'ize vs ise' again

Status
Not open for further replies.

Offroad

Key Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2008
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Brazilian Portuguese
Home Country
Brazil
Current Location
Brazil
Hi all,

I know this may have been discussed before but I did search the forums and couldn't find an answer for my question:

Is the 'ise' variant dying?

I would like to start by saying I do not want to raise dispute between speakers of English, nor do I mean one English is more correct than the other. In fact, and unfortunately, I use both, and that has become a 'problem' for me, not to say a bit of a nightmare. From time to time I have to write formal documents and I tend to mix both 'Englishes', which is not acceptable. So every time I have to compose something, I need to carefully proofread the entire document with the help of a word processor, but even with help, some words here and there get lost between those differences (ise vs ize, -rol vs -roll, 'in' vs 'on' etc). And the reason I am raising this question is that even the British dictionaries prefer the 'ize' variant while I do not (no disrespect intended :up:). It is really hard for me to migrate to AmE (or any other similar, Australian, Canadian etc) because most words I can spell are in British English.

So, I would like your thoughts on this.;-)

Thank you.

Offroad
 

Amigos4

VIP Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Offroad, as long as you are consistent with your spelling, I do not see a problem. You said, 'most words I can spell are in British English', so why would you want to change your spelling preference? Stick with BrE because that is what feels right to you! Native speakers of AmE will immediately know, and accept, the fact that you have BrE training.

Cheers,
A4
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
And the reason I am raising this question is that even the British dictionaries prefer the 'ize' variant
Dictionaries published by Oxford prefer z, (except when only s is correct) and there is a reason for this. Many other British dictionaries favour s. The simple answer for you is to select one online dictionary that uses the system you are happy with, and check with that dictionary every time you are in doubt.
 

probus

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Are you a Windows user? If so, you can go to Control Panel and select English(United Kingdom) in the Regional and Language Options, when you are working in English.

Secondly, do you use MS-Word? If so, of course the spell check will use whatever language you have selected in Control panel. If there are cases where MS-Word believes that the BrE usage is -ize, but you are certain that -ise is also acceptable, you can add the -ise form to your personal dictionary, by clicking the Add button in spellchecker. I imagine other word processor for Windows would work the same way.
 

Offroad

Key Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2008
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Brazilian Portuguese
Home Country
Brazil
Current Location
Brazil
Offroad, as long as you are consistent with your spelling, I do not see a problem. You said, 'most words I can spell are in British English', so why would you want to change your spelling preference? Stick with BrE because that is what feels right to you! Native speakers of AmE will immediately know, and accept, the fact that you have BrE training.
Cheers,
A4
Ha. That is the most difficult part because neither word processors nor dictionaries can read my mind. So I often say, for example, `in`, instead of `on`.
Dictionaries published by Oxford prefer z, (except when only s is correct) and there is a reason for this. Many other British dictionaries favour s. The simple answer for you is to select one online dictionary that uses the system you are happy with, and check with that dictionary every time you are in doubt.
I bought the OALD8. I guess Cambridge dictionaries behave similarly?!
Are you a Windows user? If so, you can go to Control Panel and select English(United Kingdom) in the Regional and Language Options, when you are working in English.

Secondly, do you use MS-Word? If so, of course the spell check will use whatever language you have selected in Control panel. If there are cases where MS-Word believes that the BrE usage is -ize, but you are certain that -ise is also acceptable, you can add the -ise form to your personal dictionary, by clicking the Add button in spellchecker. I imagine other word processor for Windows would work the same way.
I have done that already, it helps!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top