10.3.1. Conventions

Regarding English spelling, the standard usage of Ireland and the United Kingdom is to be followed.

  1. English spelling. Follow the standard usage of Ireland and the United Kingdom. As a general rule, the first spelling given on the Oxford Dictionaries Premium website (subscription required), or on the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries website, should be followed (making sure in each case that the British English dictionary is selected).
  2. -is-/-iz- spelling. Use the -is- spelling. Both spellings are correct, but this rule is to be followed for the sake of consistency in EU texts.
  3. Note, however, that the names of bodies in other English-speaking countries retain the original spellings, e.g. US Department of Defense, Australian Labor Party. For international organisations, follow their own practice, e.g. World Health Organization. Follow the list in Annex 1 to the English Style Guide.
  4. The -yse form is the only correct spelling for words such as paralyse and analyse.
  5. When adding -able, drop a final silent -e at the end of the stem (debate – debatable, conceive – conceivable) unless it would change the pronunciation of the preceding consonant (changeable, traceable); the only common exceptions are sizeable and saleable (sizable and salable are US spellings).

  6. Double consonants. Follow the convention of doubling a final -l after a short vowel on adding -ing or -ed to verbs (sole exception: parallel, paralleled) and adding -er to make nouns from verbs:

    level, levelling, levelled, leveller

    travel, travelling, travelled, traveller

    Other consonants double only if the last syllable of the root verb is stressed or carries a strong secondary stress:

    admit, admitting, admitted

    format, formatting, formatted

    refer, referring, referred

    but

    benefit, benefiting, benefited

    combat, combating, combated

    focus, focusing, focused

    target, targeting, targeted

    Exception: a few verbs ending in -p (e.g. kidnapped, worshipped, but not developed).

  7. Judg[e]ment. Judgment is used in legal contexts, judgement in all other contexts.
  8. Data-processing usage. Avoid the forms ‘input(t)ed’ and ‘output(t)ed’. Instead, use ‘input’ and ‘output’: e.g. ‘70 000 items of data were input last month’. However, note the verb ‘to format’ which takes the forms ‘formatted’ and ‘formatting’.
  9. Accents and diacritics in personal names should be reproduced.