OECD Style Guide (Fourth Edition)

13. Spelling and usage

Abstract

Using correct, consistent spelling in your content conveys your meaning clearly and preserves the Organisation’s reputation for accuracy and quality. Selecting the correct terms is also essential.

British English spelling

• Use British English spelling in all OECD content.

• The Concise Oxford English Dictionary is the OECD’s dictionary of choice.

Do

✔ Set your language in Word™ to “English (United Kingdom)”.

✔ Use “-ise” endings, not “-ize” (“organise”, “realise”).

✔ Use “-our” endings, not “-or” (“labour”, “honour”).

✔ Use “-re” endings, not “‑er” (“centre”, “metre”).

✔ Use double consonants when adding endings to words (“travelling”, “focussed”, “labelled”).

✔ Respect the use of American spelling in the names of US institutions or of institutions that use US spelling.

The International Labour Organization is based in Geneva.

Choosing the right words

• Use clear, simple language to communicate effectively with audiences who might not be native English speakers or experts in the subject.

• Avoid foreign words and expressions (ceteris paribus, inter alia, ipso facto). They make your writing harder to understand and alternatives exist in English (“other things being equal”, “among other things”, “by the fact of”).

• Be aware that some words in English may be pronounced or spelt similarly yet have very different meanings or may have similar yet not interchangeable meanings. Refer to the table “Commonly confused English words”.

• Take care to choose the word that actually expresses your meaning. The table “Commonly misused words in English” helps you to navigate key English words are often that are often used incorrectly.

• Note that some words in English and French share the same meaning but are not spelt exactly the same. The table “Commonly confused spellings of similar words in English and French” highlights key examples of this.

See also: Avoiding confusion between English and French terms.

Commonly confused English words

 

advise (verb) to give advice “They advised their colleagues to complete the project.”	advice (noun) suggestion about what should be done “The committee chair heeded their advice.”
affect (verb) to have an impact or influence “The new legislation affected most taxpayers.”	effect (verb) to accomplish or cause to happen “The measure effected real change.”
allude to (verb) to mention indirectly “She alluded to similar projects to support her analysis.”	refer to (verb) to mention directly “He referred to last year’s results in the report.”
already (adv.) by this time or earlier “The team already prepared the report.”	all ready (adj. phrase) completely prepared “They are all ready for the conference.”
all together (pron. + adj.) with each other, in a group “They were all together at the conference.”	altogether (adv.) entirely, in total “The director was not altogether pleased with the results.”
alternate (adj.) every other “The team alternates between working on site and remotely.”	alternative (noun or adj.) another option “Remote work is an alternative offered to all staff.”
among (prep.) referring to more than two persons or things “The work will be divided equally among the staff.”	between (prep.) referring to two persons or things “The friendship between the two countries is considerable.”
amount (noun) referring to bulk, mass or aggregate nouns “A large amount of snow fell last night.”	number (noun) referring to nouns that are countable “There are five candidates for the position.”
anyone (pron.) any person at all “Anyone may attend the meeting.”	any one (adj. phrase) unspecified object, idea, place, or person within a group “Any one statistician may represent the directorate.”
appraise (verb) to evaluate “The committee will soon appraise the work of the task force.”	apprise (verb) to inform (but use of this verb should be avoided) “She will apprise inform you of the findings.”
approve (verb) to give official consent “The manager approved the contract.”	approve of (verb) to regard favourably “The staff approved of their new offices.”
balance (noun) what is left after something has been subtracted or used, in a monetary or financial context “After payments had been made, the balance was smaller.”	remainder (noun) what is left after something has been subtracted or used (but should be avoided; prefer rest) “They took the remainder rest of the boxes to the new office.”
biennial (adj.) once every two years “The OECD Pensions Outlook is a biennial report.”	biannual (adj.) twice a year “The biannual conference is held in June and December.”
comparatively (adv.) in comparison to something else “Inflation was 15% in Q3, but comparatively low in Q4.”	relatively (adv.) to some extent, moderately “The meeting was relatively short.”
compare to (verb) used to show similarities (especially between unlike things) “The director compared the team's effort to a marathon.”	compare with (verb) used to analyse differences and similarities (between like things) “Attendance dropped compared with the event in previous years.”
dependent (adj.) determined or conditioned by something else “The project is dependent on the budget being passed.”	dependant (noun) something or someone that is dependent “Several countries offer subsidies for households with dependants.”
farther (adv.) refers to physical distance “The room is farther down the corridor, on the left.”	further (adv.) refers to additional degree, time or quantity “The report needs further revisions before publication.”
forego (verb) to precede “The foregoing section contains three tables.”	forgo (verb) to do without “They decided to forgo tables in the second chapter of the report.”
foreword (noun) the front matter of a publication “The Foreword explained the context of the report.”	forward (adv.) towards the direction that is in front of you “The team is looking forward to the next project phase.”
formally (adverb) in a formal way “The country formally expressed interest in OECD accession.”	formerly (adv.) earlier, in the past “The OECD was formerly known as the OEEC.”
historic (adj.) famous or important in history “The Château de la Muette is a historic monument.”	historical (adj.) of, belonging to or referring to history “The team reviewed historical data to identify trends.”
imply (verb) to state indirectly, to suggest “The speaker implied that the report needed further work.”	infer (verb) to deduce, to draw a conclusion “The author inferred more work was needed.”
inter (prefix) among, between, together “The OECD is an international organisation.”	intra (prefix) within, inside “The patient was given an intravenous drip.”
license (verb) to issue a license, to give permission “Doctors are licensed by a medical board.”	licence (noun) permission, a permit “In most countries, you must be 18 to have a driver’s licence.”
practise (verb) to perform or carry out; to work at so as to become proficient “She practises law in Paris.” “He practised giving the presentation.”	practice (noun) something that is usually or regularly done “The report highlights best practices for policymakers.”
principal (adj. or noun) chief, leading; the head of something “The high school principal addressed the students.”	principle (noun only) rule, guideline or fact “The report provides 10 principles for developing sound policy.”
stationary (adj.) fixed, immobile “The gym’s equipment included stationary bikes.”	stationery (noun) paper, envelopes, writing materials “The stationery has the OECD logo on it.”
spelled (past tense of “to spell”) “She spelled out her name.”	spelt (past participle of “to spell”) “The word is spelt with a ‘z’.”
then (adv.) next, after that “They met with stakeholders, then started drafting the report.”	than (prep. or conj.) used in comparisons “The new edition is shorter than the previous one.”
Assure, ensure and insure (verbs)	Assure (verb), to set the mind at rest, used to refer to people “The teacher assured the students the test would not be difficult.” Ensure (verb), to make sure or certain, used to refer to things or events “The teacher ensured the test was at an appropriate level.” Insure (verb), to indemnify against risk or loss “The OECD premises are insured.”
Autarchy, autarky and autocracy	Autarchy (noun), absolute sovereignty “The ruler established autarchy, holding absolute power over all decisions.” Autarky (noun), economic self-sufficiency “The nation pursued autarky to avoid foreign economic dependence.” Autocracy (noun) absolute government by one person “In an autocracy, citizens have no say in government decisions.
Continual, continuous, and continued	Continual (adj.), happening frequently “His continual interjections were irritating.” Continuous (adj.), uninterrupted, incessant “We witnessed football’s oldest continuous rivalry.” Continued (adj.), lasting, extending “They wished for her continued success.”
Quite, rather and somewhat (adv.)	These words are imprecise and can sound informal. Avoid them.
Respectively (adv.), latter (adj.) and former (adj.)	These words break the flow of the reader’s eye movement as the reader must look back in the sentence to see the connection between the words. Avoid them.

Commonly misused words in English

 

Word	Explanation
Across (prep.)	Can be ambiguous. “The report presented data on unemployment across several countries” – does this mean data within countries, on each of several countries, or on a group of countries? Be specific. “The report compared the unemployment data of several countries.”
Address (verb)	Imprecise. Replace with a more specific word such as “discuss” or “investigate”.
All right (adj., adv.)	Always two words. “Alright” is incorrect.
And/or (n/a)	Do not use. Rephrase to “A or B, or both”. “You may present your passport or identity card, or both.”
Annex (noun)	Always use. Do not use “appendix”.
Comprise (verb)	To consist or be made of all the parts of that make up a whole. “The final report comprises six chapters and two annexes.” Not a synonym for “contain” or “include”. Do not use “is comprised of”; this is incorrect.
Concerted (adj.)	By agreement, in unison. Must be used to refer to one or more countries, institutions or individuals; one alone cannot make a concerted effort.
Consensus (noun)	Means “shared opinion”, not “majority view”.
Constitute (verb)	The parts that make up a whole. “The House of Commons and the House of Lords constitute the Parliament of the United Kingdom.” Not to be confused with “contain”: “This report contains the group’s findings, the result of three years of work” (correct) but “This report constitutes three years of work” (incorrect).
Impact (noun)	Do not use as a verb: “The policy had a direct impact on pollution” (correct) but “The policy impacted pollution” (incorrect).
Implement (verb)	Means “carry out”, “execute”, “accomplish”. Much overused, employ synonyms when possible.
In regard to (prep.)	“In regard to” is the proper expression; use “regard” (with no “s”) rather than “regards”.
Include (verb)	Means “part of a whole”, does not mean “comprise”. “The countries supporting this policy include Denmark, Norway and Sweden.” In this example, using “include” means that at least one other country supports the policy. Do not use the phrase “including but not limited to”; it is redundant.
Literally (adv.)	Something happened exactly as described. “They literally drove five hours to attend the event.” Only use in this sense. Does not mean “in effect” or “virtually”. “He literally exploded” would mean there were bits of him all over the walls, floor and ceiling. Do not use metaphorically.
Loan (noun)	Means “an amount of borrowed money”. “The firm has repaid the loan.” Do not use as a verb, use “lend”. “The bank lends money at a fixed interest rate.”
Presently (adv.)	Do not use, to avoid confusion between the difference in its meaning between British English (“soon”) and American English (“now”).
Regardless (adv.)	Means “despite” or “not affected by”. “Regardless of their department, all staff are encouraged to contribute ideas.” Do not use “irregardless”; it is a double negative and is not equivalent to “regardless”.
Regime (noun)	Means “government or system of government”, “a particular way of doing something”. If used refer to the government of a country, usually implies dictatorship and is considered pejorative. Do not use in this context.
Regular (adj.)	Means “at regular intervals”. “Halley’s comet regularly approaches the Earth, appearing in the skies every 76 years”. Does not mean “frequent”.
Scheme (noun)	Means “plan” or “project”. Do not use as it carries a negative connotation of “sneaky” or “devious” in American English. Use instead a word that is neutral in both British and American English (“programme”, “project”, “plan” or “initiative”).
Slated (adj.)	Do not use, to avoid confusion between the difference in its meaning between British English (“severely criticised”) and in American English (“scheduled”).
State (noun)	Meanings include “a country”, “level of government” or “government”. Be careful to clarify your meaning, as “state” can be confusing in discussions involving countries with federal governments, such as the United States and Germany.
Table (verb)	Do not use, to avoid confusion between the difference in its meaning between British English (“to present something”) and in American English (“to take off the agenda”).

Commonly confused spellings of similar words in English and French

 

English	French
abbreviation	abréviation
address	adresse
apartment	appartement
character	caractère
competitiveness	compétitivité
connection	connexion
contract	contrat
correspondence	correspondance
defence	défense
environment	environnement
example	exemple
existent	existant
government	gouvernement
independence, independent	indépendance, indépendant
medicine	médecine
messenger	messager
negligible	négligeable
negotiation	négociation
offence	offense
parallel	parallèle
recommendation	recommandation
reflection	réflexion
responsible	responsable
tariff	tarif
traffic	trafic
weekend	week-end

Plurals

• Most nouns can be turned into plural nouns by adding “-s”, “-es” or another suffix.

• Some nouns, often called “mass nouns”, remain in the singular even when expressing plurality, usually for abstract concepts or uncountable objects (“advice”, “information”, “knowledge” or “snow”).

• Some Latin and ancient Greek terms are used in modern English. Their singular and plural forms are listed in the table “Singular and plural forms of Latin or Greek terms commonly used in English”. Be aware that while English uses the Latin or Greek form for the plural (“a forum”, but “several fora”), French adds an “s” to the singular form (“un forum”, but “des forums”).

Do

✔ Use the correct ending when making a noun plural. Consult the Concise Oxford English Dictionary if you are unsure of which form to use.

✔ Use a singular verb form if a mass noun is the subject of the sentence.

The team always brings sandwiches on their picnics.

The information was shared with the committee.

Singular and plural forms of Latin or Greek terms commonly used in English

 

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
addendum	addenda	forum	forums or fora
agenda	agendas	index	indexes (of books)
appendix	appendices	index	indices (indicators, index numbers)
colloquium	colloquia	matrix	matrices
consortium	consortia	medium	media
corrigendum	corrigenda	memorandum	memoranda
criterion	criteria	nucleus	nuclei
curriculum	curricula	phenomenon	phenomena
data (always plural)	data	premium	premiums
equilibrium	equilibria	referendum	referendums
erratum	errata	syllabus	Syllabuses
formula	formulas (general)	symposium	symposia
formula	formulae (scientific, mathematics)	ultimatum	ultimatums