 Contemporary stylebooks such as the "Associated Press Stylebook", from the Associated Press in the United States, or "The Times Style and Usage Guide", from "The Times" in the United Kingdom, are prescriptive in intent, for use by editors of their respective publications to standardise presentation.During the second half of the 20th century, the prescriptivist tradition of usage commentators started to fall under increasing criticism.Thus, works such as the "Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage", appearing in 1993, attempt to describe usage issues of words and syntax as they are actually used by writers of note, rather than to judge them by standards derived from logic, fine distinctions, or Latin grammar.