British English Vs American English - Spelling - I

 

British English Vs American English - Spelling - I

    Dear readers, in the previous post we learnt about Homophones in English. In this post, we are going to learn some interesting facts about the differences between British and American English Spelling systems. It is a known fact that Indians tend to follow the British English in both speaking and writing. Very often they encounter some controversies in terms of British or American English spelling while writing. When we follow the British spelling while typing on a computer, it may show error.

For instance, colour, honour, recognise etc., because the computer recognises only American spelling. However, in daily conversations we use both the British and American English alternatively according to our convenience. Though we use both the English spellings, we need to be aware of the differences between the spelling of the British and American English.

1.   "O" and "OU"

Usually in British English we use “ou” in words like “Humour”, “Honour”, “Behaviour”, whereas in American English, only “o” is used like “Humor”, “Honor”, “Behavior”.

2.     Hyphens

        Hyphens are used in connecting prefixes with main words in the British English. For example, “pre-test”, “co-operation”, “re-accreditation”. On the other hand, these words are usually written as “pretest”, “cooperation”, “reaccreditation” in the American English spelling.

3.     “Z” or “S”

Usually, in the British English, we follow “s” in words instead of “z”.

For example, “organise”, “recognise”, “customise”.

Whereas, in American English “z” is used in words like, “organize”, “recognize” “customize”.

4.     “l” or “ll”?

In the American English, a single “l” is used in such words as “traveled” and “counseled”. But, in the British English, “ll” is used. For example, “travelled”, and “counselled”.

Contrarily, "ll" is used in American English for the word "enroll", but in British English only single "l" is used as "enrol".  

In the next post, let us explore more on "British and American English Spellings".

Courtesy:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbritishenglishonline.com%2Fbritish-english-vs-american-english%2Fbritish-english-vs-american-english%2F&psig=AOvVaw1MCBm2SvgZ9-LZ8En6-XiI&ust=1670226799005000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCMiw4um93_sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

 

Author:

K. Nandhakumar

Assistant Professor of English

Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science (Autonomous)

Coimbatore- 641 020