Sir: Which is preferred: "By the time we had got the food" or "By the time we had gotten the food"? Or are they both acceptable?

- Ann H.

Answer: Yes, they're both acceptable. I hate to disappoint those who believe there's only one right way to say something, but that's how it is. Arguments may arise about shades of meaning of either word - for example, was the food acquired or merely received? - but often the context of the statement should take care of that. Let us hope it does, because "got" and "gotten" can mean so many different things that, for centuries, people have got into arguments about them and even occasionally gotten their noses mashed in as a result.

Sir: My newspaper used "it's" as the possessive of "it." How we gonna learn the troops anything when such stuff goes on?

- Ben O.

Answer: You're right. Listen up, troops. If you want to make "it" possessive, add an "s" but no apostrophe - its. Add an apostrophe and "s" and you have "it's," which means "it is." Now that isn't all that hard, is it?

Sir: In transcribing a 1900 journal of my father's, I came across the word "norate" a lot of times, as in "We norated our meeting." It must mean to announce or advertise, but I cannot find it in a dictionary. Can you help?

- Mrs. R.J.N.

Answer: No, but someone may. Anybody familiar with "norate"?

Sir: A television commercial for a law firm begins "All accidents are not the same." Isn't it better to say "Not all accidents are the same"?

- Adeline M.

Answer: Yes, that is better. Some authorities insist that everyone knows what you mean by the first expression, but what of that? Lawyers, of all people, should be exact.

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Sir: I am trying to get information about the frequency of each letter of the alphabet in the first letter of surnames. Do you have any information regarding this? I have already called my library.

- Jack S.

Answer: It beats me. But why not try counting the columns of each initial letter in the telephone book? That would be a start.

Big bargain of the week, reported by C.B.C.: "I read an advertisement offering `Delicious Plumbs' for 99 cents a pound. It left me plum speechless."

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