Spelling at the UB

As a reflection of our European geographical situation, the Vives Network of Universities recommends the universities in the Catalan university system to use British English in most contexts, particularly for institutional documents. At an institutional level, the UB recommends using British English combined with Oxford spelling (following the Oxford Dictionary or else the Collins Dictionary), and being guided by common sense and discretion when deciding which English to use in texts addressed to American readers. The rest of this page explains how to use Oxford spelling and reviews the main differences in usage between British English and American English.  

Oxford spelling puts emphasis on conserving the earliest known root of English words and so, generally speaking, it only differs from British English when British English doesn't do this. The most notable case is the group of verbs and verb derivatives whose origins can be traced back to the Greek root izo. Oxford spelling conserves this root by spelling these words with a z, while British English spells them with s, following a later form that was more common in Early and Middle English. American English spells these words with z too, but for a different reason to Oxford: in the American case, this comes from the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century reforms headed by Noah Webster and designed to simplify and standardize English spelling.

British English
Oxford spelling*
American English
centralise
centralize
centralize
centralising
centralizing
centralizing
globalise
globalize
globalize
globalisation
globalization
globalization
organise
organize
organize
organisational
organizational
organizational
recognise
recognize
recognize
recognisable
recognizable
recognizable
summarise
summarize
summarize
summarised
summarized
summarized

*For a more extensive list of verbs that follow this pattern, see Appendix I: Common verbs spelt with z using Oxford spelling.



Both British English and Oxford spelling conserve the s of those verbs whose Greek root is lys by spelling the verbs with an s, while American English uses z, again as a means to simplify and standardize writers’ spelling choices.

British English
Oxford spelling
American English
analyse
analyse
analyze
breathalyse
breathalyse
breathalyze
catalyse
catalyse
catalyze
dialyse
dialyse
dialyze
electrolyse
electrolyse
electrolyze
hydrolyse
hydrolyse
hydrolyze
paralyse
paralyse
paralyze


Remember, however, that British English, Oxford spelling and American English all spell certain words always with an s or with a z. In the case of s, this happens when the -ise part of the word is not a complete suffix but a fragment of a longer component like  -cise, -mise, -prise or -vise (often, historically, from French past participles that use s, like -mise from mettre/mis and -prise from prendre/pris):

advertise
compromise
enterprise
prise
advise
demise
excise
supervise
apprise
despise
exercise
surmise
chastise
devise
improvise
surprise
circumcise
disenfranchise
incise
televise
comprise
disguise
merchandise
revise


In the case of z, this happens with a small number of words including prize, size and capsize (possibly from the Spanish verb capuzar).

Finally, in most other respects, remember that Oxford spelling follows British English and contrasts with American English in the following ways.

British English with Oxford spelling
American English
-ce for nouns, -se for verbs (practice, practise; licence, license)
-se for both nouns and verbs (practise, practise; license, license)
-e before suffixes (ageing, judgement, knowledgeable)
no -e before suffixes (aging, judgment, knowledgable)
-ogue (analogue, catalogue, dialogue)
-og (analog, catalog, dialog)
-our (behaviour, colour, favour, neighbour)
-or (behavior, color, favor, neighbor)
-re (centre, fibre, litre, metre*, theatre)
-er (center, fiber, liter, meter, theater)
-wards (backwards, forwards, towards)
-ward (backward, forward, toward)


*British English with Oxford spelling uses this -re spelling to refer to units of measurement (so also centimetre and kilometre) but uses the -er spelling to refer to unit-measuring devices (barometer, thermometer).

A last note: remember that British usage has the form programme (as opposed to the American program) except when referring to computer code, in which case program is preferred.
Darrera actualització: 26-10-2023
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Recommended citation:
«Spelling at the UB» [en línia]. A: Llibre d’estil de la Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona. Serveis Lingüístics. <https://www.ub.edu/llibre-estil/criteri.php?id=3536> [consulta: 21 novembre 2024].
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