Is it theater or theatre? Airplane or aeroplane? And other questions about American vs British spelling.

AmEn vs BrEn

🔎 I consider this when proofreading and it’s dependent on where the book will be released, where the audience is based, the writer’s and readers’ preferences. Other Ens available!

You know the difference.

🎭 theater vs theatre

or

✈️ airplane vs aeroplane

These ones are well known.

🔤 But for a recent proofread, I had to be on the lookout for all sorts of variation between BrEn and AmEn to ensure my client (based in Germany) had selected the correct one for her requirements. For instance, the spelling of verbs was on my radar.

to enroll vs to enrol

to fulfill vs to fulfil

✍️ And adjectives

somber vs sombre

cozy vs cosy

📍 Place names and visitor attractions did not escape my attention. Nor did punctuation styles: speech marks, en/em rules, and whether to capitalise after a colon.

📚 My ability to do this well is based on excellent training from the CIEP, a portfolio of clients who require AmEn and clients who want BrEn, and, perhaps most importantly, an excellent reference library!

❓What differences between American and British English are you aware of?

Check out Ines Strohschein‘s ‘The Nick Warner Chronicles’ for a taste of America. Vol II (proofread by moi!) coming soon.