Organise/Organize

[Skithepowder]

Which is the correct English, not American, spelling of this word.... if they differ? Is it organise or organize?Organised or Organized? Does the spelling change with the tense from s to z, or z to s ever?

[Quizmonster]

The old rule - and one still largely followed by The Oxford English Dictionary (the English word-�bible') as well as American usage - was that words derived from classical Greek with the letter zeta in their suffix were rendered �ize' in English.  However, many modern publishers - including �The Times' newspaper - prefer the Latinate and more modern �ise' for most such words.  Thus, normal British usage has �organise', �apologise' and so on.  Certain words - eg �capsize' - are never modified to have an �ise' ending.  In the same way, there are others - such as �disguise', �analyse' and �chastise' - which are never given an �ize' ending, because they have a letter sigma rather than a zeta even in their Greek forms.  Apart from the exceptions mentioned above, you are basically free to use whichever form - ise/ize - you prefer!  Only...be consistent.

[Anonymous82]

American English is actually correct English; as is British English. There are two formats: Standard American and Standard British. Their usage is purely geographic and not related to a "proper" usage. Both are recognized as proper and both have grammatical and stylistic rules (substantially the same). This is a mistake often made by foreign students of the language, but has no basis in truth.