to follow the standard used by most of the reliable sources, as approved by the INTELLIGENTIAResearch™ Management. For consistency, “online” should be used as an adjective while “on line” is used as preposition. The term “on-line” is not used in most reputable publishers, as they prefer the simpler form of word. Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary has only one entry: “online.”
Examples of Accurate Usage
Adjective: The online debate has been launched on the webmaster’s Web site.
Preposition: Official members of the team will meet their counterparts on line.
References:
Reader’s Digest
The New York Times
The Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System
Where there is accuracy? Are meticulous persons there?
When was the Internet invented? This is, perhaps, one of the questions, which gives numerous and various answers. Based on a source, it was invented in 1957 when Sputnik I, the first satellite, was launched by the Soviet Union. According to others, Vinton Gray Cerf is the ‘father of the Internet’ while another source on the web says Alexander Graham Bell was the first man who was able to transmit a message through his invented telephone in 1876. There are more answers other than that, then, when it was and how it was? What about the question, “How many miles away is Earth from the Moon?” By searching on the web, there are Web sites, which said to be “credible and accurate” publishing that it takes 238,856.95 miles. Some say it’s 383,614,000 miles away from each other! Others say it’s 238,000 miles, 250,000 miles and so on. Which do you think is correct? This is what we call the loss of accuracy—one question with numerous answers and various details—this happens when you click on the search button on line! So now, what do you think about those Web sites?
In today’s world, everybody can easily access the information by one click of search. Within a few seconds, search engines suddenly give a wide range of data. You think the vast amounts of data on the Internet are credible, but you’re uncertain, aren’t you? In fact, most of them are incomplete, dated, or entirely bogus. Others give information with ambiguous details and events, which never happened in the history—authors add their opinion that becomes a part of the story. And the worst thing? There are Web sites that keep publishing their articles with a number of grammatical errors and inappropriate punctuations or writing styles. Do you think they are credible? There are millions of information providers, but only few of them are reliable and highly recommended.
What’s the best thing to do? Put every item of information into a scrutiny. Review everything!
Ida, a 47-million-year-old fossil found
Lack of male characteristics reveals the femaleness of the newly discovered 47-million-year-old fossil that could link to the human ancestors and prove Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Jorn Hurum, a Norwegian paleontologist led the team to analyze the Darwinius masillae, which was named “Ida” after his daughter yesterday, May 19. It was found in Germany by an anonymous owner and turned over to the said paleontologist of Oslo’s National History Museum in Norway.
Scientists thought it was a primitive lemur but after the team conducted research and tests, the fossil has been discovered to be 95% complete due to its missing left rear leg and believed to have anthropoid features, which could be “the first link to all humans, the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor,” according to Hurum.
Research studies reveal that Ida was approximately 9 months old (six year-old human) when she died. Based on the scientists’ theory, she suffered a fracture that made her left wrist injured and that when she went off to the lake to drink, carbon dioxide fumes lost her. In addition, they predicted that due to her broken wrist, she became unconscious and has been drifted into the water, which made her preserved for 47 million years.
Avsim.com goes offline; site hacked
“We regret to inform the flight simulation community that on Tuesday, May 12, AVSIM was hacked and effectively destroyed… We are not able to predict when we will be back online, if we can come back at all,” said Tom Allensworth, CEO and Publisher of AVSIM.
Thirteen years of service in all aspects of flight simulation without experiencing sudden site downtime, AVSIM has been expecting the health of its official Web site until Tom Allensworth suddenly realized the site’s vulnerability on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 malicious hacker attack.
A highly sophisticated attack suddenly took down the AVSIM’s two servers while the management had not set up an external backup system. According to the CEO, he is uncertain if the site would ever back on line.
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