To summarise or summarize?

[vicars]

I always thought you use an s in this word but my dictionary says z (but gives the s as an alternative). Is there a definitive spelling of summari(s/z)e in English?

[Buenchico]

The simple answer to your question is 'No'. This seems to be one of those things like 'enquiry' vs. 'inquiry', where there's no definitive version of the word.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary offers both spellings, with no annotation to denote differences on either side of the Atlantic.

The Longman Guide to English Usages recognises (recognizes?) that some words (such as 'advertise', chastise' and 'televise') should only have the '-ise' ending on either side of the Atlantic. It states, however, that where both endings exist for a particular word, only the '-ize' form is correct in America, whereas both forms are correct in the UK.

Fowler seems to prefer '-ize' as the 'normal form' for those words where both options are available.

Frederick Wood, in 'Current English Usage' isn't so dogmatic about the American version. He only states that '-ize' is the 'usual form' in America (rather than the only acceptable form). He confirms, however,that '-ise' is the 'usual form' in the UK.

Chris

[jno]

Americans more often use -ize; Brits more often use -ise. The Times used to stick with -ize but stopped doing so about 10 years ago; it was the last newspaper publisher to do so. Some book publishers may still use -ize; I don't know. Dictionaries try their best to keep track, but they have no power to issue rulings about what's to be used. As Chris says, there are words that have more than one spelling; and there's no way you can tell 250 million Americans, or 60 million Brits, that they're 'wrong'.

[Buenchico]

Just to confuse matters further:
As I replaced the volumes, referred to above, on my bookshelf, my eye alighted on 'The Wordsworth Book of Spelling Rules'. This says "there is a group of words that traditionally have been spelt 'ize' in the UK (in some cases, a tradition derived from the Greek origins) but 'ise' is also acceptable and, indeed, becoming much more common nowadays".

This would suggest that the '-ize' form pre-dates the '-ise' version. So, its increasing use can't really be blamed on our trans-atlantic cousins!

Chris

[jno]

no, I think that's one of those things early settlers took out to America with them and hung on to while those back home changed. It's said - it's probably not really accurate, but it may have a grain of truth - that Shakespeare would understand people speaking with American accents better than modern British ones, because they'd changed less.

[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, as already mentioned - 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.

[Drusilla]

I remember an episode of 'Inspector Morse' where the snobbish inspector describes people using -ise as Philistines. I suppose -ize is technically correct, but -ise is now common usage. Take your pick!

[ursula62]

The episode of Morse you referred to actually had Sergeant Lewis criticising the writer of a suicide note containing a word spelled using IZE.

Inspector Morse pointed out that since the Oxford English Dictionary lists the IZE ending first, it was in fact Lewis that was illiterate for not knowing this.

[javelinpc]

Well done Ursula, a lady after my own heart... obviously an avid Morse fan !

[Quizmonster]

Ah! But which word was it in the suicide note? Maybe 'ise' was correct and Morse got it wrong!

[Mora]

Summarise is UK spelling: summarize is US spelling.

[penryu]

I recently watched that episode of Inspector Morse and was surprised, as I'd always believed the "correct" spelling in the UK was -ise.

In the scene...

Lewis finds a suicide note on a computer hard drive that includes the words "apologise" and "civilised" spelled with "-ise." Morse declares the note a fake and points out the spelling, confusing Lewis who asks, "What's wrong with that?"

"Well it's illiterate, that's what! The Oxford English Dictionary uses a Z for words that end in '-ize', and so did [the victim]."

Morse points to other writing samples by the victim where they did in fact consistently use a Z. He goes on to call out another misspelling, again confusing Lewis. "Isn't that how you spell it?" At which point Morse condescendingly educates Lewis on the word's Latin roots, and closes with, "...as I would hope that anyone would know with a half decent education."

In the OED...

The online edition of the OED (the subscription to which is my annual Christmas gift to myself) has a fascinating write-up on the "-ize" suffix available at the link below (subscription required).

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ize_suffix?tab=etymology#40534583

Paraphrasing here, the argument is that for many Greek words ending in -ίζειν (e.g., βαπτίζειν) and for which Latin borrowed as -izāre (e.g., baptizāre), the English spelling should be "-ize", and that the "-ise" spelling came via the French borrowing as "-iser."

This mostly echoes Quizmonster's answer, except for the discussion of the Latin borrowing.

The answer...

...is as ever, "It depends," especially as I'm a reluctant descriptivist.

In the U.S., "-ize" will probably draw fewer strange looks and fewer red squiggles under words. The "-ise" suffix will probably draw fewer looks and squiggles.

The only people who might give you a hard time are Inspector Morse, and whoever's marking your essays.