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'Z' in place of 'S'


AGBellamy

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Hi

I'm sorry if this is the wrong area, or if this seems too random or menial, but it's something I've been wondering about for the English exams (I'm doing English A1 HL) :

I live in the UK and we use 'S' in place of 'Z', 'U' in words like 'colour' and 'labour', etc. The IB co-ordinator at my college told us that we have to cut out the u in 'colour' and use 'z' in words like 'surprise' so it becomes 'surprize', but this is something I and the others in my class are having difficulty with because we can't justify it since we're too used to s and u, if you get what I'm saying.

Sorry if this seems like a ramble- I'm tired right now so I'll get to the point: do we Americanis/ze the spellings, or do we stick with how we spell them in the UK?

Thanks!

HGB

Edited by HGBellamy
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Surprise is not actually surprize even in the US dictionary :console:

Apart from that tell your teach to screw off. IB is all about multiculturalism and they definitely do not give a crap about american or english spellings. Don't bother confusing yourselves lol

Edited by Daedalus
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Surprise is not actually surprize even in the US dictionary :console:

Apart from that tell your teach to screw off. IB is all about multiculturalism and they definitely do not give a crap about american or english spellings. Don't bother confusing yourselves lol

:hug: A little British ignorance for you there, lol!

Thank you! That's really cleared it up! :S

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Don't bother. As long as it's either correct American spelling or correct British spelling, you'll be fine. The examiners and moderators for IB come from all over the world, most probably aren't even from the US, and I'd hope that all of them would be able to recognise both spellings.

Just be consistent. If you decide to go for the British spellings, do that, and then stick to it. Don't switch from organise to organize halfway through an essay. Really, just do what you do already, as long as it's properly spelt by British standards.

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IB is all about consistency. So choose one and stick to it. In other words, spell like a brit/aussie and don't worry about americani(z)ing it.

Sometimes I leave out the u in words I don't know why though, I think it's cause I watch too much MTV and American stuff on tv. But yeah, keep consistent and you won't have a problem I don't think :console:

Also, it'd be hard for your to remember all of the words that change in UK/US English. I mean, there aren't that many, but still, it'd be just more to learn

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