Focused vs Focussed

I have learned British English as taught in India. But I don't know why we have been taught to use the word's spelling as "focused" always. I have never used two s for spelling this word. As I read from the responses above, both spellings are acceptable. So we can use whichever we are comfortable with.

I am not a native english speaker but when I went to UK I realised some differences since I had learned the American english in school. The basic difference is the "s" and "z" in words like "realised" and "realized". When I was writing my thesis my supervisor pointed out that this is a very important mistake and I should pay more attention to those words because British people notice them. And to be honest, after realising the difference, I prefer s from z and I still write the words in british style!

According to the Free Online Dictionary, : http://www.thefreedictionary.com/focused : both spellings are acceptable. However, I use UK English, and I've never spelled it with a double 's.' It just seems to look wrong. Obviously, if you grow up with one type of English, the other type looks wrong, but I get a bit put out when Americans accuse me of wrong spelling. I'm fanatical about my spelling and grammar. Usually, I just point out politely that on many international websites, both versions are correct, unless the guidelines advise otherwise. I edit articles on Helium, and we are told not to change UK English to American, or vice versa. One rather rude person told me I should learn to spell properly if I expected to make money from writing. That got my dander up, and I told her that as the British thought up the spellings first, that was fine by me! I wouldn't normally respond in such a way, but if you're rude to me, you can expect the same treatment in return.

hahaha. I didn't know that focussed is spelled correctly until I've read your topic. It is a bit awkward using the two s because I grow up in an american english way. Grateful to be aware with this . I might encounter the same word and accused someone that he/she is wrong. Hahaha kinda shameful..

Haha,that's one thing I like here in mylot,am learning so many things,now I know that focussed is also correct. But mind you,I now have an underlined word with it,that means it's misspelled,hehe! It's alright to correct your friend,she's a friend,right? And of course,you don't want the readers of your friend's blog to say something about that misspelled word. At least,you've learned from it and me too!

Hi it's okey! at least you learned something and i personally learned too :) nice experience...

Hi joliefille, Yes both spelling are correct. However, personally I prefer to use focused with only 1s as it looks better and also saves me writing another letter. But who am I to say which spelling should be accepted? I guess it's up to an individual which spelling he or she prefers. By the way there are many words of the same meaning but with different spelling if you care to look.