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The differences between American English & British
English
“England and America are two countries divided by a common
language.”~George Bernard Shaw
Translate this sentence!
British English:
“I was waiting in queue for the loo before getting some petrol for my lorry when I realized I left the hob on and the aubergines were probably burning!”
American English:
“I was waiting in line for the bathroom before getting some gas for my truck when I realized I left the stove on and the eggplant was probably burning!”
Definitions of AmE & BrE
• American English (AmE) is the form of English used in the United States. It includes all English dialects used within the United States of America.
• British English (BrE) is the form of English used in the United Kingdom. It includes all English dialects used within the United Kingdom.
• Today, there are 375 million people speak English as their first language. While according to the population of the different countries, the AmE speakers are more than the BrE speakers.
Potentially confusing situations
Asks you about football…
…they mean soccerAsks you bring pudding…
…they mean dessertPuts on a jumper…
…they mean a sweater
Wears braces….…wears suspenders
Wears suspenders……wears garters
*If a British person
Other confusing situations…• Ask for chips in England, and you’ll get
French Fries, not potato “crisps”
• Tell a British friend to pick up some jelly at the store, and they’ll bring home gelatin (Jell-o) not jam
Bringing English to America.
Early 1600’s:
The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrive in North America as part of the British colonization movement. They bring English, now an “emigrant language,” to native North Americans; in addition, the settlers and their families continue to speak their own native tongue.
The process of an emigrant language’s evolution:
1) The language evolves from a specific homeland language.
2) The emigrant language begins to change course because of
lack of direct contact with the homeland.
3) The emigrant language continues to evolve away from
the homeland, gradually creating a new dialect.
4) The homeland dialect continues to evolve as well, diverging
further away from the emigrant dialect of the language.
Over the next 400 years… Between the end of the 17th century and the 21st century, many gradual
changes to the form of the English language have taken place under this process.
The process caused the Americans and the British to diverge so drastically in terms of the forms of their languages that they are now considered two separate English language dialects.
1806 – Noah Webster publishes his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.
Up until this time, English dictionaries included strictly British
vocabulary, spellings, and pronunciations.
Webster was convinced that an outline of a common,
American, national language would unify his country.
Webster’s Dictionaries. 1828 –publishes American Dictionary of the English Language 1890 – Merriam brothers {who received the rights to Webster’s
dictionaries after his death} publish Webster’s First International Dictionary, an all-encompassing look at the English language
Noah Webster’s intentions?
To prove that Americans spoke a different
dialect than the British {but a dialect that was in no
way inferior – he believed it deserved a unique
documentation of its own trends} Merriam’s intentions?
"The purpose of the dictionary is to provide a record of
the language as it is used by educated people who
have been speaking and writing it all their lives.“
-- H. Bosley Woolf {Merriam's editorial director}
Causes of Differences
• The English language was first introduced to the Americas by British colonization, beginning in the early 17th century. Over the past 400 years, the form of the language used in the Americas—especially in the United States—and that used in the British Isles have diverged in a few minor ways, leading to the dialects now
occasionally referred to as American English and British English. • First, as America is such a big country, there are many different
dialects. These dialects make AmE more complex than BrE • Second, because of the entering of other languages, such as
French, Spanish and so on, the AmE becomes mixed and
different from BrE.
Spoken
British English and American English is the same language, but English-speaking people is in the use of
different spoken English, because of the geographical, social, occupation, gender, national factors such as
changes in the characteristics of a different language.
Dialects and accents• Dialects and accents vary between the countries
of United Kingdom and the United States, and also within the countries themselves.
• Dialects and accents vary not only between the countries in the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but also within these individual countries.
• About spoken American English, scholars have mapped at least four major regional variations of spoken American English: Northern, Southern, Midland, and Western.
• The standard accent of British English is often referred to as ‘Received Pronunciation’ (RP) ， while in American English, 'General American' is usually considered standard.
Visible Changes?
There are quite a few noticeable differences between the British English dialect and the evolved dialect of American English.
These are the ones we will cover:
Spelling
Pronunciation {accent}
Pronunciation {affixes}
Pronunciation {stress}
Grammar
Vocabulary
Spelling.AMERICAN – “-or” BRITISH – “-our”
Color Colour
Honor Honour
Favorite favourite
AMERICAN – “-ll” BRITISH – “-l”
Enrollment Enrolment
Fulfill Fulfil
Skillful skilful
AMERICAN – “-ze” BRITISH – “-se”
Analyze Analyse
Criticize Criticise
Memorize Memorise
Spelling
AMERICAN – “-er” BRITISH – “-re”
Center Centre
Meter Metre
Theater theatre
AMERICAN – “-og” BRITISH – “-ogue”
Analog Analogue
Catalog Catalogue
Dialog Dialogue
AMERICAN – “-ck” or “-k” BRITISH – “-que”
Bank Banque
Check Cheque
Spelling, continued.
AMERICAN – “-e” BRITISH – “-ae” or “-oe”
Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia
Maneuver Manoeuvre
Medieval Mediaeval
AMERICAN – “-dg” “-g” “-gu” BRITISH – “-dge” “-ge” “-gue”
Aging Ageing
Argument Arguement
Judgment Judgement
AMERICAN – “-ense” BRITISH – “-ence”
License Licence
Defense Defence
Spelling, continued.
AMERICAN BRITISH
Jewelry Jewellry
Draft Draught
Pajamas Pyjamas
Plow Plough
Program Programme
Tire Tyre
Other word-specific differences --
Spelling {last one!}.
BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
Counsel Counseling Counselling
Equal Equaled Equalled
Model Modeling Modelling
Quarrel Quarreling Quarrelling
Signal Signaled Signalled
Travel Traveling Travelling
Base words that end in L normally double the L in British English when a suffix is added.
The letter can double in American as well – but ONLY IF the stress is on the second syllableof the base word.
BASE WORD
AMERICAN BRITISH
Excel Excelling Excelling
Propel Propelling Propelling
Pronunciation {accent}
The British accent was created by a mixture of the Midland and Southern dialects of the Middle Ages.
There are many sub-dialects and varying accents under British English.
American English was not so strongly influenced by the accent as Australia or New Zealand, for example – the Americas broke away from British control much earlier and were distanced from direct speakers of the language as a result.
Pronunciation {accent}
British English = non-rhotic; American English = rhotic
This means that “R” is only pronounced in British English when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound.
“R” in British English is either not pronounced or replaced with a schwa
Pronunciation {accent} American English has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic “R”
sounds. This means that, in American English –
merry, marry, and Mary often sound the same
mirror rhymes with nearer
furry rhymes with hurry British English has three open back vowels while American English has only
two {or even one}:
Most American English speakers use the same vowel for “short O” as for “broad A” – father and bother often rhyme.
Pronunciation {accent}
Other vowel pronunciation differences:
British English = “broad A”
American English = “short A”
{in most words when A is followed by N followed by another consonant,
or “S, “F,” or “TH” – like plant, pass, laugh} British English has a distinct length difference between
“short” and “long” vowels – the long vowels begin diphthongs
Pronunciation {accent}
American English often loses the distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/ {as in roses and Rosa’s}; in British English, it is maintained because of the non-rhotic nature of the language {in order to make words like batted and battered sound distinctly different}.
American English experiences a yod-dropping after all alveolar consonants {i.e. /ju:/}; British English speakers always retain /j/ after /n/ {i.e. new in British English is /njuː/ but in American English it is /nuː/}, retain or coalesce it after /t/ and /d/ {i.e. due in British English is /dju:/ but in American English it is /du:/}.
Pronunciation {accent} There are also many individual
pronunciation differences that depend on the particular vocabulary word and the speaker who is pronouncing it.
Pronunciation {affixes}
-ary, -ery, -ory, -bury, -berry, -mony
When the syllable before these affixes is stressed, American and British English pronounce these endings in a similar way: /əri(ː)/
When it is unstressed, American English uses a full vowel rather than a schwa while British English retains the reduced vowel or elides it completely.
{i.e. “military” – American: /'mɪlɪtɛriː/ and British: /'mɪlɪtəriː/ or /'mɪlɪtriː/}
Exceptions, in which the full vowel is used in American English even though the preceding syllable is stressed: library, primary, rosemary
-berry – American English usually always uses a full vowel; British English uses a full
vowel after an unstressed syllable and a reduced one after a stressed syllable
/bɛriː/ /bəriː/ or /briː/
example: strawberry British: /'strɔːbəriː/ American: /'strɔbɛri/
Pronunciation {affixes} Adverbs: -arily, -erily or -orily
British English speakers follow the American practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable {i.e. militarily is /ˌmɪlɪ'tɛrɪliː/ not /'mɪlɪtrɪliː/}
-ile
When words end in an unstressed “-ile,” British English speakers pronounce them with a full vowel: /aɪl/ while American speakers pronounce them with either a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or a syllabic /l/ {i.e. in British English, “fertile” rhymes with “fur tile” – in American English, it would rhyme with “turtle”}
examples of words this applies to:
mobile, fragile, sterile, missile, versatile, etc.
examples of exceptions to this difference:
reptile, exile, turnstile, senile, etc. -ine
When unstressed, this affix can be pronounced as /aɪn/ (like feline), /i(ː)n/ (like morphine), or /ɪn/ (like medicine). Generally speaking, British English uses /aɪn/ most often while American English favors /in/ or /ɪn/ {i.e. crystalline}
Pronunciation {stress}
In the case of French loanwords, American English has final-syllable stress while British English has penultimate or antepenultimate stress.
British English first-syllable stress:
adult, ballet, baton, pastel, vaccine
British English second-syllable stress:
escargot, fiancee
Pronunciation {stress}
There are also other words borrowed from French that feature stress differences.
American first-syllable; British last-syllable:
address, mustache, cigarette, magazine
American 1st-syllable; British 2nd-syllable:
liaison, Renaissance
American 2nd-syllable; British last-syllable:
New Orleans
Pronunciation {stress}
Most two syllable verbs that end in –ate have first syllable stress in American English and second-syllable stress in British English (i.e. castrate, locate)
Derived adjectives with the ending -atory differ in both dialects; for British
English, the stress shifts to –at whereas American English will stress the same syllable as the corresponding –ate verb (i.e. regulatory, celebratory, laboratory)
Grammar
• Nouns• Verbs• Use of Tenses • Possession & Use of the Verb “Get”
• Use of the Subjunctive • Prepositions• Uses of Other Words
NounsFormal & Notional Agreement
• In BrE, collective nouns can take either singular (formal agreement) or plural (notional agreement) verb forms , For example, a committee was appointed/ the committee were unable to agree.
• In AmE, collective nouns are usually singular in construction. For example, the team take their seats, rather than the team takes its seats.
Verbs & Verb Morphology
• The past tense and past participle of the verbs learn, spoil, spell, burn, dream, smell, spill, leap, and others, can be either irregular (learnt, spoilt, etc.) or regular (learned, spoiled, etc.).
• In BrE, both irregular and regular forms are current, but for some words (such as smelt and leapt) there is a strong tendency towards the irregular forms, especially by users of Received Pronunciation.
• In AmE, the irregular forms are never or rarely used (except for burnt and leapt).
Use of Tenses
• The British use the present perfect to talk about a past action which has an effect on the present moment. In American English both simple past and present perfect are possible in such situations. For example:
I have lost my pen. Can you borrow me yours? (BrE) I lost my pen. OR I have lost my pen. (AmE)
Possession & Use of the Verb Get
• The British normally use “have got” to show possession. In American English have (in the structure do you have) and have got are both possible.
• In British English the past participle of get is got. In American English the past participle of get is gotten, except when have got means have.
Use of the Subjunctive
• In American English it is particularly common to use subjunctive after words like essential, vital, important, suggest, insist, demand
• In British English the subjunctive is formal and unusual. British people normally use should +
Infinitive or ordinary present and past tenses. • For example: It is essential that every child get an
opportunity to learn. (AmE) It is essential that every child gets an opportunity to learn. (BrE)
Prepositions
• There are also a few differences in preposition use including the following:
on the weekend (AmE)at the weekend (BrE)
on a team (AmE)in a team (BrE)
call someone at his or her telephone number(AmE)
call someone on his or her telephone number(BrE)
Uses of Other Words• As if/ like
In American English it is common to use like instead of as if/ as though. This is not correct in British English.
He talks as if he knew everything. (BrE) He talks like/as if he knew everything. (AmE)
• The indefinite pronoun One Americans normally use he/she, him/her, his/her to refer back to one. In British English one is used throughout the sentence.
One must love one's country. (BrE) One must love his/her country. (AmE)
• Will/Shall In British English it is fairly common to use shall with the first person to talk about the future. Americans rarely use shall.
I shall/will never forget this favour. (BrE) I will never forget this favour. (AmE)
Creation of American Lexicon.
From the beginning, Americans borrowed words from Native American languages for unfamiliar objects {i.e. opossum, squash, moccasin}
They took many “loanwords” from other colonizing nations {i.e. cookie, kill, and stoop from Dutch; levee , prairie, and gopher from French; barbecue, canyon, and rodeo from Spanish}
British words were obviously borrowed, but often evolved to mean new things in an American landscape {i.e. creek, barrens, trail, bluff, etc.}
With the development of the new continent, new words were necessarily brought in to describe new things: split-level {in real estate}, carpetbagger {in politics}, commuter {in transportation}, and a variety of vocabulary to distinguish among professions.
Many words originated as American slang: hijacking, boost, jazz, etc.
Vocabulary.American& BritishEnglishsometimeshavedifferentwords forthe samethings --
AMERICAN BRITISH
Apartment Flat
Argument Row
Carriage/coach Pram
Bathroom Loo
Can Tin
Cookie Biscuit
Diaper Nappy
Elevator Lift
Eraser Rubber
Flashlight Torch
Fries Chips
Gas Petrol
Guy Bloke/chap
More Vocabulary.
AMERICAN BRITISH
Highway Motorway
Hood {of a car} Bonnet
Jelly Jam
Kerosene Paraffin
Lawyer Solicitor
Line Queue
Mail Post
Napkin Serviette
Nothing Nought
Period Full stop
Potato chips crisps
AMERICAN BRITISH
Truck Lorry
Trunk Boot
Vacation Holiday
Windshield Windscreen
License Plate Number Plate
Pacifier Dummy
Parking lot Car park
Pharmacist Chemist
Sidewalk Pavement
Soccer Football
Trash can Bin
More Vocabulary.
American and British English speakers often use the same words but intend very different meaning with them:
WORD AMERICAN BRITISH
Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie
Brew Beer Tea
Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk
Casket Coffin Jewelry Box
First Floor Ground Floor “Second” Floor
To hire To employ To rent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_British_and_American_English {for more examples!}
Vocabulary Differences
Lexical differences
Social and cultural differences
Idiosyncratic differences
Lexical differences
In BrE and AmE, some words and phrases may appear with the same appearance, however, they actually have different meanings.
In BrE and AmE, two totally different words
may have the same meaning.
some words with similar appearance but refer to the same thing.
“flat” in BrE “apartment” in AmE, “rubber” “eraser”.
“civilisation” in BrE “civilization” in AmE; “favourite” “favorite”
• For example, the word “football” in BrE refers to association football, which is also known as soccer. In AmE, “football” means “American football”.
• Another example is “to table” :During a meeting of the Allied forces, Winston Churchill had created misunderstanding meaning of this phrase. In BrE, “to table an item on an agenda” means “to open it up for discussion”, but in AmE, it means “to remove it from discussion”, which is totally opposite to that in BrE.
Social and cultural differences
• Take vocabulary of education between American and British English for instance. These differences in the area of education are mainly reflected on the fields of school, university and some general terms. Here we have got a table which is a comparison of the naming of school years in British (except Scotland) and American English.
The naming of school years in British (except Scotland) and American English
Age range
British English American English
Name Alternative name Syllabus Name Alternative name
1 - 4
Preschool (optional)
Nursery Playgroup Foundation Stage
4 - 5
Primary school Preschool
Reception Infants reception Foundation Stage 2 Pre-kindergarten
5 - 6 Year 1 Infants year 1
Key Stage
Kindergarten
Elementary school
6 - 7 Year 2 Infants year 2 1st grade
7 - 8 Year 3 Junior year 3
Key Stage 2
2nd grade
8 - 9 Year 4 Junior year 4 3rd grade
9 - 10 Year 5 Junior year 5 4th grade
10 - 11 Year 6 Junior year 6 5th grade
11 - 12
Secondary school Middle school Junior high school
Year 7 First form]
Key Stage 3
6th grade
12 - 13 Year 8 Second form 7th grade
13 - 14 Year 9 Third form 8th grade
14 - 15 Year 10 Fourth formKey Stage 4, GCSE
High school
9th grade Freshman year
15 - 16 Year 11 Fifth form 10th grade Sophomore year
16 - 17
Sixth form (optional)
11th grade Junior yearYear 12 Lower sixth
Key Stage 5, A level
17 - 18 Year 13 Upper sixth 12th grade Senior year
• From the table, we may discover that the secondary school in the United States also includes middle school or junior high school, which is a two or three year transitional school between elementary school and high school.
• Apart from differences in ways of naming school years, the definitions of a public school are also different in the two countries. In the US, it is government-owned, and supported by taxpayers while in the UK, it refers to ill-defined private independent schools which are funded by students’ fees. What is more, those schools supported by government are called state school in the UK.
Idiosyncratic differences
Some equivalent idioms have the same meaning but show differences in appearance between BrE and AmE.
stress• As many words derived from French, American English
has final-syllable stress, while British English stresses an earlier syllable, such as, adult, Francoise, attaché, etc.
• Most 2-syllable verbs ending -ate have first-syllable
stress in American English and second-syllable stress in British English, such as, dictate, donate etc.
• Most longer -ate verbs are pronounced the same in
American English and British English, but a few have first-syllable stress in British English and second-syllable
stress in American English: elongate, infiltrate.
British English American English
sweep under the carpet sweep under the rug
touch wood knock on wood
see the wood for the trees see the forest for the trees
throw a spanner (in the works) throw a (monkey) wrench (in the works)
tuppence worth also two pennies' worth, two pence worth, two pennyworth,two penny'th, or (using a different coin) ha'penny'th)
two cents' worth
skeleton in the cupboard skeleton in the closet
a home from home a home away from home
blow one's trumpet blow (or toot) one's horn
a drop in the ocean a drop in the bucket
storm in a teacup tempest in a teapot
flogging a dead horse beating a dead horse
a new lease of life a new lease on life
if the cap fits (wear it) if the shoe fits (wear it)
lie of the land lay of the land▲
Conclusion
• From our study we have learnt the exact differences between AmE and BrE, and as a second language speaker of English, more people prefer AmE than BrE.
Summary
• Differences in AmE & BrE
• Spelling
• Pronunciation
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
