Many differences exist between American and British English.
Some major differences are:
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Pronunciation
- Vocabulary
Some of the commonly used words are spelled differently in American and British English.
- Words ending with ?our in British English; end with ?or in American English.
Eg:
| British English | American English |
| Colour | Color |
| Humour | Humor |
| Flavour | Flavor |
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- Words ending with ?re in British English often end with ?er in American English.
Eg:?
| British English | American English |
| Centre | Center |
| Fibre | Fiber |
| Litre | Liter |
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Exceptions are there. For example, theatre in British English can be written as theatre or theater in American English.
- Verbs? ending in -ize or ?ise and ending in ?yse or -yze
Some verbs in British English are spelled with either?-ize?or??ise at the end. These words are always spelled with?-ize?at the end in American English.
Verbs ending with ?yse in British English; end with -yze?in American English.
| British English | American English |
| apologize?or?apologise | Apologize |
| organize?or?organise | Organize |
| recognize?or?recognise | Recognize |
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| British English | American English |
| analyse | analyze |
| breathalyse | breathalyze |
| paralyse | paralyze |
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- Words ending with ?ence or ?ense
Eg:??
| British English | American English |
| Defence | defense |
| Licence | license |
| Offence | offense |
| Pretence | pretense |
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- Words ending with ?ogue
Eg:?
| British English | American English |
| Analogue | analog?or?analogue |
| Catalogue | catalog?or?catalogue |
| Dialogue | dialog?or?dialogue |
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These variations are not strict. Example: In the case of American English: Analogue?is accepted but not common in American English;?Catalog is accepted, but?catalogue?is not uncommon; dialogue?is still preferred over?dialog.?
- Words ending in a vowel plus L
In British spelling, for verbs ending in a vowel plus?l, double the?l?when adding endings that begin with a vowel like (-ed, -ing, -er). In American English, the?l?is not doubled:
| British English | American English |
| Travel | Travel |
| Travelled | Traveled |
| Travelling | Traveling |
| Traveler | Traveler |
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| British English | American English |
| fuel | Fuel |
| fuelled | Fueled |
| fuelling | Fueling |
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- Words spelled with double vowels
British English words that are spelled with the double vowels?-ae?or??oe are just spelled with an?-e?in American English:
| British English | American English |
| Leukaemia | leukemia |
| Manoeuvre | maneuver |
| Oestrogen | estrogen |
| Paediatric | pediatric |
There are exceptions here as well. In American English, terms like archaeology is spelled with ?ae although spelling it with just ?e (i.e.?archeology) is acceptable as well.
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Grammar rules also change in American and British English.
- In British English, punctuation marks are included outside the quotation marks whereas in the case of American English, punctuation mark is placed inside the quotes.
- If you are using initial letters to represent words, you don?t normally need to put a period after them, in both British and American English. Eg: NATO, UK etc. However, it is common to use periods as an alternative style for certain abbreviations. Eg: USA?or?U.S.A. and US?or?U.S.
If an abbreviation consists of the first and last letters of a word, the American rule is to include a period at the end. However, the British norm is to not use a period at the end.?Eg: Words like Mister, Doctor and Saint are written as Mr, Dr, St in British English and Mr., Dr., St. in American English.
Few other differences are explained using examples below:
Note: AE ? American English and BE ? British English
- AE?- The jury has not yet reached its decision.
BE?- The jury have not yet reached their decision. - AE?- He dove into the water.
BE?- He dived into the water. - AE?- You must come visit me real soon.
BE?- You must come and visit me really soon.
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Word chosen by people of both areas is also different in some cases. Some words exist only in one of the forms and some words in both, but have completely different meanings. Eg:
| British English | American English |
| Boot | Trunk |
| Lorry | Truck |
| Flat | Apartment |
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Some words are stressed differently, depending on the verb-noun form of the word.
| ADDRESS | BE ? address | AE ? address |
| ADVERTISEMENT | BE ? advertisement | AE ? advertisement |
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*bold indicates the stress
The differences in pronunciation lie in the vowel sounds, therefore more difficult to illustrate in writing. Their pronunciations are illustrated by reference to common words with the same sound and given below:
- vase:?? vars?as in cars (BE)?? : ??vace?as in face (AE)
- route:???root?as in shoot (BE) ??: ??rout?* as in shout (AE)
- ate:?? et?as in let (BE) ??:?? ate?as in late (AE)
- tomato: ??tomarto (BE)??:?? tomayto * (AE)
- leisure as in pleasure (BE) ??:?? leesure (lee as in she) (AE)
Some American words are pronounced the Briton way too.
Few other interesting differences when using British and American English are given below using examples:
- AE would read 453 as?four hundred fifty three
BE would read it as four hundred?and?fifty three.
- AE?- If you make a mistake, you?ll just have to do it over.
BE?- If you make a mistake, you?ll just have to do it again.
- AE?- He was born 3/27/1981.
BE?- He was born on 27/3/1981. - AE?- The soccer team won two to nothing (2-0).
BE?- The soccer team won two-nil (2-0).
There are also many cases in which the two varieties of English use different terms to describe the same thing. Here?s a list of various British words and expressions together with their American equivalents.
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| British English | American English |
| Zip | Zipper |
| Aerofoil | Airfoil |
| Aeroplane | Airplane |
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There are countless more differences between American and British English. We should know these differences as we can?t mix both the type while writing a document.
We follow British English when we speak; but when we write, we follow American English.
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References:
oxforddictionaries.com
http://esl.fis.edu
http://www.englishclub.com
Source: http://alumni.twb.edu.in/index.php/a-comparison-of-british-english-and-american-english
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