Manual of Style:Spelling and grammar

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This page documents the Manual of Style guidelines of the GTA Wiki.

In short: Use American or British English depending on the country of origin of the subject's real-world influence.

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MOS:SPELLING

MOS:GRAMMAR

This page documents the Official GTA Wiki Manual of Style on spelling and grammar.

Spelling rules

British, American and other English languages

Wikipedia has an article on: American and British English spelling differences

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MOS:AEBE

MOS:BEAE

MOS:ENG

MOS:ENGLISH

As a general rule of thumb, GTA Wiki accepts both British English and American English. This is because content on GTA Wiki is focused primarily on the Grand Theft Auto series; Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), the creators of the GTA series, was founded in Scotland (where British English is used), while Rockstar Games, the publisher of the series, is an American company (where American English is used).

On some articles, the choice of English should be determined by the country of the subject's real-world influence (such as a location, vehicle, weapon, etc):

• Japan: American English
• most of eastern Asia: American English
• most of west America: American English
• India: British English
• most of western Europe: British English

Common American/British spelling differences

American English	British English	Notes
Color	Colour	Words ending in "or" in American English are usually spelled "our" in British English.
Favorite	Favourite
Laborer	Labourer
Neighborhood	Neighbourhood
Apologize	Apologize or Apologise	Words ending in "ize" in American English are sometimes spelled "ise" in British English.
Customization	Customization or Customisation
Organizer	Organizer or Organiser
Recognized	Recognized or Recognised
Canceled	Cancelled	Some words which end in "L" in British English have an additional "L" when certain inflections are added (-ed, -ize, -ing, etc).
Refueling	Refuelling
Modeled	Modelled
Traveling	Travelling
Airplane (erh·playn)	Aeroplane (euh·ruh·playn)	Some words are pronounced slightly differently and are therefore spelled differently.
Aluminum (uh·loo·muh·nuhm)	Aluminium (a·luh·mi·nee·uhm)

Common American/British word differences

American English	British English	Notes
Windshield	Windscreen
Gas/Gasoline	Petrol
Trunk	Boot
Hood	Bonnet
Fries	Chips
Garbage/Trash	Rubbish
Pants	Trousers
Parking lot	Car park
Vacation	Holiday

Misspelling

It's important to recognize that we are only human, and misspellings are inevitable.

The fast-paced nature of editing a collaborative platform means that mistakes can slip through. Factors such as typing quickly, oversight, or lack of familiarity with certain terms or names can all contribute to occasional misspellings.

It is encouraged that other editors review edits for spelling mistakes. Utilizing built-in spell-checkers as well as third-party tools (such as proof-reading websites or AI) are some of the most efficient ways of identifying and addressing common spelling mistakes, however it may take manual intervention and further research to identify some of the more complex grammar issues.

Official misspellings

Main article: Manual of Style:Naming conventions#Typographical_errors

The name of a subject may sometimes be mistyped in-game. If the typographical error is obvious, the page name should use a corrected version of the subject name.

Commonly misspelled words

Below is a list of some of the most commonly misspelled words.

Word	Common misspelling examples	Notes
Believe	Belive
Embarrassed	Embarassed, Embarrased
License	Lisense
Receive	Recieve
Weird	Wierd	Commonly misspelled because of the popular "I before E except after C" rule, which does not apply here.
Until	Untill
A lot	Alot
Arguing	Argueing	Many words which end in "ue" or "ie" are frequently misspelled when it comes to their present participle forms.
Definitely	Definately, Defiantly	One of the most common misspellings and often confused for an entirely different word, "defiantly".

Commonly confused words

Below is a list of some of the most commonly confused words.

Words	Notes
There, Their, They're	There is most commonly used to mean 'at that point' or 'in that place'. Their is the possessive form of the third-person plural pronoun 'they'. It means 'belonging to them'. They're is a shortened version of 'they are'.
Affect, Effect	Affect is a verb meaning 'to act on something'. Effect is a noun meaning 'a result or consequence'.
Lose, Loose	Lose is a verb meaning 'fail to win', 'stop having something' or 'unable to find'. Loose is an adjective that means 'not tight or strict'.
Accept, except	Accept is a transitive verb meaning 'to willingly receive, allow, or approve of something'. Except is mainly used as a preposition meaning 'excluding' or 'apart from'.
Led, Lead	Led is the past tense of the verb 'lead'. Lead is a verb meaning 'to direct on a course'. It is also a noun for a metallic element.

Grammar rules

Abbreviations

There are several types of abbreviations:

• Clipping - removing entire syllables to make words shorter (for example, pub(lic house), gas(oline), gym(nasium), etc).
• Contractions - removing certain letters to make words shorter (you've, aren't, it's, didn't, etc).
• Initialism- Using the first letter of multiple words, with the result pronounced as individual letters (USA, GTA, FIB, etc).
• Acronyms - Using the first letter of multiple words, with the result pronounced as a new word (NOOSE, ULSA, etc).