Many questions related to spelling can be resolved simply by referring to a dictionary or using a good computer spellchecker. But there are also issues that require more careful consideration and that cannot be resolved automatically. This section of the Guide provides recommendations on such issues, including the general conventions applicable to spelling, such as use of British and American variants, and the consequences of these conventions (for example, ligatures and consonant doubling). By “American” here we refer to the English written in the United States of America. There are other American Englishes in Canada and the Caribbean, and other Englishes around the world, but in regard to spelling the British and American (USA) variants are dominant alternatives. We also refer to other considerations that are not strictly in the province of spelling but that nevertheless affect the way the language is written; issues here include the use or non-use of diacritics, italics and hyphens.

1.1 Conventions

As a reflection of our European geographical situation, we recommend the use of British English in most contexts, particularly for institutional documents. However, many university texts may be addressed specifically to American readers or may be for or from an academic ambit in which American English is more usual. In such cases, use common sense and discretion in deciding which variant is most suitable.

We strongly recommend, however, that only one variant of English be used within a single text or related series of texts, for reasons of coherence.

1.1.1 Differences in spelling between British and American English

For most general purposes, there is little significant difference between British and American English in written texts. In practically all circumstances, any text written in standard British English will be comprehensible to an American reader, and vice versa.

British usage historically accepts both the -ise and -ize spellings, but the former is now more frequently used in a broad range of publications. Therefore, we recommend that the ise, yse and isation forms be used, except where the context specifically requires American spelling.

The following summary lists the well-known and now commonly accepted distinctions between British and American spelling.

However, note that size and capsize are never written with –ise in British English.

Also, note 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.

1.1.2 Ligatures

Although the æ/œ spelling (known as a ligature, in which two or more letters are graphically combined) for forms such as œstrogen or cæsium is still in use in British English, this is now not universally the case for most other words that were traditionally written with a ligature; these words now have a single written vowel that substitutes the older æ form (medieval and encyclopedia being well-known examples). Opt for the simplified spelling for all such words.

1.1.3 Double consonants before suffixes

Where consonants are doubled for monosyllabic words (basically, after a short vowel and immediately before a suffix beginning with a vowel such as -ing, -er, -est or -ed), British and American English spelling is the same.

For words of more than one syllable, however, differences between British and American usage can be complicated.

i) The letter l

As an indication for when to double this final consonant in British English, we replicate the explanation given in Section 1.5 of the English Style Guide of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation (see Bibliography): “In British usage, a final -l is doubled after a short vowel on adding -ing or -ed to verbs (sole exception: parallel, paralleled) and adding -er to make nouns from verbs”.

Examples would include the following.

In American English, except for multi-syllabic words ending in -al (final/finally; minimal/minimally), l is usually not doubled before a suffix.

Finally, there are certain words ending in –l in British English which double this consonant in American English:

Note that the l is accordingly doubled or not in derivatives ending in –ment:

ii) Other consonants

Usage may vary considerably between British and American English in the doubling of a consonant at the end of a word other than l. If in doubt, consult a reliable English dictionary. However, the following observations generally hold for both variants. Consonants such as t or r double before -ed and -ing if the last syllable of the root word is stressed.

In contrast to this, for two-syllable words whose first syllable is stressed, the final consonant is not doubled.

In British English the exception to this are two-syllable words ending in -p, where the final consonant is doubled even when the principal stress is on the first syllable.

1.2 Diacritics

Diacritics are marks added above or below a letter (or sometimes within or between letters). In the Roman alphabet, they are basically used to indicate a modification in the pronunciation of the letter in question.

Although some languages make use of a large number of such marks, in those often used within our contexts, the most common diacritics are the so-called grave (`) or acute (´) accents, the cedilla (¸), the umlaut/dierisis (¨), the tilde (˜) and the circumflex (ˆ).

Unlike other European languages, modern English does not have diacritics. Some borrowed words may be written in English with their original non-English diacritic, but this rarely affects pronunciation (for exceptional cases, see Section 1.2.1 Ambiguity). Overall, borrowed words tend to lose their diacritics over time because of processes of simplification and assimilation, and the fact that diacritics are not easily typed on an English keyboard.

1.2.1 Ambiguity

Use diacritics when their absence could result in ambiguity. For example, exposé, résumé and rosé, when unaccented, look like different words (in this case, expose, resume and rose, respectively). When there is no possible ambiguity, you do not need to use the original diacritic (for example, facade).

1.2.2 Names

With names in other languages, use all the diacritics correctly and consistently, or use none at all.

1.2.3 Other words

When an English text uses foreign words or phrases that are not names but that have a diacritic in the original language, you should either keep all such marks or else use none at all. Be consistent. If you decide to use them, remember that they should also be used on capital letters.

1.3 Italics

Italics are often used to draw attention to words or phrases, for instance in order to provide an example.

However, we generally recommend restricting their use to the following cases.

1.3.1 Titles of books, journals and other publications

Unless following specific editorial guidelines, write the titles of books, journals and other published materials such as dictionaries and reference works in italics, to distinguish the titles from the rest of the sentence.

Be aware, however, that conventions for indicating the title of a book or journal may vary depending the publication or academic field. You will therefore have to bear these factors in mind, depending on the purpose of your text and where it will be published. For additional comment, see section 3.2.2 Publications and the Bibliography.

1.3.2 Words and expressions in other languages

Italicise foreign words or expressions from other languages that are not common in English (that is, words not included in a reliable English dictionary) and that may therefore not be readily understood.

Other expressions of this kind are the Latin terms for academic distinction, cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude (meaning “with honour”, “with great honour” and “with highest honour”, respectively), which should always be italicised.

But note that foreign words that have now become part of normal English usage do not require italics.

Note also that, in the event of using a non-English form for the official name of an organisation (universities, companies, governmental bodies, etc.) these names are not written in italics.

1.4 Hyphens

The use or non-use of hyphens is a complex issue. The same words may sometimes be considered correct with or without hyphens, such as is the case with email and e-mail, although the general tendency is for less use of hyphens, above all as a result of the influence of electronic and social media, where hyphens are often considered superfluous or untidy. There are thousands of examples of recently disappearing hyphens, such as the following recommendations taken from the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

To avoid unnecessary difficulties, we will give only certain basic guidelines.

1.4.1 Fractions

Unless they belong to a figure (1½), always spell out and hyphenate fractions.

1.4.2 Prefixes

Many words beginning with a prefix are written with a hyphen (co-payment); many are not (overproduction). Confusingly, there are also cases where both forms are considered acceptable (British: pre-school / American: preschool). As can be seen from this last example, the tendency in American English is to hyphenate less than in British English. In all events, if in doubt about whether a prefix should be followed by a hyphen, consult a reliable dictionary. However, the following observations generally hold.

Words beginning with a common prefix (such as un-, dis- or re-) are often written without a hyphen.

In contrast, a hyphen is generally used with prefixes such as neo- and ex-.

Hyphenate all words formed by a prefix and a word beginning with a capital letter.

But note that transatlantic is normally written as a single word.

1.4.3 Hyphens in compound adjectives

Hyphenate qualifiers formed with two or more adjectives, with an adverb and an adjective or with an adjective and noun/gerund.

However, do not hyphenate compound adjectival forms in which the first element is an adverb ending in either -ly or in -y.

Additionally, do not hyphenate compound adjectival forms in which the first element is a comparative or superlative.

1.4.4 Hyphens and phrasal verbs

i) Nouns formed from phrasal verbs

Nouns formed from phrasal verbs are often written as a single word and may or may not be hyphenated. If in doubt, consult a dictionary.

ii) Adjectives formed from phrasal verbs

When the present participle of a phrasal verb is used adjectivally, hyphenate.

1.4.5 Hyphens and double consonants or vowels

Hyphenation should generally be used in order to avoid double consonants or vowels.

But note that certain high-frequency terms are no longer hyphenated (unless they are part of an established name).

1.4.6 Hyphens and multiple compounds

When a noun is qualified by more than one hyphenated compound, write these as follows.