Spelling

The first spelling given in the Macquarie Dictionary is generally used, but for certain words, the English rather than the American spelling is retained. These include colour, honour and foetal. There are others: generally the English spelling is preferred when there is a choice.

At the end of words, -ise is used rather than –ize.

The following ‘in-house’ words are spelled without a hyphen:

• online
• postgraduate
• prerequisite
• textbook
• coursework
• guidelines
• timetable
• database (databank)
• audiovisual.

Words with a prefix or suffix causing juxtaposition of the same vowel, however, are hyphenated:

• co-operate
• co-ordinate
• re-enrol.

Spellings are NOT brought into house style, however, when quoting book or thesis titles.