Resume, resumé, or résumé?

The first and last spellings are both entirely acceptable and correct, but please avoid the middle one. The mark in question is an "accent", and in this case, they are all acute.

Jun-Dai is strictly correct, but I should add that in most of the US the unaccented form is preferred; the accented form is thought of as a sort of affected overcorrectness.

One might think the accented form is foreign, However, I see many resumes from overseas (since I'm in the "oilngas bidness" in Houston), but 99 times out of a hundred they're just called C.V.'s (for "curriculum vitae").

I typed badly but I'm not in a mood to care about it right now because I'm getting a new kitten as soon as I get off work. :)

I always learned the middle one. Resumé is how it's almost always spelled around here.

I visited this page to see the plural form of
resumé

Can I get any help ?
Regards,
Ram.

Yeah. To get the plural, just add an S to your favorite of the three forms.

Incidentally, the plural of "CV" is "CVs," but the plural of "curriculum vitae" is "curricula vitae." Hooray for Latin.

that was a great remark speedwell.

Jun Dai is right. Resumé is a french word. The accent that goes up is the acute accent. the accent that slants down is the grave accent. They produce difference sounds.

The grave accents give sounds that are close to "er" than "e" :P

Ivy, there is a difference of opinion on whether and how words borrowed into English from other languages become part of English or remain part of their original languages.

Obviously, since we do not use accent marks in English, any words so adopted as English words will lose their accent marks.

Since the word "resume" is ubiquitous in English (we don't say CV, nor do we use a construction such as "statement of employment history"), I would argue (and I'm not alone) that it is now an English word and needs no accent marks.

OK, take and spank me with a saguaro.... In the last post I was (naturally) assuming American English. OF COURSE all other English speakers on the planet, practically, say CV.

Yes, of course I know resume is an english word. Just trying to tell u it's borrowed from the French hence suggesting that French grammatical rules still apply if you choose to use the accent.

And just adding on to jun-dai's accent tutorial there with acute/grave.

While "resumé" is acceptable (i.e., it is in the dictionary), I would recommend against it, because I don't see the value in retaining one of the accents and not both. The only function that accent marks have in the English language are to maintain the accented spelling in borrowed words, so it doesn't make much sense to me to retain the second accent and not the first.

There may be a reason in that the final "e" is spoken and not silent as you might normally expect, but that would be giving a new function to the accent mark in the English language. Anyways, there are plenty of heteronyms in the English language, so there should be no reason to fret over "resume" (I don't think there are any contexts in which this could be confused with the other word "resume," which is a verb). The argument between "résumé" and "resume" is about the same as between "café" and "cafe."

Just to answer your other question,

é has an 'acute' accent ('accent aigu' in French)

and

è has a 'grave' ('accent grave' in French)

'we don't say CV'??

Who doesn't?

WE don't. American speakers--I mean U.S. speakers (OK, OK, Canadians, get off my case already).

I'm a secretary and I know these things. :P

The word is French. The original spelling is "résumé", and this is the preferred spelling in English as well. However, since no English keyboard has a key with "é" on it (I type it via Alt-130 now) it has become accepted to simply say "resume". "Resumé" is not here not there -- if you know how to achieve the accent-aigue, then type the word correctly with both Es accented, if not, well, then use the un-accented version. The plural is "résumés" (or "resumes", depending on how you prefer to deal with the accents.) It is so both in English and in French.

The term "CV" is used too, quite a bit. In fact, it may be preferred because it's no less foreign than "resume", while being shorter and having no accents :-) ...

No more foreign, I meant.

sorry to correct speedwell, but the plural of curriculum vitae is "curricula vitarum"

Nope.

http://www.yaelf.com/aueFAQ/mifplrlsltngrkwrds.shtml

I meant to also post the appropriate paragraph from the link posted below, in case it went down:

"The Latin plural of "curriculum vitae" is "curricula vitae". Some people who know a little Latin think it should be "curricula vitarum" (since _vitae_ means "of a life" and _vitarum_ means "of lives"); but to an ancient Roman, "curricula vitarum" would suggest that each document described more than one life. This is a feature of the Latin genitive of content, which differs in this regard from the more common Latin genitive of possession."

Surely the accent is used to indicate the pronunciation of the word. I pronounce this word "reh-zhu-may", not "ray-zhu-may", so I spell it with only the second e accented. I consider the first spelling (no accents) a convenience for English keyboard users and the second (both e's accented) as incorrect.

Since English does not use accent marks, I do not use accent marks in words that have been fully assimilated into English.

I've never heard the word pronounced "re-zhu-may." Every time I hear people use it, I hear "reh-zoo-may" or even "reh-zoo-meh" (accent always on the first syllable, never the last one).

The punctuation marks on top of the letter 'e' in French are for pronunciation, not for 'accenting' the sound (as I presume you mean, in the sense of stressing or inflecting it differently).

Without any punctuation, the word is identical on the page (and nearly identical in French pronunciation) to the English word 'resume' which has its own distinct meaning. Although printed puns are a good source of cheap hilarity, we've got plenty in English already. Let's not make more if we don't have to.

I think we should resume using résumé in order to avoid confusion.

It might be harder to type, but are we not human beings???

I always though eliminating accent marks in borrowed French words represented the heighth of laziness in English words and hints a little too much of Americans' xenophobic nature ...

... which is why, for some reasdon, even though I was educated in Georgia public schools which are always either 49th or 50th on nationwide testing scores, always defer to the original British spelling of wods like "honour" and "catalogue". The people I work with make fun of me, but hey ... I'm using classical English, so what do they k now?

Now you just need to convince other people to use real English. That, and I'm rather hoping you don't apologise for any of it.

(incidentally, Australian English uses résumé)

Heighth? Sorry, it rhymes with shite. Go Georgia!

In American academia, I've only seen "CV." Perhaps "resume" is too identified with getting a job.

To those who said that curriculum vitae is not used in American English:

That is not really true. Certain industries use CVs while most others do not. In particular, professionals in academia, medicine, law, and also music and art, typically would have a curriculum vitae rather than a resume.

Furthermore, at least in in American English usage, a resume and a curriculum vitae are not necessarily the same thing.

Usually, a resume is a short, recent, relevant list of accomplishments and qualifications, tailored to a particular job, or even a particular prospective employer. It is generally limited to two pages or less (some employers will intentionally discard any resumes longer than two pages without even looking at them).

By comparison, a curriculum vitae is a complete and comprehensive list of all activities encompassing one's entire professional life. It would include every job, school, award, seminar, performance, etc. and is not targeted to a particular job. It is usually much longer than a resume.

see:

http://www.acinet.org/resume/resume_cv.asp?nodeid=26

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9

Oh, and according to several dictionaries, all three spellings/accent combinations for resume are correct.
MarkB, as to leaving out the first accent because YOU (and most English speakers) pronounce the first syllable as "reh-", not "rey-" really misses the point. The FRENCH always spell it with two accents because THEY pronounce it "rey-"! It's a borrowed French word, hence the two accents in English. One of my dictionaries, the oldest, actually lists "rey-" as a proper (not preferred) pronunciation. You might find this interesting, Speedwell, the same dictionary shows accenting the last syllable instead of the first as being correct (not preferred). After all, that is how the French say it.
To Full Stop: every dictionary I checked shows the spelling with no accents as the preferred one (all others are correct though).

Whether the accents are appropriate or not I wouldn't recommend you use them. I've submitted several resumes thru job sites and just found out that they convert e's with accents over them to i's. So everywhere I spelled resume with accents came out as risumi. That looks really dumb when you're applying for professional level positions!!

In general I think all three spellings are fine, though résumé looks pretentious to me (just my opinion). I usually write resumé, as I think resume looks like the English verb "to resume," as in, to continue doing something. But after BC's warning, I will make sure to exclude accent marks when sending in a resumé online! Also, I would like to thank Speedwell. "Spank me with a saguaro." That is probably the most brilliant expression I have ever heard.

A good number of English words are French. I prefer résumé because I have a Mac and 'é' is very easy to type. I do get crap for it from time to time but I like to show that I'm educated. For people that are determined to make it an American thing, like Freedom Fries, I would suggest spelling it 'rezuhmay.' If you're in the U.K. avoid 'resume' all together as it spells yank with a capital 'W'. And I don't know why one would bother with one 'é'. Truly, unless you subscribe to the priciples of the Oxford English Dictionary that language should follow set rules, you can spell it however you like. 'Resume' by the way does have it's own meaning.

For what it's worth, the current edition -- the Fourth -- of the American Heritage College Dictionary (which, as suggested by its title, gives preference to American usage practice), lists resumé first, followed by resume, and then résumé.

For what it's worth, the current edition -- the Fourth -- of the American Heritage College Dictionary needs to go back to school.

résumé is a summary

resume signifies a continuance

resumé is a botched spelling of the French word

résumé is pronounced "ray-zoo-may", rather elegant

resume is pronounced "ree-zoom"

resumé is pronounced ruh-zoomay or ree-zoomay which to my ear means the spelling was probably coined by some souithern bumpkin or midwest hog breeder

For what it's worth, the current edition -- the Fourth -- of the American Heritage College Dictionary describes the current accepted spellings of the word. If you're saying this dictionary is wrong, I'd like to know what special powers you have that tell you how the word is really spelled.

>> If you're saying this dictionary is wrong, I'd like to know what special powers you have that tell you how the word is really spelled.

I don't see how your job is relevant to how a certain word is spelled. Dictionaries report on the common spellings of words. What other authority do we have, besides the usage of the English-speaking and writing community?

As an Australian I have always used resume, and if you really don't know whether to put in the accents or not then type the title of your document in capitals - the French usually leave off accents in capitals.

I agree that it has been fully assimilated into English and think that people should be able to tell by the context whether it is 'to recommence' or 'CV' - like wind and wind. The 'é' often gets mangled in online transit as mentioned.

The French pronounce acute accents more or less as 'ae' like in hate (as pronounced by an American), grave accents are a straight 'eh' like in hair and e with no accent is flat like in 'hurt'.

As an apostrophe advocate for the annoyance of all I am going to point out that 'it's' equals it is/it has, 'its' is possessive (the cat bit its tongue) and one might have '30 years of experience' or '30 years' experience' if the experience is a result of the years. Nonetheless, I do not intend to criticise (Australian spelling), language is evolving and one is resistant to change...

I'm with MarkG. The spelling, resume', represents the pronunciation "reh zoo may," which is how this word is pronounced in English (in practice, it may also be pronounced that way by the French). I avoid writing resume because it can be confused with "ree zoom," and I don't write re'sume' because this spelling does not reflect the way the word is actually pronounced in English (it is also very hard to write with an English keyboard).

Haha, I stumbled across this page while trying to determine the correct form of resume. i no longer care, i'm more amused that this argument has been going on for 4 years! Cheers!

@JC same thing happened to me :)

I'm actually French and I was looking for the exact way Americans spell this word... And I still don't know after reading all this. But I can tell you how to pronounce it:

it's not Ray-Zoom-May
it's more like Ray-zuum-may

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/resum%C3%A9

Wow, what a discussion. I noticed that I wanted to accent the second "e" in resume, so (as an editor) I thought I'd see what the usual practice is on the web. And I found this highly engaging conversation. (Yes, I do start sentences with conjunctions, a practice for which I refuse to apologize. I have also been known to end sentences with prepositions if they are clearer and less awkward that way. For my target audience, readability is usually a top priority. Obviously not in this comment, though!)

I agree that an accent over the second e is helpful in distinguishing the word from the other word, but it's usually pretty clear from context what is meant. The part of the discussion that got my attention was the whole notion that CVs and resumes are interchangeable, when they are most decidedly NOT. I've worked in science, education, and health care, and I actually need both a CV and a resume. The difference is quite vividly outlined in this little online advice column:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/0000/how_to_write_a_winning_resume

As a "souithern bumpkin," I'd like to point out to BOS that "southern" does not normally contain an "i"--on either side of the pond--so I'm not sure how much spelling expertise we can rightfully expect from him. Perhaps he is a "yanqui ignoramus," but I still appreciate that he bothered to look up the word and share his findings with us.

Thanks for some fun reading, and may the debate continue!

JC | Jan-15-08 6:42PM--I feel the same way!

I personally think that the accents should stay (perhaps I'm biased, I speak French). We still write the accents for things like "crème brûlée."

But then again, what aren't we willing to do for some burnt cream? ;)

Add me to the "Country Bumpkin" brigade. I had NEVER seen it spelled résumé before until today.

also, since I (and everyone I know of) pronounces it reh-zoo-may, I still prefer the resumé.

right or not :)

former Ohioan
current Floridian
USA...

unfortunatley, I typed in what my mind was telling me too...
:(

I had never seen it before. Until today.

there.

A brilliant, sophisticated discussion. Thanks everyone. I still have no idea how to spell "resume" properly, but was entertained and pleased to find a web posting without excessive bashing.

Here here Zirt. Fascinating. I do appreciate the info from BC 4/11/07 about e-mailing with accented "e" turns it to "i." It takes the pressure off my entire predicament ;)

What a fantastic debate!

4 years worth of advice and I am still undecided as to which spelling to use. Therefore, capital letters it shall be. :)

To quote Kent Brockman: here's my two cents.

Spell it either without any accents at all ("resume") or with both ("résumé").

Depending on your particular English accent, say REZ-you-may or REZ-zoo-may.

I am a French speaker but I can tell you that you are not obliged to pronounce this word as if you were an énarque hunting for a position in the fonction publique!

there is a different between a resume and a CV, actually.

CV is a longer document, a complete listing of accomplishments, awards, publications. ubiquitous in academia.

resume is a shorter (one to two page) document summarizing work experience, accomplishments, etc. used for interviews/employment.

a uc berkeley professor recently corrected me on this point when i emailed him an "attached CV". sort of embarrassing.

"The accent above the last IS needed, without it the e would not be pronounced in English."

This is the epitome* of nonsense. Of course the "e" at the end is pronounced, with or without an accent. You're confusing the written representation of the language with the spoken language itself.

* So, should this be pronounced "epi-toem"?

You people are too smart for me. But for anyone who didn't already know, the keyboard shortcut to add an accent is Ctrl + ' or`, then the letter (e or a).

Best of luck with your resumes, hope everyone finds a job!

u are all wrong, its actually rezoomay

And now for something (not entirely) completely different -- that I'm pretty sure we can _ALL_ agree upon:

"Résume" is not an acceptable spelling of the word in question, anywhere, anytime.

:^)

Hey Robin, what exactly is a professional Resume writer? Do you write resumes for people or are you just perpetually unemployed?

Ummm, I'm not like some great English Major or anything. I have a degree in Fine Art/Graphic Design. However, it has been my experience that one always uses the accent over the LAST "e" for this purpose. The accent is used to show which way the final "e" in "Resumé" is to be pronounced in the English (American) language.

"Resume", can be confusing in that you would "Resume your position". The First "e" is pronounced "eh" like in "epiphany" or "effort" while the last "e" is simply silent.

However in the word "Resumé", I was taught that while the first "e" with no accent stays the same like in "resume" with the "eh" sound, the accent over the SECOND "e" tells one to pronounce the last "e" as "ay", as in "Ape" or "grApe". If this rule is true, then to me, "Résumé" would be pronounced "Ray-zoom-ay", rather than the correct English (American) pronunciation of "Rez-oom-ay" or "Rez-ü-may"....if you prefer ;)

Thoughts? Opinions? I mean I definitely trust those who have studied English and other languages, MS Word Spell checker, & Webster's dictionary over me or anything I was taught any day....but just curious..... Thanks!

I prefer to use resumé. One accent.

Wikipedia does a good job of explaining why :

"A number of loanwords are sometimes spelled in English with an acute accent used in the original language: these include sauté, roué, café, touché, fiancé, and fiancée. Retention of the accent is common only in the French ending é or ée, as in these examples, where its absence would tend to suggest a different pronunciation. Thus the French word résumé is commonly seen in English as resumé, with only one accent (but also with both or none)."

If you're going to put accents at all, put both (résumé), because this word is borrowed from French, and in French it has both. And, no, the first accent would not be grave. The difference between é, e and è is in the pronunciation, and they all sound different (think of the words "le," "théâtre," and "liège.") If you drop the accents, you're already anglicizing the word, so you might as well drop both. Or, keep both if you want to preserve the original French spelling. "Resumé" just looks like an incorrect hybrid.