It is often difficult for people writing in Australian English to hold to the conventions of Australian English, due largely to our regular exposure to American English in academic writing. In this week’s blog, we will review some important differences between Australian and American English writing conventions. The aim is to alert you to some of the more common mistakes.
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The first big difference between these two systems lies in spelling. For instance, American English uses iza, ize, izi and yze, while Australian English uses isa, ise, isi and yse. Thus, ‘realize’ is American and ‘realise’ is Australian. Similarly, ‘analyze’ is American and ‘analyse’ is Australian. When writing academically for an Australian university or publication, American spellings must not remain in your text. Therefore, we recommend doing a search for iza, ize, izi and yze to find and correct these errors. Some other common spelling differences are:
American / Australian
Judgment Judgement (but Judgment in legal texts)
Percent Per cent
Program Programme (but computer program)
There are two big differences between these two systems in terms of punctuation. The first relates to the use of the serial comma (the comma before ‘and’ in a list). While the second relates to the punctuation used with quotations. The serial comma: In Australian English, the serial comma is not used. This means that usually in a list no comma is placed before ‘and’; for example: This essay will investigate the roles of the Parliament, the Ministers and the Judiciary. In American English, this would be: This essay will investigate the roles of the Parliament, the Ministers, and the Judiciary. Note that if the list looks like it could be confusing without the serial comma (e.g., the items in the list are long, or there are multiple ‘ands’ in the list), you can use a comma to remove that confusion. Quotation marks: This is one of the most common mistakes made by writers in Australian English. American English uses double quotation marks, and only uses single quotations marks when quoting inside a quotation; for example: According to Lines (2010), “these soldiers served as models of the ‘New Woman.’” In Australian English, single quotation marks are used, with double quotation marks only used to quote within quotations: According to Lines (2010), ‘these soldiers served as models of the “New Woman”’. Punctuating quotations: You will also notice in the example quotations above that the punctuation at the ends of the sentences are different. In American English, the punctuation mark (i.e., the full stop or comma) always comes before the closing quotation mark. Conversely, in Australian English, the punctuation mark will usually come after the closing quotation mark, unless the quotation is also a complete sentence. Compare the following two examples. (Both use Australian English). The salsola is a salt marsh plant. ‘It stores the salt in its leaves, so is a naturally seasoned plant.’ The salsola is a salt marsh plant. As salt is stored in its leaves, it is ‘naturally seasoned’. Note that in the first example, the quotation and the complete sentence (from capital letter to full stop) are one and the same. Therefore, in Australian English, the punctuation mark is placed inside the quotation marks. In all other instances, the punctuation mark is placed outside the quotation marks. By keeping just these few differences in mind while writing, you will dramatically reduce the number of stylistic errors in your text caused by confusion between the conventions of American and Australian English. However, we additionally recommend having your document edited by a professional editing service such as Editex. A comprehensive edit to remove stylistic errors and ensure consistency in language use is just part of the service we provide.