-ise versus -ize
Many people in the UK believe that words ending in “-ize” such as “organize” are US spellings, and that the correct spelling is “organise”.
It ain’t necessarily so. Here’s the checklist you should use:
- Noun and verb
- Where the noun and verb are the same (like “exercise”), use -ise.
- Pronounciation
- Anything that doesn’t sound like “-eyes” uses -ise, such as “promise”.
- Stem
- Where the stem word (usually Latin or Greek) ends in “is”, then use -ise, as in vis (to see) gives “televise”.
- Made it this far?
- Use -ize.
Here’s a list of words that conform to the first three points above:
Nouns
compromise demise disguise enterprise exercise franchise merchandise surprise
Verbs
advertise advise apprise arise chastise circumcise comprise compromise demise despise devise disguise enfranchise enterprise excise exercise improvise incise merchandise premise prise revise supervise surmise surprise televise