"ise" vs "ize"

Hello all,

i wrote a paper for my chemistry class and i used "ise" endings. for example, realise instead of realize. My teacher marked me wrong for these spellings, however i do know that they are acceptable. Can someone find me an article that points out that "ise" endings are acceptable, even if "ize" endings are preferred? I am a canadian student, if it makes any difference.

thanks!

Typically, 'ise' is used in the UK and 'ize' in the US.

That's silly, surely if the teacher understands and it's spelt correctly by American or English standards, then as long as you get the number of atoms on the outer shell of carbon right, it shouldn't make any difference with chemistry!

In Britain we use 'ise'. You're in Canada, and Canada uses British spelling rules, so it should be accepted...

Canada uses either British or American spelling rules. However, a set of Canadian spelling rules has evolved. It's about 1/2 American, 1/2 British. -ize endings are preferred.

the number of atoms on the outer shell of carbon? What's that?

From Wikipedia:
"Words such as realize and recognize are usually spelled with -ize rather than -ise...(The etymological convention that verbs derived from Greek roots are spelled with -ize and those from Latin with -ise is preserved in that practice.)"

Thus "realize" has -ize, but improvise has -ise.

I can't imagine a teacher marking a problem wrong for a spelling mistake(especially a variant spelling). Are you sure you answered the question correctly? Or did the teacher merely mark it to point out that -ize is usually used in Canada? Even in the US, most teachers would be familiar with British spellings and would be unlikely to mark a problem wrong or dock you points because of it. An English teacher may underline such spellings however.

thanks for all your help guys! i pointed out to her that my spelling was consistant throughout and "ise" endings are accepted. But english isn't her first language, she's Greek, and she said she wasn't familiar with it.

asdf- It wasn't a single question, it was a paper. So i was marked on many different aspects, such as communication, thinking, knowledge and spelling/grammar. I was shocked when she marked me down because i have used "ise" in the past, specifically in English classes, and the teachers have never marked me down..

"ize" is the correct spelling. She was right to mark you down.

Well I've read that -ize is preferred in Canada.

Haha I meant electrons sorry!

You really should go by what your teacher says, but as long as you're consistent it seems a little ridiculous for her to mark off.

I'm not familiar with what's more predominant in Canada, but, for example, if you were in the US I would recommend 'ize' and in the UK 'ise.' For some reason, and I have no idea why, I would use the British spelling of words like 'colour' and 'honour,' and my teachers let it slide, which was fine, and eventually I learned that that's not what an American copy editor would allow. But I kept doing it anyway just out of habit until college when professors did start taking off for that.

Interestingly, there seems to be a tradition in the US of sending out wedding invitations that start out with "[Father of the bride] and[mother of the bride] request the honour of your presence..."

You can probably get a spellcheck module specifically for Canadian spelling.

British people generally feel some kind of animosity towards the letter "z"...to many of us it looks "alien" and "foreign" - a letter that looks as if it belongs to other Languages, in which it proliferates.....Languages such as German and Polish, for example. A zed sits well in those Languages but not in English - at least, not in British English.

You will not find many place names on the map of the UK which contain the letter Z - very few indeed, in fact, and those that do, such as Ashby-de-la-Zouch (a fair sized town in Leicestershire, England) are obviously connected with "foreign" influences...the "de la" bit itself indicating this quite clearly.

Keeping this "alien" letter zed out of the British version of English - it's very birthplace is here after all is it not? - is a goo way to preserving the "Britishness" of British English.

It's time all the rest of you out there in the wider world of English Speak realiSed this! I say this in the fervent hope that it doesn't antagoniSe any of you, by the way, and that it doesn't come as too much of a surprise.

Talking of which - how come the Americans (and others) don't use a zed in that word instead of an ess? Or do they? Do Americans write "surprize" or "surprise"? Do fill me in on that one, please.....

good not goo......here in the UK "goo" means a sticky mess - such as some of my spelling error riddled postings resemble sometimes.

No, we Americans don't use a "z" in "surprise". The reason is etymological: the suffix "-ize", as in "realize" and "normalize", used a zeta (or z) in the original Greek and Latin form; but with words like "surprise" and "enterprise" whose ancestors have always had <s>, we still use <s>.