In the English language, verbs that are transformed into nouns usually follow certain patterns and trends. For example, someone who “collects” something might be called a “collector”. A device that “senses” is considered a “sensor”. A person who “votes” is called a “voter”. A “boxer” or a “fighter” is an athlete who “boxes” or “fights”. So what’s the difference between “requester” and “requestor”? How do you know when to use an “-er” ending or when the “-or” ending is appropriate?
It is clear in spoken and written English that “requester” is far more common than the word “requestor”. The use of “-or” as an ending is generally when the base word ends in an “-ate”, “-ot”, or “-it”. Examples of this include the word “calculate”, which transforms to “calculator”; “create”, which becomes “creator”; “investigate”, or “investigator”; “contract”, or “contractor”; “edit”, or “editor”; “conduct”, or “conductor”; and “reflect”, or “reflector”. Other words transform to the “-er” ending.
As “request” does not fall into the rule of thumb for transforming into “requestor”, it is assumed that “requester” is the more accurate choice. In fact, even Word processors recognized “requester” but flag attempts to use “requestor” in a sentence. As can be expected, a “requester” is defined as a person or thing that is making a request. However, “requestor” is also becoming popular in a more modern sense. This is because “requestor” is a technology-related word that has the same sort of definition as “requester”, but which applies to technology kinds of requests.
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