An Inquiry

<ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2.25em; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">The act of <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/inquiring" title="inquiring" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">inquiring</a>; a seeking of information by asking questions; <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/interrogation" title="interrogation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">interrogation</a>; a <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/question" title="question" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">question</a> or questioning.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: inherit; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Search for <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/truth" title="truth" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">truth</a>, <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/information" title="information" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">information</a>, or <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/knowledge" title="knowledge" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">knowledge</a>; <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/examination" title="examination" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">examination</a> of facts or principles; research; <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/investigation" title="investigation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">investigation</a></li></ol><h4 class="in-block" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; display: table; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="mw-headline" id="Usage_notes" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background: none; display: table-cell; width: 296px;">Usage notes<span class="mw-editsection" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background: none; display: table-cell;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=inquiry&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Usage notes" data-section="6" class="mw-ui-icon mw-ui-icon-element mw-ui-icon-minerva-edit-enabled edit-page mw-ui-icon-flush-right" style="margin: 0px -0.75em 0px 0px; padding: 0.75em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 999px; font-family: inherit; font-size: initial; vertical-align: middle; background: none transparent; color: transparent; hyphens: none; position: relative; display: inline-block; width: 1.25em; height: 1.25em; flex-basis: 1.25em; overflow: hidden; -webkit-appearance: none; border-radius: 2px; box-sizing: content-box !important;">Edit</a></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">According to <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Fowler's Modern English Usage (1926), <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">inquiry should be used in relation to a formal <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/inquest" title="inquest" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">inquest</a>, and <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/enquiry" title="enquiry" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">enquiry</a> 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 <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">inquiry and <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">enquiry as equal alternatives, in that order. Some British dictionaries, such as <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Chambers 21st Century Dictionary <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?title=21st&query=inquiry" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 13px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center / 10px no-repeat, url("/w/load.php?modules=skins.minerva.content.styles.images&image=a.external&format=original&lang=en&skin=minerva&version=phwk6"); color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">[1]</a>, present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general sense, but prefer <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">inquiry for the "formal inquest" sense. In Australian English, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">inquiry represents a formal inquest (such as a government investigation) while <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">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 <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">enquiry is often associated with scholarly or intellectual research. (See Pam Peters, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, p. 282.)<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">American English usually uses <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">inquiry.