I love this, however, in America we write excelled. I checked with Merriam-Webster, the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary, and with ChatGPT.
I love this, however, in America we write excelled. I checked with Merriam-Webster, the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary, and with ChatGPT.
Ah! Perhaps it's only words like to counsel (counseled) or to libel (libeled); up in Canada here people usually write counselled or libelled.
Yes, in American English it depends on which syllable has stress. Compare:
dueled, paralleled, canceled, pedaled, but controlled, compelled, extolled, appalled
levered, snickered, but occurred, deferred
focused, biased, censused, but compressed, embussed, outgassed
worshiped, but entrapped (although even in America kidnapped seems more common than kidnaped—one of Webster’s less successful reforms)