What are good reliable sources to help settle disputes about use of language, grammar and spelling?
None better than asking in the forum itself. Be prepared though. Wrangles about the use and misuse of language tend to be long, bitter, personal and extremely good fun. (Or very tiresome, depending on your level of interest.) Authorities that are most often cited as expert witnesses are: A good dictionary, with the multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED) supposedly leading the field – but often overlooked because of its size in favour of the more manageable Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) – in two volumes most recently revised in 199?. Electronic versions of both of these are available. Single volume dictionaries such as Chambers, Longman, and Collins also are well regarded. The last two have clear and helpful short articles on interesting or disputed usages. Chambers has better jokes. The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 3rd edition, edited by R W Birchfield, Oxford 1996. This claims to be the acknowledged authority on English usage, and the claim is probably justified
