English Spelling

English spelling

By Emdadul Haque

This write-up is for the new learners who have little or no idea about English spelling. There are so many spellings which are different in British and American English. New learners will be confused when they will see the same word in different spellings.Hope this article will help them to overcome that confusing situation.

One should follow either British or US spelling throughout the same piece of writing. If a student has plan to study in USA, then s/he should follow the US spelling while s/he should follow British spelling if s/he decides to go to England for higher studies or professional training. 

Here are some main ways in which British and American spellings are different.

Words ending in –re

British English words that end in -re often end in -er in American English:

British - US

centre  center

fibre  fiber

litre  liter

theatre  theater or theatre 

metre   meter

Please note that meter (electric meter) is same in both US and British spellings.

Words ending in -our

British English words ending in -our usually end in -or in American English:

British - US

colour  color

flavour  flavor

humour  humor

labour  labor

neighbour  neighbor

Words ending in -ize or -ise

Verbs in British English that can be spelled with either -ize or -ise

at the end are always spelled with -ize at the end in American

English:

British - US

apologize or apologise  apologize

organize or organise  organize

recognize or recognise  recognize

Words ending in -yse

Verbs in British English that end in -yse are always spelled -yze in

American English:

British - US

analyse  analyze

breathalyse  breathalyze

paralyse  paralyze

Words ending in a vowel plus l

In British spelling, verbs ending in a vowel plus l double the l when adding endings that begin with a vowel. In American English, the l is not doubled:

British - US

travel  travel

travelled  traveled

travelling  traveling

traveller  traveler

fuel  fuel

fuelled  fueled

fuelling  fueling

Words spelled with double vowels

British English words that are spelled with the double vowels ae or oe are just spelled with an e in American English:

British - US

leukaemia  leukemia

manoeuvre  maneuver

oestrogen  estrogen

paediatric  pediatric

Note that in American English, certain terms, such as archaeology,

keep the ae spelling as standard, although the spelling with just the

e (i.e. archeology) is usually acceptable as well.

Nouns ending with –ence

Some nouns that end with -ence in British English are spelled -ense in American English:

British - US

defence  defense

licence  license

offence  offense

pretence  pretense

Nouns ending with –ogue

Some nouns that end with -ogue in British English end with either –og or –ogue in American English:

British - US

analogue  analog or analogue

catalogue  catalog or catalogue

dialogue  dialog or dialogue

Words ending with m/me

British - US

programme  program

kilogramme   kilogram

(This article has been written with help from Oxford dictionary)

Note: The author is a Journalist working in The Financial Express and Founder of a linkedin group called "Visit Beautiful Bangladesh"