3.01 Introduction

Spelling poses a major problem in English because it is not phonetic and because the rules that can be formulated nearly always have significant exceptions. In addition, there are hundreds of words that have variant spellings in different parts of the English-speaking world, the principal cleavage being between the United Kingdom and the United States. Partly as a result of our historical links with Britain and our proximity to the United States, Canadian spelling has tended to waver between the forms used in these two countries, so that, to this day, there is no clearly established Canadian standard.

While a list of words that have variant spellings in British and American practice would run into the hundreds and still not be exhaustive, the great majority of them fall into a few well-defined classes, as listed below. The British variants are given in the left-hand column, the American in the right-hand column:

• verbs ending in ise/ize and their derived forms:
  
  

  British	American
  civilise, civilisation	civilize, civilization
  organise, organisation	organize, organization
  specialise, specialisation	specialize, specialization

  
  
• nouns ending in our/or:
  
  

  British	American
  colour, honour, favour	color, honor, favor

  
  
• nouns ending in re/er:
  
  

  British	American
  centre, fibre, theatre	center, fiber, theater

  
  
• verbs with single l/double l and their derivatives:
  
  

  British	American
  instil	instill
  fulfil, fulfilment	fulfill, fulfillment
  enrol, enrolment	enroll, enrollment

  
  
• nouns in ce/se¹:
  
  

  British	American
  defence, offence, pretence	defense, offense, pretense

  
  
• double l/single l in the past tense of verbs:
  
  

  British	American
  counselled, labelled	counseled, labeled
  travelled	traveled

  
  
• treatment of the digraphs ae and oe in words derived from Greek and Latin:
  
  

  British	American
  anaemia, encyclopaedia	anemia, encyclopedia
  diarrhoea, oecumenical	diarrhea, ecumenical

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The recommended spelling authority is a reliable Canadian dictionary such as the Canadian Oxford or Gage Canadian Dictionary. It is important to choose one and use it consistently. Both publications are based on research into Canadian usage, contain specifically Canadian terms and reflect the usage of most federal government departments and agencies more closely than do American or British dictionaries. When they list two spellings for a word in the same entry, choose the one entered first. When two spellings are given separate entries, choose the primary spelling, which is the one followed by the definition (the variant simply refers the reader to the primary entry). For scientific and technical words not in Gage or the Canadian Oxford, check Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.

In light of these recommendations, use the following variant spellings: endings in ize, ization, our, re, single l (as in instil) and ce; single l in words such as enrolment; ll in travelled, etc.; and e for digraphs (exceptions: aesthetic and onomatopoeic).

Note

Respect the official spelling of names of U.S. institutions, e.g. Department of Defense, Center for Disease Control.

The rules and lists of words given in this chapter are intended to supplement, not replace the use of the spelling authority you choose. The important point with respect to spelling is to be consistent in your written work unless a good reason exists for using variant or archaic spellings.

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