UK v US English

English is the most spoken language in the world. However, when it comes to word craft there are some rather important distinctions between the US and UK versions which need to be adhered to when writing or editing and this doesn’t even begin to touch on the differences between CMoS and AP.

Here are some of the spelling peculiarities that need to be remembered but this is by no means an exhaustive list.

UK English	US English
-ise (organise, realise)	-ize (organize, realize)
-our (colour, flavour)	-or (color, flavor)
-re (metre, centre)	-er (meter, center)
-t (smelt, leapt)	-ed (smelled, leaped)
-ogue (catalogue, dialogue)	-og (catalog, dialog)
-oe/ae (paediatric, anaemia)	-e (pediatric, anesthesia)
-y (tyre)	-i (tire)
-l (fulfil, enrol)	-ll (fulfill, enroll)
-ence (offence, pretence)	-ense (offense, pretense)

Spelling is not the only issue when editing or writing in US or UK English. There are certain grammatical rules that need to be adhered to depending on the geographical location of the intended readership.

Quotation marks in the US are double “, in the UK they are single ‘. If quotation marks are needed inside another set of quotation marks they switch, so single for US and double for UK.

Punctuation becomes complicated if two sets of quotation marks are used as in the US style they come before the closing marks, whereas in the UK they come after. Here’s an example in the UK style: ‘Favourite Beatles songs? “Eleanor Rigby”, “Girl” and “I am the Walrus”.’ In the US style it looks like this: “Favorite Beatles songs? ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘Girl,’ and ‘I am the Walrus.'” (Notice the Oxford comma which is an American favourite but not so common in the UK – although this editor finds it a delight.)

Collective nouns can be irksome as UK English often uses plurals whereas US English likes to use singular. US: The hockey team is headed to the final. UK: The hockey team are headed to the final.

Prepositions can also be tricky as UK English uses ‘at’ in relation to time and place, whereas US English uses ‘on’ for time and ‘in’ for a place.

While this may all seem ridiculously complicated, it’s amazing how easily we all switch between the two when reading without really noticing or finding it too distracting. Where it becomes important is if you are writing or editing for a specific geographical region. I recently worked with a New Zealand author who had written his whole manuscript using US English. When I discussed this with the publisher they made the choice to change all of the Americanisms to the UK style as the book was predominantly aimed at the New Zealand and Australian markets which, despite all of the American influences, are still heavily British in their literary preferences.

So before embarking on a project the question you must ask is ‘who is my audience?’ then try to remember the rules and look up what you’re unsure of.