Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In the UK, use licence for the noun, but license for
the verb. For example:
Examples:
(Tip: Try substituting the verb to allow with the verb to license to confirm it's a verb.
"This restaurant is allowed to sell alcohol" This sounds ok; therefore, licensed is
correct)
(licence - noun)
(Tip: Try substituting the noun papers with the noun licence to confirm it's a noun.
"May I see your driving papers please? This sounds ok; therefore, licence is correct)
Try using the word card (or papers) instead of licence. If the sentence still makes sense, then
licence is almost certainly correct.
(This trick works because licence is a noun, just like the words card and papers.)
Try using the verb to allow (in its various forms, e.g., allowing, allowed, allows) instead of
license. If the sentence still makes sense, then license is almost certainly correct. However, if
you find yourself using allowance, then you should be using licence because both are nouns.
(This trick works because to license is a verb, just like to allow.)
NO CONFUSION
There should be no confusion with licensing or licensed. The endings ing and ed mean these
are always from the verb; i.e., there are no such words as licencing or licenced in British or
American English.
LICENSE IN AMERICA