grammer question

britboy4321 · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:22

Writing an article for British paper, to be read purely by British readers.

You want to directly quote an american speech, that was spoken by an american and then widely reported in the US press...

Within the written quote of the spoken speech, within the article, do i use English or American spellings of words like 'colour', 'color'??
Any help appreciated....

Ahleckz · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:23

Grammar.

Craig R · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:25

britboy4321 said:
Writing an article for British paper, to be read purely by British readers.

You want to directly quote an american speech, that was spoken by an american and then widely reported in the US press...

Within the written quote of the spoken speech, within the article, do i use English or American spellings of words like 'colour', 'color'??
Any help appreciated....

English spelling IMO.

Guru · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:25

Ahleckz said:
Grammar.

pmsl

Davefran · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:26

You obviously can't change the spellings in a quote.
Otherwise it wouldn't be a "quote"

cm1179 · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:26

use the quote as it reads, with US spelling

britboy4321 · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:27

Indeed

britboy4321 · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:30

Davefran said:
You obviously can't change the spellings in a quote.
Otherwise it wouldn't be a "quote"

Even if the original thing was only spoken??

Ahleckz · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:30

You could write -

"Mr. Johnson said that his favourite color [sic] is red."

Edrof · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:31

Off the top of my head, I wouldn't change the contents of a textual quote, especially with something that is minor like that. If you think American spellings might seriously confuse your readers you can do this...

"Britboy's favorite nickname is 'Bumfacehead'"

...but that is seriously clunky and I wouldn't recommend it.

Are you quoting from the speech or from the American newspapers? You give both in your example. If you're quoting directly from the speech you can write it in UK English as it is your interpretation of it.

Cosimo · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:32

Ahleckz said:
Grammar.

Good grammar and English spelling.

That's all.

Jonny69 · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:32

Lolbritboythread.

You can always use [sic] after the spelling to denote that it was spelled like that in the original text.

The Americans like the color [sic] red and they live next door to their neighbors [sic], for example.

Davefran · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:33

britboy4321 said:
Writing an article for British paper, to be read purely by British readers.

You want to directly quote an american speech, that was spoken by an american and then widely reported in the US press...

Within the written quote of the spoken speech, within the article, do i use English or American spellings of words like 'colour', 'color'??
Any help appreciated....

But that would be a written quote

Participant · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:39

Definitely the English spellings.

Zefan · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:46

Get someone else to write it.

This is a serious suggestion.

Jolteh · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:50

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic

Participant · 22 Sep 2011 at 13:54

Jolteh said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic

The original quote was spoken!!! SIC does not apply here!

Vonhelmet · 22 Sep 2011 at 14:01

Use English spellings. It was a speech, so he said it, he didn't write it, so when you transcribe it you write down what he said, which is "colour".

Or use sic.

FlyingPig · 22 Sep 2011 at 14:02

Zefan said:
Get someone else to write it.

This is a serious suggestion.

+1

ristac · 22 Sep 2011 at 14:36

I would have said English inside quotes but then I fluked at school so ignore what I think

grammer question

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