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Subject:Re: American English to British English From:"Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 27 Apr 2001 08:21:06 -0400
Sybille,
There are some quick and easy things to do and there are some more subtle things to do.
Quick and easy:
1. Spell check using an American lexicon. This will get rid of colour and organisation, for example.
2. Search for "ller" and "lling" and "lled" (can't think of any other specific combos right now). American preferred spelling is _generally_ for a single ell, but American spell checkers usually accept the secondary spelling with two ells, so you have to fix these manually. Traveler, traveling instead of traveller, travelling, etc. Watch for programme, too, which should be program but may not be picked up by the spell check.
3. Move commas and periods inside the quotation marks. In British usage, as you know, the closing quotation mark may be before or after the terminal comma or period, as logic dictates. In US usage, the closing quotation mark always follows the period or comma; always precedes a colon or semi-colon; and follows or precedes an interrogation or exclamation point, as logic dictates.
More subtle:
1. Americans prefer active voice, simple direct sentence structure, second person imperative in instructions. "The Enter key should be depressed" becomes "Press Enter."
2. US and British usage differ for collective nouns. In the UK, the company are. In the US, the company is. This extends to most, but not all, collective nouns. When in doubt, check with an American colleague.
HTH,
Dick
Sybille Sterk wrote:
>Are there any guidelines on how to convert a document with British English
>spelling to American English? It's probably not enough to just use the
>spell checker? Is there anything else I need to change?
>
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