You might wonder why we live next door to neighbours, while our friends across the pond have neighbors. Or why our sky is grey, while theirs is gray. The answer is that British English has generally maintained the spelling of words absorbed from other languages; whereas American English has become more phonetic (i.e. spelled the way it sounds). Here are a few differences to watch out for:
- Words which end in a vowel and an ‘l’: In American English, ‘travel’ becomes ‘traveled’ or ‘traveling’ but in British English, it becomes ‘travelled’ or ‘travelling’.
- Words containing the vowel combinations of ‘ae’ or ‘oe’: In American English, they’d write ‘maneuver’, but on this side of the pond it’s ‘manoeuvre’.
- Words that end in ‘-ize’ or ‘ization’: Using a ‘z’ rather than an ‘s’ is sometimes acceptable in British English. Check the style guide and maintain a uniform spelling throughout. Watch out for international bodies (such as the World Trade Organization) whose official name is the Americanised version.
- Words that have become universally Americanized: In British English, you program your computer but you still watch a TV programme.
A final point is to make sure your computer’s spellcheck is set to British or UK English, rather than American English. While you shouldn’t rely on the spellcheck to find errors, if it’s not set to the correct language you might skim over some subtle but crucial mistakes.
Of course, if you’re one of our many international students studying your proofreading course overseas in a country where American English is the standard then you’ll need to make sure you’re comfortable ‘Americanizing’ any British English spellings that you come across.
See our proofreading course