Friday, December 30, 2011

American vs. British English


When editing, I often notice clients switching between American and British spellings. Below, a review of some common differences between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE):

Words ending in “or” (AmE) vs. “our” (BrE)
  • Labor, labour
  • Favor, favour
  • Behavior, behaviour
Words ending in “ce” (AmE) vs. “se” (BrE)
  • Offense, offence
  • License, licence
  • Practice (verb), practise
Words ending in “ise” (AmE) vs. “ize” (BrE)
  • Emphasize, emphasise
  • Criticize, criticise
  • Categorize, categorise
  • Realize, realise
Words ending in “er” (AmE) vs. “re” (BrE)
  • Center, centre
  • Liter, litre
  • Theater, theatre
Words ending in “og” (AmE) vs. “ogue” (BrE)
  • Dialog, dialogue
  • Catalog, catalogue
  • Analog, analogue
Single “l” (AmE) vs. double “ll” (BrE)
  • Traveling, travelling
  • Counseling, counselling
  • Parceling, parcelling
Verbs ending in “ed” (AmE) vs. “t” (BrE)
  • Learned, learnt
  • Burned, burnt
  • Dreamed, dreamt
Words ending in “yze” (AmE) vs. “yse” (BrE)
  • Analyze, analyse
  • Catalyze, catalyse
  • Paralyze, paralyse

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