American English at UK Uni Appropriate?

No. The English are pretty particular about their spelling and grammar. I think most tutors would keep correcting you in red pen until you learn to spell properly!

Reply 2

LeeC

15

Nope you wouldn't get away with that I'm afraid! Im guessing in the US if you used English spellings you would get corrected... its the same here.

Reply 3

Fluent in Lies

2

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/english/data/d0082643.html

spell them right. Dont ever, ever put 'color'. Ever.

Reply 4

psychic_satori

LeeC

Nope you wouldn't get away with that I'm afraid! Im guessing in the US if you used English spellings you would get corrected... its the same here.

Actually, they don't really care as long as it fits under the umbrella of "English."

Reply 5

la fille danse

17

You can change the spell checker dictionary on Word to UK English. For me, it sometimes changes back to American English randomly in the middle of writing an essay, I don't know how to fix it. :s-smilie:

Reply 6

Ferret_messiah

8

Fluent in Lies

Dont ever, ever put 'color'. Ever.

Unless you are doing any sort of scripting or programming project. Then do put color, otherwise it probably won't work.

Reply 7

Fluent in Lies

2

lol, how true. How many times have I sat there wondering why something like this doesnt work:

colourObj = new Colour(targetClip);

Reply 8

I have been wondering about this before, too. It's going to be so hard to adjust :eek:

I'll be doing American Studies tho, so wouldn't it be extra appropriate to use American English then :wink:

?!

Reply 9

hallucination

One of my lecturers says that he doesn't mind American English, as long as it's used consistently i.e. don't spell some words using American English (e.g. color) but then revert to UK English spelling.

Reply 10

Yeah, that's what it was like here, too. I guess it depends on the lecturer. I'll just have to ask.

Reply 11

SunburnedCactus

11

At the end of the day, it's what you write, not how you write it.

Reply 12

Hopefully

Reply 13

RK

TSR Community Staff

22

I think you'd have to check with the uni/department/lectures you have as there seems to be mixed results here.

When I did a course on my maths degree which required extended pieces or written work (were spelling, grammar etc were some of the things being tested) we were told that we should use British English to write it up, unless there was good reason not to (ie we were American etc) and in those cases to let the lecturer know so he could take that into consideration when marking.

Reply 14

Fleece

15

Anne*UK*06

I have been wondering about this before, too. It's going to be so hard to adjust :eek:

I'll be doing American Studies tho, so wouldn't it be extra appropriate to use American English then :wink:

?!

how come you learned american english instead of english?

Reply 15

Been to the US a lot, including a year abroad, aunt and cousins are American, learned most of my English by teaching myself (books, movies etc) rather than at school ... So that's how. Also, I have just always loved the US and been very interested in it and learning "their" English just came naturally. I think i would be able to write "proper" Englih, but there's no way I'd ever sound British. Everyone thinks I'm American when they talk to me. Now the way I speak hopefully shouldn't be a problem ...

Reply 16

Higgy

2

Its strange, every european person i know who speaks english all speak it with an american accent lol

Reply 17

JakeR

Higgy

Its strange, every european person i know who speaks english all speak it with an american accent lol

haha, mtv anyone?

Reply 18

hugatree

11

Higgy

Its strange, every european person i know who speaks english all speak it with an american accent lol

Yeah.

It's cos we learn it from watching TV before being taught English at highschool.

--------------

JakeR

haha, mtv anyone?

Not just MTV (there's a Dutch MTV, even), but any show really. Friends, The Simpsons, Charmed... It's all in English with subtitles here.

If you go to Germany or France, however, it's all dubbed.

Reply 19

psychic_satori