Verbs in -ise and -ize

Advertise, advise, apprise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disenfranchise, enfranchise, enterprise, excise, exercise, improvise, incise, premise, revise, supervise, surmise, surprise, televise.

All of those verbs, being etymologically unrelated to the Greek verb ending -izo, should properly take the -ise form, to distinguish them from those verbs which are descended from Greek, and which should take the -ize form. (Gowers, 184).

Gowers, E., 1965, Fowler's Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

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