Recognise

This is one of the 117 mis-spellings listed as 'Common difficulties' in the section on 'Spelling' within 'Writing' in UEfAP.

This may be because of a common misunderstanding, discussed at -ise - -ize. AWE recommends that you spell the word as recognize, as does OED. But, as always, bow to the preference of your audience, and, if you are a student, your marker.

The same is true of all the different verb forms, recognizes, recognized and recognizing (or, depending on your teacher's prejudices, 'recognises', 'recognised' and 'recognising'). However, the noun denoting the action of recogniz (or '-s-') ing uses a '-t-'in the relevant position: recognition.

This involves a change of pronunciation: the pattern with the verb, of stress on the first syllable, is dropped, and the third syllable (whose '-i-' becomes the short '-i-' rather than the diphthong of the verb) carries the principal stress - the verb recognizes (etc), 'RECK-og-neyez' (IPA: /ˈrɛk ɒg naɪz/) becomes 'reck-og-NISH-en /ˈrɛk əg ˈnɪʃ ^ən/.