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Entry #1

Finding the Correct Word:

Australian vs British vs American English




If youre an Australian editor or writer and youre communicating with an American or
British audience, you need to keep the spelling differences in mind.

The main differences between British/Australian/American spellings fall into these
categories:

1. ae/e: British words of Greek origin (anaemic) have kept the ae, whereas American
spelling has replaced the ae with an e (anemic). Australian spelling fluctuates
between the two, and is tending more toward the American version.

2. ce/se: In Australia and Britain, word pairs such as advice/advise are spelled with ce
to mark the noun and se to mark the verb. But in the USA, just one spelling is used
for both the noun and verb forms (eg, practice/practice and license/license).

3. i/y: Some words that are spelled with a y in Britain and Australia (tyre) are spelled
with an i in the USA (tire).

4. ise/ize: British and Australian English use either ise or ize in many verbs, but
American English consistently uses ize.

5. l/ll: American English always uses a single l when adding a suffix that begins with a
vowel (traveling), whereas British and Australian English is more erratic, sometimes
doubling the l (travelling) and sometimes not.

6. oe/e: For Greek-derived words, British English has kept the oe spelling (amoeba),
whereas American English has reduced the oe to just an e (ameba). Australian
English has typically followed the British oe spelling, although recent surveys
indicate that Australian writers are ready to replace the oe with an e.

7. og/ogue: British and Australian spelling ends some words like catalogue with
ogue, whereas in the USA, these words leave off the ue at the end (catalog).

8. or/our: British English inserts a u after the o in words like colour, whereas
American English leaves out the u (color). Australian English usage has mostly
followed British tradition.

9. qu/k: In Britain and Australia, words like cheque end in que, whereas in the USA
they end with k (check).
10. re/er: Australia usually follows the British treatment of words ending in re (centre,
theatre), whereas in the USA these words usually end in er (center, theater).
11. yze/yse: Australia and Britain end certain words with yse (analyse), while the USA
ends these same words with yze (analyze).

Follow these simple rules, check your spellings in local regional dictionaries, and your words
will flow seamlessly between continents.










Works consulted:

Peters, Pam (1995). The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Moore, Allison, ed (2004). Macquarie Concise Dictionary (Revised 3rd edition). Sydney: The
Macquarie Library Pty Ltd.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/british-and-american-spelling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_spelling#Spelling