Dialects and style
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:13 am
I was reminded recently of what happened a few years ago when I got a job as a copy editor. The company that employed me was based in the US and expected me to work according to American conventions for written English - but I grew up learning the British rules. It quickly became evident that there were more differences than spellings (which I knew to expect) - there were some significant variations in punctuation usage as well. Let's just say that there were days when it felt like I spent more time reading the Chicago Manual of Style than doing actual editing...
So I thought I'd best ask: should I assume that American spelling and punctuation conventions are preferred here? Is there some particular style guide I should check against? Any advice from other non-US authors here?
So I thought I'd best ask: should I assume that American spelling and punctuation conventions are preferred here? Is there some particular style guide I should check against? Any advice from other non-US authors here?