way(s).
In the sense “the length of a course or distance,” “way” is the standard term {a long way}. “Ways” is dialectal.
So it’s surprising to find “ways” in serious journalism — e.g.: “This is premature, of course; Fox still has a ways to go [read ‘some way to go’?] before it’s a full-fledged network.” Larry Reibstein & Nancy Hass, “Rupert’s Power Play,” Newsweek, 6 June 1994, at 46.
Language-Change Index — “a ways to go”: Stage 2.
For information about the Language-Change Index click here.
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Quotation of the Day: “There once was a time when everyday folk spoke one language, and learned men wrote another. It was called the Dark Ages.” Samuel T. Williamson, “How to Write Like a Social Scientist,” in The Ways of Language 109, 112 (Raymond J. Pflug ed., 1967).
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