Nobody decides what is correct English, in the sense that French and Spanish have an official academy and English does not. What happens instead is a division of labour. Dictionaries record how the language is used, style guides set rules for the publications that adopt them, usage panels and grammarians argue about the disputed cases, and a course or publisher picks one guide and holds you to it.
EdCitation publishes this guide. It is built from the academies', dictionaries' and style guides' own pages, a linguist's published essay and a real course brief, read on 26 September 2026; where a page could not be read, we say so.
For an assignment, the question has a short answer: the style guide your brief names, then the dictionary that guide points to. EdCitation's free Check your paper reads the brief into a checklist, each rule shown with the sentence it came from, so you can see which guide that is before you start.
Does English have an academy like French or Spanish?
No. English has never had a body with official authority over its words or grammar; French and Spanish each have one, and both say on their own sites what it was founded to do.
The Académie française, 1635
The Académie française was created in 1635, under Richelieu's government, to give official weight to the work of grammarians. Article 24 of its statutes makes its main task giving the language "des règles certaines" (fixed rules) and making it pure and eloquent. The statutes planned a dictionary, a grammar, a rhetoric and a poetics; the Académie says only the dictionary was ever produced by it, first published in 1694 with 18,000 words (Académie française, n.d.).
The Real Academia Española, 1713
The Real Academia Española was founded in Madrid in 1713, taking the Académie française as its model, and in 1715 chose the motto "Limpia, fija y da esplendor": it cleans, fixes and gives splendour. Its current statutes, of 1993, set a different aim: to see that Spanish does not lose its essential unity as it adapts to its speakers. It shares that work with the other academies of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, founded in Mexico in 1951 (Real Academia Española, n.d.).
English writers proposed an academy too, from Dryden to Swift, and Samuel Johnson hoped none would be founded; that story is told in a short history of English. None was set up, which is why the rest of this guide is about a crowd of authorities rather than one.
Who decides what is correct English instead?
Five kinds of authority share the work, and each decides a different thing. Their rulings overlap, and sometimes they disagree.
| Authority | What it decides | How it decides | Where it binds you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionaries (OED, Merriam-Webster) | Which words and senses exist, and their spelling | Evidence of use in print and online | Wherever your style guide adopts one |
| Style guides (Chicago, APA, AP, The Economist, New Hart's Rules) | A publication's house rules: spelling variant, punctuation, capitals, citations | Editors' judgement for their own readers | In any work written to that guide |
| Usage panels (the American Heritage Dictionary's) | Which disputed constructions careful writers accept | Surveys of writers and scholars | Nowhere; they inform |
| Descriptive grammars (the Cambridge Grammar) | How English sentences actually work | Linguistic analysis of real usage | Nowhere; they explain |
| Your course or publisher | Which style guide, and which variety of English | The brief or the journal's instructions | In that assignment: EdCitation's Check your paper finds it |
How does a word get into the dictionary?
A word gets into a dictionary when editors find enough evidence that many people use it with one meaning. Neither of the two big dictionaries votes on words or accepts them on request.
Merriam-Webster: citations and three tests
Merriam-Webster's editors read widely and file each example of a new word or sense as a citation, with its context and source; the dictionary says it holds nearly 17 million of them. A candidate is then tested for frequent, widespread and meaningful use. Merriam-Webster (n.d.) is explicit that inclusion involves no committee and no meetings, and calls a dictionary "a user's manual for communication", not a museum of ideas.
The OED: a watch list and quarterly updates
The Oxford English Dictionary puts a candidate word on a watch list, fed by reading programmes, public appeals and automated monitoring of large collections of text. A word with sustained and widespread use goes to an editor, who traces its history in archives, forums, studies and social media, drafts the entry, and passes it through pronunciation editors, bibliographers and finally the chief editors. New entries appear in quarterly updates (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.). How its first edition was built from volunteers' slips is in the OED and its volunteers.
What do style guides decide, and why do they disagree?
A style guide decides what one publisher's pages will look like, and says so. The disagreements between guides are mostly deliberate: each serves different readers.
The Chicago Manual of Style
Chicago, now in its 18th edition (2024), recommends Merriam-Webster at section 7.1, but its Q&A allows a writer to choose a dictionary that matches the variety of English being written, such as the Canadian Oxford Dictionary for Canadian spelling (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-a). Asked whether data is singular or plural, the same Q&A answers that it can be either, and suggests looking in a dictionary first (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-d). Its own history is in the history of the Chicago Manual of Style.
APA and AP
APA's grammar page lists data among irregular plural nouns and says its style experts frequently consult Merriam-Webster.com for spelling (American Psychological Association, n.d.). AP made Merriam-Webster its primary dictionary from 29 May 2024, its first change of dictionary in decades; a term missing from the Stylebook now takes Merriam-Webster's entry as AP style (Fu, 2024). We did not read the Stylebook itself. In American publishing, then, three major guides settle spelling in the same dictionary.
The Economist and New Hart's Rules
The preface to the twelfth edition of The Economist Style Guide says its prescriptive judgements come from the paper's weekly editing and sometimes differ from other authorities'; its introduction admits to setting "some arbitrary rules" (The Economist, 2018). New Hart's Rules, Oxford University Press's guide for writers and editors, reached its second edition in 2014, adding a chapter on differences between UK and US English, and forms a set with the New Oxford Spelling Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2014). We could not find a later edition. The best-known disagreement between guides, over one comma, is told in the Oxford comma debate.
What was the American Heritage Dictionary's usage panel?
The American Heritage Dictionary's usage panel was a group of nearly 200 scholars, writers, journalists and others whose annual surveys measured how acceptable they found disputed usages; the dictionary's usage notes report the percentages (HarperCollins Publishers, n.d.-c).
Those notes show opinion moving. In the 2005 survey, 70% of the panel accepted "to legally pay" in a sample sentence, against 50% in 1988, and a long split ("to gradually, systematically, and economically relieve") rose from 23% to 58% (HarperCollins Publishers, n.d.-b). For data with a singular verb, 66% accepted "Once the data is in", and the note concludes that singular data has become standard (HarperCollins Publishers, n.d.-a).
Is the panel still voting?
We could not confirm it. The panel's page lists Steven Pinker as chair from 2008 to 2018 and names no successor. The dictionary's blog reported sending out the 2017 ballot in September 2017 (American Heritage Dictionary, 2017); we found no later ballot on the dictionary's own pages. Some secondary accounts say the panel was disbanded in 2018; we did not find that stated by the publisher.
What is the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar?
Prescriptive grammar says how people should write; descriptive grammar sets out how the language actually works, from evidence. A style guide is prescriptive by design; a reference grammar written by linguists is descriptive.
The standard descriptive account is Huddleston and Pullum's (2002) Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, which its publisher calls a comprehensive descriptive grammar, written with a dozen linguists in five countries, that explains where its analysis departs from traditional grammar. Pullum (2009) shows the method in an essay on grammar advice: he tests rules against what published writers do. Citing Mark Liberman's counts, he reports that Mark Twain put "however" first in a sentence about seven times for every three after the subject, and Henry James about once for every 15, so a ban on sentence-initial "however" has no support in the evidence.
A descriptive grammar tells you a construction is English; a style guide tells you whether your publisher, or your marker, wants it.
What do the authorities say about disputed usages?
On the famous disputes, the named authorities mostly allow what the old rule forbade, each in its own words.
| Usage | What a named authority says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Splitting an infinitive ("to boldly go") | The panel generally accepts it; 70% accepted "to legally pay" in 2005 | HarperCollins Publishers (n.d.-b) |
| Ending a sentence with a preposition | Chicago calls the old ban "an unnecessary and pedantic restriction" (5.186) | University of Chicago Press (n.d.-c) |
| Data with a singular verb | Standard, says the American Heritage note; either, says Chicago; APA lists data as a plural | HarperCollins Publishers (n.d.-a); American Psychological Association (n.d.) |
| Singular they | APA 7, MLA and Chicago 18 accept it, with differences | Singular they from Chaucer to APA |
The preposition rule, dated
Chicago says it has never forbidden a preposition at the end of a sentence in any edition since 1906, and first said positively that one may end a sentence in the 15th edition of 2003, its first with a chapter on grammar (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-b). Rules that styles have dropped from citations are collected in retired citation rules.
Which rules does academic writing follow?
Academic writing follows the style guide the course or journal names, the dictionary that guide adopts, and one variety of English used consistently.
- Find the guide in the brief. Look for the style, its edition, and any spelling convention (British, American, Australian). EdCitation's free Check your paper lists each rule it reads with the sentence it came from.
- Take the guide's dictionary. APA and Chicago point to Merriam-Webster; Chicago allows one for your own variety of English.
- Settle disputed usages by the guide, then the dictionary's usage note. Where both are silent, choose one form and keep to it.
- Cite any dictionary or style guide you quote. EdCitation's Cite a source builds the entry from an ISBN or web address; a web page's details can be corrected before the entry is made.
- Check the finished paper. Mechanics QA, part of Pro, flags the language slips a spell-checker lets through; Verify references, free, checks the list.
What Check your paper read from a real brief
We pasted the final writing assignment of MIT's The History of MIT course, published on MIT OpenCourseWare (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011), into Check your paper. It returned four rules, each with its sentence: line spacing, double, and length, 9 to 10 pages, both from "The text should be 9–10 pages long, double-spaced."; at least four sources, from the call to consult four source materials beyond the required readings; and the citation style, Chicago, from the line naming its Manual or a pocket guide to it.
It set 15 sentences aside as not checkable, among them the footnote requirement. The brief's warning that word-processor spell checks are not enough appeared in neither list. EdCitation builds Chicago author-date only, so footnotes here come from Chicago's own guidance.
How does EdCitation help with style and language?
EdCitation is the best place to start, because "correct" depends on which authority your course has chosen, and EdCitation reads that choice from your own brief instead of guessing it, then builds references from the publisher's record rather than writing them.
- Check your paper, free with no account, reads the brief into a checklist: word limits, required headings, number and recency of sources, citation style, font, spacing and margins. Read the set-aside sentences too. Judging the paper against that checklist is Theoretics QA, part of Max at $24 a month.
- Find sources, free, searches about 300 million published works by topic or by the claim a sentence needs. Searching the claim "usage guides prescriptive rules contradict actual usage of English" returned 1,591,388 results; first came a 2017 Oxford book, English Usage Guides, whose record names no author, then Pam Peters's 2014 article on usage guides.
- Cite a source, free, builds references in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver, and screens each source for retraction.
Two Cite a source runs, quoted as they came back
From the ISBN of New Hart's Rules, 9780199570027, it returned from Open Library, in APA 7:
Waddingham, A. (2014). New hart’s rules: The Oxford style guide. Oxford University Press.
It set the title in the sentence case APA wants, but lowered a name with it, so Hart's needs its capital back. Two more things need correcting: Oxford's page credits the book to Oxford University Press, not a named author; and the record omits the edition, the second. Corrected: Oxford University Press. (2014). New Hart's rules: The Oxford style guide (2nd ed.).
From the address of Chicago's Q&A answer on data, it returned:
The Chicago manual of style, 18th edition. (n.d.). The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Retrieved September 27, 2026, from https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Usage/faq0024.html
The address leads to the answer, but the page's own tags carry only the site's general title, so give the question as the title in the page's details before building the entry. Merriam-Webster's and the OED's pages could not be read at all, and Cite a source said so rather than guess.
Pro, at $8 a month, adds Mechanics QA and References from a file. None of these tools writes any part of a paper or decides a usage question for you.
Quick questions
Is there an official authority for the English language?
No. French has the Académie française and Spanish the Real Academia Española, but English has no academy; dictionaries, style guides and your course's chosen guide decide between them.
How does a word get added to the dictionary?
By evidence of use. Merriam-Webster's editors file citations and test a word for frequent, widespread and meaningful use, and the OED moves words from a watch list to an editor once use is sustained and widespread.
Is data singular or plural?
Both are used. The American Heritage Dictionary calls singular data standard, Chicago accepts either, and APA lists data among its plural nouns, so in an APA paper "the data are" is the safe choice.
Can you end a sentence with a preposition?
Yes. The Chicago Manual of Style calls the old ban wrong and says no edition since 1906 has forbidden it.
Which EdCitation tool tells me which style guide my assignment wants?
EdCitation's free Check your paper reads the brief into a checklist that includes the citation style, each rule shown with the sentence it came from.
References
- Académie française. (n.d.). Les missions. https://www.academie-francaise.fr/linstitution/les-missions
- American Heritage Dictionary. (2017, September 14). Status and the American Heritage Dictionary usage panel. https://ahdictionary.tumblr.com/post/165330529227/status-and-the-american-heritage-dictionary-usage
- American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Plural nouns. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/plural-nouns
- The Economist. (2018). Style guide (12th ed.). Profile Books. https://profilebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/wpallimport/files/PDFs/9781781258316_preview.pdf
- Fu, A. (2024, April 5). Associated Press Stylebook makes Merriam-Webster its official dictionary. Poynter. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2024/ap-stylebook-update-2024-merriam-webster/
- HarperCollins Publishers. (n.d.-a). Data. In The American Heritage dictionary of the English language (5th ed.). Retrieved September 26, 2026, from https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=data
- HarperCollins Publishers. (n.d.-b). Split infinitive. In The American Heritage dictionary of the English language (5th ed.). Retrieved September 26, 2026, from https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=split+infinitive
- HarperCollins Publishers. (n.d.-c). The usage panel. The American Heritage Dictionary. Retrieved September 26, 2026, from https://ahdictionary.com/word/usagepanel.html
- Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G. K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316423530
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2011). Final writing assignment. STS.050 The History of MIT, MIT OpenCourseWare. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sts-050-the-history-of-mit-spring-2011/pages/assignments/final-writing-assignment/
- Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). How a word gets into the dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/how-does-a-word-get-into-the-dictionary
- Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). How words enter the OED. Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/information/editorial-policy/how-words-enter-the-oed/
- Oxford University Press. (2014). New Hart's rules: The Oxford style guide (2nd ed.). https://global.oup.com/academic/product/new-harts-rules-9780199570027
- Pullum, G. K. (2009, April 17). 50 years of stupid grammar advice. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(32), B15. https://pullum.ppls.ed.ac.uk/50years.pdf
- Real Academia Española. (n.d.). Historia. https://www.rae.es/la-institucion/historia
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-a). CMOS (Q&A No. 15). The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/CMOS/faq0015.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-b). Prepositions (Q&A No. 6). The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Prepositions/faq0006.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-c). Prepositions (Q&A No. 8). The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Prepositions/faq0008.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-d). Usage and grammar (Q&A No. 24). The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Usage/faq0024.html