Writing good English requires a depth of knowledge of the language.

English is full of tricks: words that sound the same and are spelled differently and words that are spelled the same and have different meanings – and that’s just two.

There are many areas of confusion in the English language so let’s just clear up one.

Licence is a word that is spelled two ways. Licence and license. It starts out being quite simple using licence as the noun and license as the verb. And even that only works if you follow the UK English system. In America, license is used as a verb and a noun.

In UK English all derivatives of the verb from of license are spelled with an S, such as licensing and licensed. It’s really quite tricky so pay close attention to your writing.

If you can’t manage, get hold of an editor or a proofreader to help you out.

Here’s to better English.