English Tea Time #11 – Practice or Practise?

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Hello there! In today’s newsletter, I’d like to talk about spelling differences between British and American English.

But first, I would like to say a big THANK YOU and WELCOME to all my new blog subscribers (followers)! The last two weeks have been crazy! Two weeks ago I started a new YouTube channel and already so many people have watched my videos, subscribed, and left the kindest comments! I’m really amazed and grateful (thankful). 😍

Because of that, this blog has grown from just 3 followers to nearly 50! I like to think of you as my SUPER FANS because you really are super! Again, thank you so much! 🙏

English Spelling Confusion

I get confused (can’t think clearly) when it comes to British and American English. Of course, I am British so my native tongue (language) is British English, but I have been using American English textbooks since 1998! As well as that, all the different brands (kinds) of English get mixed together on the internet and social media. I’ve started to forget which spelling is from which country.

Recently, I decided that I would be strict about using British English online. For example, I’ve started using practise with an “s” instead of practice with a “c”, but only for the verb (action) form.

I think it looks weird (strange). I can’t help it! 　

→　I can’t help but think it looks weird! 😜　

There are some rules that you can use to switch between American and British English. Here are some of them:

-our and -or: In British English, words like “colour” and “honour” have a ‘u’. In American English, the ‘u’ is dropped, making them “color” and “honor”.

-ise and -ize: In British English, it’s common to write “organise” and “realise” with ‘s’. However, American English prefers ‘z’, so these become “organize” and “realize”. Both spellings can be seen in British English, but ‘z’ is more typical (common) in American English.

-re and -er: British English spells some words with ‘re’ at the end, like “centre” and “theatre”. In American English, the ‘e’ and ‘r’ switch places, resulting in “center” and “theater”.

-ce and -se for nouns and verbs: In British English, some nouns and verbs are spelled differently, like “advice” (noun) and “advise” (verb). In American English, the same spelling is often used for both noun and verb forms, such as “practice”, which can be both.

Double ‘l’ and single ‘l’: When adding endings to words that end in ‘l’, British English doubles the ‘l’, as in “travelling” or “cancelled”. American English doesn’t double the ‘l’, so you see “traveling” and “canceled”.

In addition to the different spellings, you’ve also got different words such as “car park” vs “parking lot” and “pavement” vs “sidewalk”. Finally, to add to my confusion, I also know Japanese English! For example, “salaryman”, “high tension”, “front glass”, “baby car” and “potato fry” ! 😄

My advice? I advise you to choose one version and stick to it (just use that).

New Videos and Worksheets

It’s been a while since the last newsletter, so you might have missed these:

Videos:

• English Speaking Skills – 10 Step Program for Fluent English Speaking
• English Speaking Skills – Don’t Stop Speaking: Use English Workarounds!
• Active Grammar – #1 What are you doing?
• Short videos – See Instagram or YouTube.

Worksheets:

• Speaking Skills: English Speaking Skills
• Speaking Skills: Workarounds
• Speaking Skills: Active Grammar: What are you doing?
• News: Grandma gets stuck in shop shutters
• News: UK unhappy in world happiness ranking
• News: Woman gets Antarctica tattoo for job at penguin post office
• True Stories: The Cadbury chocolate spies
• True Stories: The great traffic jam in China
• True Stories: The inspiring story of an Australian bank robber in India
• Easy English: Charlie’s sneezing problem
• Easy English: Manaka goes to a new school

Note: I think I will stop Easy English now. I’ve made 40 worksheets in the series, which is probably enough. 😅

Motivation

I will talk about this in more depth another time, but this week, I want you to write “QUANTITY” on a big piece of paper with a big, fat marker and stick it above your door. Use it to remind you that:

You need to read a LOT. Read book after book, article after article, tweet after tweet. The more you read, the faster your brain will see and remember collocations (words that are often used next to each other). If you don’t understand a word, it doesn’t matter, just skip it. If you don’t understand the meaning of what you’re reading, it doesn’t matter, just read it anyway!

Seeing which words are most common, and which words they are paired with, over and over again, is a fast way to improving your English fluency! And the same goes for listening. 👍

Wrap-up

And that’s it! Thank you for joining me for tea! If you’re enjoying my blog and would like to get new posts in your email, please subscribe. If you have friends who might like these posts, please share this link with them. I really appreciate it!

All the best,

Nick