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focusing or focussing?

H

helen n

New Member
UK English
Which is correct? Are both suddenly OK to use? I would always use focusingbut my computer does not correct focussing. Is this something that has crept in from American English or vice versa??
Thanks if anyone can answer this for me!
 
    • WelcomeHelen

    Even the (Compact) Oxford English Dictionary gives
    • verb (focusedfocusing or focussedfocussing)
    Click to expand...
    so it would appear it's a matter of personal preference.

    Like you I'd always gothoughfor focused myself - because that agrees with the usual stress-based rule (enter - entered versus refer - referredetc.)

    F
     
    Just informationallyI have never seen the word spelled as focussing. That looks very strange to me. Focusing looks better to me and focusednot focussed.
     
    Noun: focus and focuses and focussing

    Verb: focusfocuses or focussesfocusing or focussingfocused or focussed.

    I've used both formsbut when I'm more conscious with spelling then I use the ones with the extra s. Don't exactly know why when both forms are correct. I guess I just want to conform to the rule of consonant-vowel-consonant + the last consonant + the verb inflection(s).
     
    Actually I think it's American English that has created this shortcut spelling. In my mind the correct spelling is "focussing" and I learned to read over 40 years agoso the single "s" is newer.
     
    In this caseit is BrE that allows the option of -ss- or -s-. AmE only allows -s-. Similarlyyou can write biassed or biased.
     
    There is actually a spelling rule for this.
    In British English when a 2 syllable word has the accent on the second syllable and the word ends in one vowel and one consonant (as in focus / travel etc)you must double the last consonant. As far as I am aware American English doesn't apply this rule which is why it uses focusing / traveling and so on.
     
    sille said:
    There is actually a spelling rule for this.
    In British English when a 2 syllable word has the accent on the second syllable and the word ends in one vowel and one consonant (as in focus / travel etc)you must double the last consonant. As far as I am aware American English doesn't apply this rule which is why it uses focusing / traveling and so on.
    Click to expand...
    I can't comment on this "rule" but it seems to me that the stress in "focus" is on the first syllablenot the second.

    I have always written "focused"for what it is worth.
     
    sound shift said:
    I can't comment on this "rule" but it seems to me that the stress in "focus" is on the first syllablenot the second.

    I have always written "focused"for what it is worth.
    Click to expand...

    This is a vaild spelling/phonetic rulehonest :)!
    Most 2 syllable words when they are nouns or adjectives have the stress on the first syllablebut the stress usually moves to the second syllable when the word becomes a verb.
    Unfortunately I don't have a dictionary to hand to confirm if this is the case with "focus" :o.
     
    sille said:
    There is actually a spelling rule for this.
    In British English when a 2 syllable word has the accent on the second syllable and the word ends in one vowel and one consonant (as in focus / travel etc)you must double the last consonant. As far as I am aware American English doesn't apply this rule which is why it uses focusing / traveling and so on.
    Click to expand...

    Hi sille

    "Focusing" has the stress on the first syllableso we don't - or rather shouldn't - double the 's'. As far as I know the "rule" is the same in BrE and AmEexcept that BrE doubles an 'l' regardless of where the stress is: travel (stress on first syllable)> travelled BrE, traveled Ame.

    PS: Good to see you posting after several months' membership of the forums: welcome:).
     
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    sille said:
    This is a vaild spelling/phonetic rulehonest :)!
    Most 2 syllable words when they are nouns or adjectives have the stress on the first syllablebut the stress usually moves to the second syllable when the word becomes a verb.
    Unfortunately I don't have a dictionary to hand to confirm if this is the case with "focus" :o.
    Click to expand...
    Wellmy dictionary does not indicate that the verb is pronounced differently from the noun. The second syllable is a schwaand English does not admit schwas in stressed syllables. I have never heard anyone give second-syllable stress to the verb "focus".
     
    sound shift said:
    Wellmy dictionary does not indicate that the verb is pronounced differently from the noun. The second syllable is a schwaand English does not admit schwas in stressed syllables. I have never heard anyone give second-syllable stress to the verb "focus".
    Click to expand...

    Thank you for that. ;)
     
    Hi everyone,
    there is a rule about stressed syllablesbut it doesn't apply in this case.
    That is the rule that makes us write opening with one 'n' (because stress is on the 'oh' part at the beginning)but beginning with double 'n' (begause stress is on the 'gin' part (second syllable))
    Howeverin British English we spell two syllable verbs ending in 'l' or 'r' with a double letter in gerund or regular past simple or past participleeven if stress is on the first syllable: travellingtravelledcancellingcancelledreferringreferredpreferringpreferred.
    In the same way we write 'focussing' and 'focussed,' although I can't think of any other two syllable verbs ending in single 's' to make a more general rule of it!
     
    I do use 'focussing'and 'focussed' and I stress the first syllable. (And I suppose I do it because I can! :D) However'referring''preferring'etc receive second-syllable stress for me.
     
    - sillie,
    some nouns change stress to the second syllable when they become verbslike desert and recordbut I think that most don'tlike botherbundlewonderstrugglerumblethunderetc.etc.
     
    natkretep said:
    I do use 'focussing'and 'focussed' and I stress the first syllable. (And I suppose I do it because I can! :D) However'referring''preferring'etc receive second-syllable stress for me.
    Click to expand...
    Sorryyesyou're quite right about refer and prefer.
    The same would also apply to occur and concur.
    I guess an example I could have used for the same spelling with first syllable stress could be offer - offerringofferred.
    Thanks for pointing this out :)
     
    Loob said:
    I'd write those as offering and offeredKris:).
    Click to expand...

    Yesso would many otherseven in the UKbut I think this is something that has come from Americalike preferedtraveling and focused.

    American Englishthrough the mass mediahas a huge effect on British Englishso much so that a billion has been devalued by a power of 1000 over the last few decades! In Latin languages it still means a million millionas it used to in Englishbut noweven on the BBCthanks to American Englishit is only a thousand million (which Latin languages usually call a 'milliard').
     
    I am surprised that no one has mentioned the pronunciation of the 's'which is like 'nonplussed' rather than 'amused'hence my inclination to write 'focussed'!
     
    Krollaf said:
    I am surprised that no one has mentioned the pronunciation of the 's'which is like 'nonplussed' rather than 'amused'hence my inclination to write 'focussed'!
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    The pronunciation of the 's' in 'amuse' is due to the presence of the final 'e'. Andprecisely because of the final 'e''amuse' does not form part of the discussion about doubling the final consonant.
     
    Thanks for this most knowledgeable and comprehensive discussion. I have been struggling for the better part of a day to find an authoritativerepeatable rule for doubling the final consonant of an English word when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. In particularthe troublesome focus. This thread has given me the ammo I need. Cheers! HJK
     
    I speak the Australian variant of Englishand Down Under we tend to use Bristish English spelling but are fully cognizant of US spellings.

    In this particullar caseit's not a matter of where the stress. It's all to do with whether or not the "s" sound is sibilant (as with a hissing snake) or like the "z" sound in words like "amaze" and "zoo" to pick a couple.

    It will come to you as you pronounce words such as "hosing" or "closing" versus "tossing" or "flossing" where the intention of the "ss" spelling is to indicate that the sound is sibilant. Aussies and Brits are taught to use the "ss" spelling. Ahthe fun of becoming attuned to the different spellings and sounds of English language variants and dialects.

    Look up "sibilant" in Wikipedia or elsewhere.
     
    NotesTracker said:
    In this particullar caseit's not a matter of where the stress. It's all to do with whether or not the "s" sound is sibilant (as with a hissing snake) or like the "z" sound in words like "amaze" and "zoo" to pick a couple.
    Click to expand...
    How does that work with "focussing" and "focusing"both of which are pronounced the sameand notin my experiencewith the "z" sound of "hosing"? The OED observes:
    Against the broad rule that final consonants are not doubled after short unstressed vowelsinflected forms with -ss- are attestedespecially in British Englishbut are nonetheless considerably rarer in current usage than forms without doubled final consonant; in the British National Corpusthe ratio of -s- forms to -ss- forms is about nine to one. P. Peters Cambridge Guide Eng. Usage (2004) notes that in a recent language usage survey in the United Kingdomover 75% of respondents endorsed single-s inflected forms.
    Click to expand...
    This ngram also makes the point focussed,focused,focussing,focusing in British English.

    I do not use the "ss" spellingand I was not taught to do so.
     
    OkayokayI will throw in the towel at this point! It's all getting too messy for me. I suppose that there's a fair degree of pointlessness (or should that be "pointlesnes"?) in being too pedantic. The only important thing is to get the message across.
     
    I’d say ‘focussed’personallybut either is acceptable in the UK. My parents would disagree and say ‘focused’so it can’t even be put down to a difference between BE and AE!
     
    I think the problem here is that there are very few verbs ending with consonant-vowel-s that we can study in order to extract a rule. I can only say that to me "focussed" would sound like "discussed".

    It is generally considered that doubling the final "s" when forming the plural is a mistakeas in "busses" or "gasses". No one thinks that with a single "s" "buses" would rhyme with "amuses" or "gases" would rhyme with "erases".

    Stilllet's not lose sleep over it... Happy New Year everyone!
     
    As a former elementary school teacher in the USAI taught my pupils that if a 1-syllable word ends with a single vowel and single consonantyou double the last consonant before adding ed or ing. If a 2-syllable word ends with a single vowel and single consonantyou double the consonant if the accent is on the second syllable. Sofor examplethe word ban would be banned/banning; the word gab would be gabbed/gabbing.

    If a 2-syllable word ends with the one vowel-one consonant patternyou double the final consonant only if the second syllable is accented. For exampleregret would be regretted/regretting and refer would be referred/referring. But if the accent is on the first syllableyou do not double the final consonant. Examples: cancel becomes canceled/canceling and budget becomes budgeted/budgeting.

    This is learned in the lower grades and in my experience holds well for most writing even as a senior citizen. Of courseI recognize that alternate spellings are also considered correct at times. I usually check a dictionary.
     
    The problem is we really have two rules at play here: the first rule is that if the final syllable is unstressed there is no need to double the final consonant in the United States. The second rulewhich is in conflict with the firstsays that an s between two vowels is pronounced as a z and that as a consequence in order to preserve the s sound one must double the consonant.. Thus there is a conflict between the two rules and the British have chosen to go one way while the Yanks the other. Typical! Afterthought: with buses and gases clearly the whole rulebook has been thrown out the window! Not to mention arcingmy personal favorite! All this clearly demonstrates that language is not math.
     
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    sille said:
    There is actually a spelling rule for this.
    In British English when a 2 syllable word has the accent on the second syllable and the word ends in one vowel and one consonant (as in focus / travel etc)you must double the last consonant. As far as I am aware American English doesn't apply this rule which is why it uses focusing / traveling and so on.
    Click to expand...

    We could put it more strongly as to "doesn't apply": we have our own rule: Where the accent does NOT fall on the (originalmultisyllable word's) final syllable (...vowel+consonant)there is simply no need to double that consonant; there is no point to it. Don't do it. :)
     
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    bennymix said:
    We could put it more strongly as to "doesn't apply": we have our own rule: Where the accent does NOT fall on the (originalmultisyllable word's) final syllable (...vowel+consonant). there is simply no need to double that consonant; there is no point to it. Don't do it. :)
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    :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
     
    dwinet said:
    The problem is we really have two rules at play here: the first rule is that if the final syllable is unstressed there is no need to double the final consonant in the United States. The second rulewhich is in conflict with the firstsays that an s between two vowels is pronounced as a z and that as a consequence in order to preserve the s sound one must double the consonant.. Thus there is a conflict between the two rules and the British have chosen to go one way while the Yanks the other. Typical! Afterthought: with buses and gases clearly the whole rulebook has been thrown out the window! Not to mention arcingmy personal favorite! All this clearly demonstrates that language is not math.
    Click to expand...
    Promisepremisedivisiveelusive - there are quite a few exceptions to the rule you cite :)
    In any casethe focusedfocussed etc preference of one s was not the original preferenceeven in AEso rules change and probably at different speeds for different examples.
    Gasses has never been popular while busses was originally favoured over buses in AE more than in BE.
     
    bennymix said:
    Where the accent does NOT fall on the (originalmultisyllable word's) final syllable (...vowel+consonant). there is simply no need to double that consonant; there is no point to it. Don't do it. :)
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    :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
    (Unless you're a speaker of BrE and the consonant is <l>. AmE is much more logical!:D)
     
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