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Anonymous Posted 21 years ago
Vocabulary

-ise or -ize at the end of words

0 Some words are written only with -ise, like advetise, advertisers, etc. While others are written only with -ize, like emphasize, etc. Most have double forms, so which system am I to adopt. Microsoft Office makes a distinction b/n BrE and AmE, where in BrE all words are written with the -ise, including for example civilisation, while AmE uses only -ize endings. I am pesonally interested in BrE, and my teacher said I would risk less if I wrote all words with -ise, but what about emphasize; there surely are more words of this kind. Which of the two spellings am I to adopt (in BrE) and are there any exception, possibly someone could provide me with a list or something? Thanks in advance. 0-
  

Top answer

0Yes, what you said was true. you are adopt to Microsoft office. But you could do one thing, you can change the language settings in Microsoft Office to reflect either BrE or AmE.

— Anonymous

  • 0Yes, what you said was true.
  • you are adopt to Microsoft office.
  • But you could do one thing, you can change the language settings in Microsoft Office to reflect either BrE or AmE.
  • 02br 02br 00Thanks,02br 02br 00Suren0-
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12 Answers
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0Yes, what you said was true. you are adopt to Microsoft office. But you could do one thing, you can change the language settings in Microsoft Office to reflect either BrE or AmE. 02br
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00Thanks,02br
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00Suren0-
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0Actually the Office programme doesn't bother me that much, I just used it to give an example; I was rather wondering which of the two endings is correct according to BrE grammar.0-
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0Hello Anon02br
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00In BrE, you can write all '-ize' words as '-ise', incl. emphasize, realize, etc. This is now the norm in everyday usage, and in most newspapers and magazines. (With some obvious exceptions: size, etc.)02br
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00Some BrE publishers (Penguin, Oxford University) still use '-ize' for all except a handful of words (improvise, analyse, a
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0 Interesting. Any theories as to why, MrP? Pronunciation would have favoured 01i00-ize02i00, I would have thought.02br
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0'Hello Anon02br
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00In BrE, you can write all '-ize' words as '-ise', incl. emphasize, realize, etc. This is now the norm in everyday usage, and in most newspapers and magazines. (With some obvious exceptions: size, etc.)02br
02br
00Some BrE publishers (Penguin, Oxford University) still use '-ize' for all except a handful of words (improvise, analyse,
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0English writing doesn't have much to do with pronunciation! You may have noticed that it's not a phonetic language. 05002br
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00We were taught "ise" at school. So we use it. 010id5
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0My understanding is that many of our -ise words entered the language from the French, and were originally spelt thus. Then between the 15th and 18th centuries, -ize began to predominate, on the grounds that the suffix related to the Greek suffix -izô. 02br
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00In the mid 19th century, -ise was rehabilitated, in BrE, on grounds of priority. It also meant you didn't have to
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0 You are quite right. I was going to add that but "Edit" still doesn't work. 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Eimai_Anglos12cite10You are quite right. I was going to add that but "Edit" still doesn't work.12blockquote
10Feel free to re-post with edits, EA, while we're fixing the buttons! 0-
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Roger N from England

I've always tended to use both spellings. My preferred spelling has always been "ize", but I use "ise" in some situations where it may be necessary, such as government documents.

From early modern English it appears that the "ize" form was dominant e.g. John Donne's poem The Canonization, the 1611 King James Bible's spelling of baptize and Robert Cawdrey's 1
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