Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SelfBrit Picking
SelfBrit Picking
● PRESCHOOL:
(optional)
o Ages 1/4 ‐
Nursery/Playgroup ‐ (Foundation stage 1)
● PRIMARY SCHOOL:
o Ages 4/5 ‐
Reception /Infants reception ‐ (Foundation stage 2)
o Ages 5/6 ‐
Year One/Infants year 1 ‐ (Key stage 1)
o Ages 6/7 ‐
Year Two/Infants year 2 ‐ (Key stage 1)
o Ages 7/8 ‐
Year Three /First year Junior ‐ (Key stage 2)
o Ages 8/9 ‐
Year Four/Second year Junior ‐ (Key stage 2)
o Ages 9/10 ‐
Year Five/Third year Junior ‐ (Key stage 2)
o Ages 10/11 ‐
Year Six/Fourth year Junior ‐ (Key stage 2)
● SECONDARY SCHOOL/HIGH SCHOOL:
o Ages 11/12 ‐
Year Seven /First form ‐ (Key stage 3)
o Ages 12/13 ‐
Year Eight /Second form ‐ (Key stage 3)
o Ages 13/14 ‐
Year Nine /Third form ‐ (Key Stage 3)
o Ages 14/15 ‐
Year Ten /Fourth Form ‐ (Key stage 4) ‐ GCSE exams.
o Ages 15/16 ‐
Year Eleven /Fifth form ‐ (Key Stage 4) ‐ GCSE exams.
● COLLEGE/SIXTH FORM:
o Ages 16/17 ‐
Year Twelve /Lower Sixth Form/AS ‐ (Key Stage 5) ‐ A‐Level.
o Ages 17/18 ‐
Year Thirteen /Upper Sixth Form/A2 ‐ (Key Stage 6) ‐ A‐Level.
Some details:
● Some primary schools only have ‘infants’ (pupils aged four to seven) or
‘juniors’ (pupils
aged seven to eleven). Those schools are called ‘Junior school’ or ‘Infant school’,
accordingly.
● There's two types of secondary schools:
o Grammar Schools: most academically able (only 10/23% of the population).
o Comprehensive Schools: pupils of all abilities.
● College/Sixth Form: the equivalent to Junior and Senior year. It's between Secondary
School and University. It's mandatory as of 2013 (used to be optional, it's still being
implemented, it's thought it will be fully implemented this year). It can be replaced by an
apprenticeship (and there's another set of exams though it's not nearly as common as
the A Levels).
● No school has both Primary and Secondary in the same building, they're almost 100% of
the time different schools altogether, but once you finish Primary School you most likely
go to the closest Secondary School geographically speaking, so most kids have the same
mates throughout their whole school experience. Most Secondary Schools now have
Sixth Form as well, though there are some that don't (and some schools that have only
Sixth Form).
● Public School is the English equivalent of Prep School. Nothing to do with American
public schools.
● All (or most) English schools wear uniforms.
● England doesn't use 'grade'
with school years at all. It's always 'year'
.
● The age taken is the one you have by the last day of August. So, say, if your birthday was
the 1st of September 2010 you would start Year One on September 2015.
● School almost always starts the first Monday of September and ends in late July.
● There are no ‘semesters’ in England. School gets divided in ‘terms’ (this applies to
universities as well).
● School usually goes from 8.55 in the morning to 15.15 in the afternoon.
● There are three school terms:
o Autumn: Early September to mid‐December.
o Spring: Early January to early April.
o Summer: Mid‐April to late July.
● Between each term there are holidays:
o Christmas Holidays. Between Autumn and Spring term. Two weeks.
o Easter Holidays. Between Spring and Summer term. Two weeks.
o Summer Holidays. Between school years. Six weeks.
● There's a week break in the middle of every term ( ‘half term’
):
o Autumn: late October/Early November.
o Spring: Mid‐February.
o Summer: Late May/Early June.
● Take note that London considers them six terms instead of three, but they're divided the
same as above, switching every half term into a new term instead.
● English Secondary School is not like a typical American High School, there are no
cheerleaders, the captains of the teams are probably somewhat popular but there isn't
that much of a hierarchy. Also, there are no bleachers (or quarterbacks!).
● School lunch is called ‘school dinner’ .
● Forget about varsity in school, the only varsity that exists in England are sports games
between prestigious universities.
● There are no valedictorians.
● School teachers are never called professors.
● Subjects. They '
re not the same in America and England. Here's an outline of the different
subjects taught in Primary/Secondary school. GCSE subjects here . A‐Level subjects
here.
Keep in mind that there are compulsory subjects for each Key Stage, GCSEs and A Levels.
● You don't ‘graduate’ school. You finish it. You only graduate university.
● Prom is held twice during secondary school in England. Once at the end of Year 11 and
once at the end of Year 13. Try to do some research on the area you're basing the story
in and what kind of school it is, because not all schools make a big deal out of it. Some
just have some kind of dinner (though others go all the way). It's a relatively new thing,
from the last few years. They used to have Summer/Leaver Balls before. Also, some
‘prom’
schools don't call it , and prefer the term ‘school formal’. Younger kids (than the
ones the prom is aimed for) are mostly not allowed to the dances.
● There's no prom queen/king.
● There's no homecoming dance.
● There's no Spring Break. It's called Easter Break (and it's not like an American Spring
Break for the most part).
● The marking (grading) system is completely different. They don't have a GPA. They have
SATs at the end of Key Stage 1, 2 and 3, GCSEs at the end of Key Stage 4 and A Levels in
Sixth Form. Don't assign your character a GPA number.
o Key Stage 1, 2 and 3: Children are evaluated in certain subjects at the end of
every Key Stage, and are assigned a ‘level’ in each one, which is obtained by
comparing their progress to that of the rest of the children their age in the
country. It's complicated to explain, they're basically required to get the average
minimum ( ‘target level’) for each Key Stage. This is the scale (from lowest to
highest): 1C, 1B, 1A, 2C, 2B, 2A, 3C, 3B, 3A, 4C, 4B, 4A, 5C, 5B, 5A, 6C, 6B, 6A, 7C,
7B, 7A, 8C, 8B, 8A. The target level for Key Stage 1 is 2B, the target level for Key
Stage 2 is 4B. There isn't a target level for Key Stage 3, instead, they match each
level to what mark they'd achieve in a GCSE (normal aspiration would be a level
5, as that level would basically guarantee that pupil that they'll pass their GCSEs).
o GCSEs are marked from 1 to 9. Only around 3% of the population gets a 9.
o A Levels are marked from A to E, for those who pass. U or F means ‘unclassified’
or
‘failed’ (both mean that they've failed their exam). N means ‘nearly passed’
when they're missing an E for a very small margin.
UNIVERSITY:
● University is the equivalent to College. It usually lasts three years (it varies if it’s a
Masters or a Doctorate)
● A doctorate requires a thesis.
● Law usually takes three years of a Bachelor of Laws, they need some job training and
then they're able to act as barristers, legal executives or solicitors. There's no ‘law
school’.
● Medicine takes around ten years between the MBChB (5/6 years), the two year
(compulsory) foundation training programme and practical learning at NHS hospitals.
General Practitioners usually take another three years even after that. So if your
character is going to be a be a doctor, make him at least twenty‐seven years old.
● You don't 'major' in England you 'read/study/do' a course.
● ‘Course’ is basically a synonym of the word ‘degree’ (or ‘major’ for Americans). So,
obviously, this means that the word ‘course’ isn't used in the context of an individual
lesson (class).
● The word ‘class’ isn't used. You have ‘lectures/lessons’ (to refer to the individual classes)
and the ‘course’ is divided in ‘modules/units’ .
● Every ‘module/unit’ gives you ‘credits’ you need a certain amount of credits to move
onto the next year/graduate. Some units are mandatory, some are optional. Though
there aren't really weird electives to fulfil credits (some universities might, but it's not
generally how it is). There’s a tight set of choices for units, even for electives. Most
lessons are only shared within your same course, though there are exceptions (and as
always, check the university of your choice to see their system, this is general).
● 'Professor' is the highest rank in education in England. A ‘professor’ is in charge of a
school or college (what you'd call ‘department’ ) in a university. So you most likely won't
find a professor teaching a lecture. Lower ranks are lecturer, senior lecturer and reader.
● What you call ‘dissertation’ (the final written product of a doctorate student) in England
‘thesis’
is called .
● A 'dissertation' in England means the final written product of an undergraduate/master's
student.
● ‘School’ (also ‘College’ ) in the context of higher education means an academic
department within the university (IE: ‘School of Social Sciences’ ). You don't call the
university as a whole ‘school’ (obviously you don't call it ‘college’ either, under no
circumstances). You can, however, call a Primary or Secondary ‘school’ .
● Small towns don't have their own universities, Doncaster University doesn't exist.
There's less than one hundred universities in England, here's a list, go mad.
● A teacher ‘sets an exam’ instead of ‘writing an exam’ .
● Students get ‘marks’ instead of ‘grades’. Exams are ‘marked’ instead of ‘graded’
.
● ‘Letters of recommendation’ ‘letters of reference’
are called .
● The word ‘staff’
refers to all the personnel, whether it's academic or not.
● The word ‘faculty’ refers to a collection of academic departments.
● You can say that you ‘sit an exam’ instead of ‘take an exam’ , both are correct.
● ‘Tuition’
doesn't mean the fee you pay for school, it means what the teacher transferres
to the student educationally speaking.
● Universities' terms don't coincide with school's terms, and they all differ from one
university to the next. If you want to be accurate, check your university of choice's
website, they usually have a handy calendar.
● ‘With Honours’ . That's the only way of passing university. It's the level of your marking as
a whole. It can be:
o First Class Honours
o Upper Second Class Honours
o Lower Second Class Honours
o Third Class Honours
● Marking system for the honours level:
● University isn't that expensive. Most of the universities have their fees in their websites.
There are admissions and applications and scholarships, but it all depends on what
university they're going to. There's student finance available for all students in England
(and an extra help for those who qualify as low income). And it's not nearly as absorbent
as America's.
● There are no ‘dorms’ in university, they're called ‘hall of residence’ (often shortened to
‘hall’
). If it's for all three years, if it's for just the first year students, etc. you should check
with the particular university. Some students stay living with their parents and commute
to school, some move to a flat near the university.
● Sports in University are generally not a big deal AT ALL (unless your character goes to
Cambridge/Oxford or some other very prestigious school, mostly because of their
rivalry).
● The main sports in University, though, are rowing, rugby, (field) hockey, tennis, polo,
cricket, yachting, badminton and so on. So, forget about american football, baseball and
basketball. Even (association) football isn't THAT common.
● There are no fraternities/sororities in university! None. No hazing, no pledging, no frat
houses, no frat parties. It doesn’t exist.
● There are ‘dining houses’ ‘societies’
and .
o Societies: Are sort of like American clubs. Some universities have both and make
a distinction between them. Check the university of your choice.
o Dining houses: They're ‘secret’ and there's sort of a membership honour. They're
similar (if not the same) as ‘eating houses’ in America. They're not limited to
universities though.
MISC:
● England's summer is not that hot, so most houses don't own ACs at all (only extremely
wealthy people do, as it's not necessary), and even fans are somewhat of a weird sight
(ceiling fans are very rare).
● Pools do exist, but they aren't extremely common, especially in some areas (I
recommend doing a google maps search of the area with satellite view and checking if
there are enough pools there to make it a normalcy). Wealthy people tend to have
indoor pools, because even if the weather is rainy or cloudy, they can still use it.
● Distances are short in the UK, so if you're going to write a fic in which the characters are
going through a long distance relationship issue, make it a REAL one, people from the UK
will read your fic and be very confused as to why your character is moaning about going
to University to London if they live in, say, Manchester, because it's like four hours away,
it's a doable trip at least once a week, not really a hardship.
● Medical insurance is rare (only 8/10% of the population has it), as most of the basic
treatments are for free. Free healthcare is called NHS (National Health System).
● The word ‘bathroom’ is only used when there's an actual bath, if there isn't then it's
called ‘toilet’ ‘water closet’
or (W.C.).
● English people don't really eat pancakes (also, they don't eat the American version of
pancakes, at all, what they call pancakes, Americans call ‘crepes’ ) or waffles during
breakfast.
● One random thing I learnt while writing: they don't have magnets on their refrigerators.
They have takeaway menus.
● As the distances are short, people tend to move out of their parents' houses a bit later
than in America. It's not weird for a person in their early twenties to still live with their
parents.
● English people don't tip in all the situations Americans do (mostly because the salaries
are higher and thus, there is no need to).
● Paper sizes are different. It's dumb, but if your story is set in an office or something of
the sort, check the scale for paper sizes, it's not the same than in America (or any other
country). This is mostly so you consider the names.
● A bit of a dumb clarification, but don't refer to black people as ‘African‐American’ ... it's
England. It isn't America. The usual term is ‘black person’ , you have to obviously try to be
conscious on the context and the wording as to not be disrespectful.
● Beds are scaled differently as well, the names are mostly the same, but the sizes aren't.
Britain mostly uses the metric system for scaling beds.
● RATING FOR FILMS: The rating that a film has in America doesn't necessarily have to be
taken into consideration when rating it in the UK. Parents can't take their kids to see
films that are above their category of age. The UK has more tolerance for nudity and sex
scenes when choosing the rating, but less tolerance for violence and tone.
o U: Universal. Suitable for all audiences.
o PG: Parental Guidance.
o 12/12A: Suitable for 12 years and over.
o 15: Suitable for 15 years and over.
o 18: Suitable for 18 years and over.
● The police doesn't carry guns (to be fair, people don't carry guns either).
● Taxes are built in the final price of products. It's called VAT.
● Houses don't really have window screens.
● There are virtually no automatic cars, most cars are stick.
● CURRENCY: England's currency is the Sterling Pound. 1 pound = 1.524 dollars.
● TEMPERATURE: Temperature is measured by Celsius. 32 Fahrenheit = 0 Celsius (water
freezes), 96.8 Fahrenheit = 36 Celsius (give or take, normal body temperature), 212
Fahrenheit = 100 Celsius (water boils).
● WEIGHT: Weight is measured by ‘stone + pounds’ . 1 Stone = 14 pounds. One would
usually say, instead of 160 pounds, ‘11 stone 6’.
● HEIGHT: Height is measured by feet and inches.
● DISTANCE: Distance is measured by combination of metres/kilometres and miles.
England has been undergoing metrication for a while (converting to the metric system).
So it's kind of a mixture. MPH still persists, but publications often measure distance with
the metric system (this also applies to height, weight, etc.). You choose what you prefer.
● RELIGION: England's most common religion is Anglican (Church of England). Other
Christian religions there are Catholicism, Protestantism and Quakers. Islam and Judaism
also exist, to a lower degree. Church of England is NOT the same as catholicism and it's
NOT the same as protestantism. For instance, there is no First Communion in
Anglicanism. Anglicanism is basically a combination of catholicism and protestantism, in
the sense that it’s ‘based’ on catholicism and it was affected by the protestant
reformation TO SOME extent. Of course, you can make your character be any other
religion, but you should clarify because otherwise people will most likely assume that
you just got Anglicanism doctrines wrong.
● Random, but when in a race, if a horse ‘places’ in BrE it can mean it came either second
or third. In AmE it always means second.
● TIME: It's common there to use the 24 hour clock to differentiate AM from PM easier.
It's more believable for bus, trains, planes, etc. to have the time in this setting. Fifteen
minutes after the hour is ‘quarter past’, fifteen minutes before the hour is ‘quarter to’
.
Thirty minutes after the hour is ‘half past’ , though in colloquial speech the preposition is
often omitted; ‘half six’
. They don't use colons to separate time (5:36) instead they use
full stops (periods) (5.36). BrE doesn’t use ‘after’ (IE: Ten after nine) nor ‘of’ (IE: A
quarter of eight).
● DATES: England uses this format Day/Month/Year. The 25th of April 2003 would be
25/04/03. In written language the most common way of expressing it is ‘25 April, 2003’
(not in literature!), in spoken language it's ‘the 25th of April, 2003’ .
● In Britain, the week starts on Monday. Monday first day, Tuesday second, Wednesday
third, Thursday fourth, Friday fifth, Saturday sixth, Sunday seventh.
● If you add a definite article to a day ‘the Saturday’ you mean the Saturday of the week
being mentioned. IE: ‘Mr Jones flew in on the Friday and left on the following
Wednesday’ .
● LEVELS ON BUILDINGS: In England the ‘ground floor’
‘first floor’ is called , the
‘second
floor’ is called ‘first floor’, and so on.
● AGES:
o Drinking: 18.
o Voting: 18 (not compulsory).
o Age of consent: 16.
o Driving: 17. You can drive a moped/light quad bike at 16.
SHOPS, BUILDINGS, ETC.
● Banks:
o Lloyds
o Barclays
o Midland
o National Westminster (Nat West)
● Supermarkets:
o ASDA
o Tesco (not ‘Tescos’ if you often hear it that way it's because it's with an
apostrophe ‘I'm going to Tesco's’ ‘I'm going to Mum's’
, like , not because that's
the actual name of the store)
o Sainsbury's (actual name of the store, with the apostrophe)
o Morrisons
o Iceland
o The Co‐op
o Marks & Spencer
● Coffee shops:
o Costa
o Starbucks
o Caffe Nero
o SSP
o Wild Bean
● Fast Food:
o Domino's
o Pizza Express
o Subway
o Nando's
o Greggs
o Frankie & Benny's
o Pizza Hut
o McDonald's
o Millie's Cookies
o Bella Italia
o TGI Fridays
o Burger King
o KFC
o Prezzo
o Papa John's
● Mobile phone providers:
o Vodafone
o O2
o T‐Mobile
o Orange
o Three
● Internet providers:
o Sky Broadband
o BT Group
o Virgin Media
o TalkTalk
● Cable providers:
o Sky
o Freeview (Free)
o Virgin Media
o Freesat (Free)
● Petrol stations:
o BP
o Shell
o Esso
o Certas Energy
o Texaco
●
UNITED KINGDOM ‐ GREAT BRITAIN ‐ BRITAIN ‐ ENGLAND:
These are the British Isles:
● The one on the left is ‘Ireland’ It has two countries:
o Republic of Ireland
o Northern Ireland
● The one on the right is ‘Great Britain’. It has three countries:
o England
o Scotland
o Wales
So, first definition, ‘Great Britain’ is the name of the isle England is in, it's not a political
denomination at all. It’s a geographical one. Also, ‘Britain’ is Wales+England, without
Scotland.
Now, onto ‘United Kingdom’. This is the United Kingdom:
The United Kingdom consists of:
○ England
○ Scotland
○ Wales
○ Northern Ireland
Its full name is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
United Kingdom's flag:
England's flag:
SPORTS:
● A common mistake is thinking that if one of your characters excels in football (soccer)
they'll get a scholarship at a University. Sports scholarships exist, but are rare, and they
don't really exist for football players because football players that are good just play for
a team (and skip most of their education, a good enough football player would rather
play for a lower division professional team than go to Uni and it's likely that he won't
even finish College). Sports at school do exist, but not every university has them, so
check the university before randomly adding that fact. You're better off with Cambridge,
Oxford, etc. if you want to include sports (and please, no American football, no
basketball, no baseball… rugby, cricket, fencing, polo, etc.).
● Football players become professional through scouting (it can be at Primary, Secondary,
a local tournament, etc. though it isn't THAT common) or because they themselves go to
a callout. Football clubs have academies for younger players. 99% of professional
football players were signed by an academy before making it in the First Team. Also, if a
man is 18 or older and hasn't been signed yet, he’s not going to be signed, his chances of
getting signed after the age of… fifteen? Are VERY low.
● There's SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY TEAMS that are affiliated to the FA (Football
Association, the organisation that rules football in Great Britain). There's several
divisions, it's sort of like a pyramid, and teams get relegated and promoted every season.
● Hockey is FIELD hockey, if you want to refer to ice hockey, you need to specify.
● Sports in England by popularity:
o (Association) Football.
o Rugby.
o Tennis.
o Cricket.
o Athletics.
● American football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, don't have significant interest
amongst the English population.
● 46% of the population watches (association) football on TV, of course, most of them are
men, and considering men are roughly half percent of the population, it's a natural
conclusion to say that the vast majority of men in England watch football (also, are
interested in).
GRAMMAR:
● Acronyms: Title case.
Nasa, Unicef .
● Contractions: If the final letter is present, no period, if it isn't, then there should be a
period.
Dr, Mr, Mrs, Ms
etc.,
prof., abbr.
● Inverted commas (quotation marks): single inverted commas at first, double inverted
commas inside. Punctuation goes outside the inverted commas unless it's part of the
actual phrase.
My mother said, 'Hey, Emmie, would you say this is "impressive"?', I didn't know
what to reply.
● In written dialogue (literature) inverted commas are reversed, double first, then single.
Punctuation follows the above rule.
“You're strange,” she smiled, cocking her head to the side. “I don't want that at all. I
would forever be labelled as ‘that weird kid’, who would want that?” She pouted a
little.
● NO Oxford comma. When naming a list of things there is no comma before ‘and’ and
‘or’.
She wanted me to bring her oranges, bananas, apples and watermelons.
Would you rather a glass of water, a fizzy drink or some tea?
● BrE uses have got to denote possession and have got to to denote necessity. Detailed
explanation of its uses (it doesn't ALWAYS apply, though you should be able to sense
when it's completely wrong):
o Appearance, quality, feature: Have got .
I have got brown eyes and blonde hair.
o Include, contain: Have got .
Japan has got a population of over 120 million.
o Own, be able to use: Have got .
I have got a Mercedes.
o Have an idea, feeling: Have got .
If you have got any good ideas, share them.
o Have a disease, injury, pain: Have got .
Sara has got a cold.
o Keep, put something in a position: Have got I have got my eyes half‐closed
. .
o Receive: Have got .
I have got lots of phone calls.
o Have a family member: Have got .
I have got two brothers and one sister.
o Know (sb): Have got I have got a friend who looks like you
. .
o Have a duty, responsibility, etc.: Have got I have got a box full of forms to fill
. .
o Have a job, position, role, etc.: Have got to .
I have got to get the calls from
clients
o Have an amount of time: Have got .
You have got thirty seconds to answer that.
o Have goods, rooms available: Have got .
They hadn't got any jumpers in my size.
o Have brought (st) with you: Have got .
I have got a pair of glasses in my handbag.
o Have (st) with you: Have got I haven’t got my address book with me
. .
o Have (st) on you: Have got .
How much money have you got on you?
o Have (sb) with you: Have got .
Lucky I had got my friend Alison with me then.
o Hold (sb): Have got .
They had got him by the throat.
o Wear: Have got on .
She had got on lime‐green slacks and a purple shirt.
o Obligation: Have got to.
She had got to go into a mental hospital.
o Importance of something to happen: Have got to. There has got to be an end to
it.
o Explaining how to do something: Have got to. You have got to mix the whole
thing.
o Assuring something will happen: Have got to. The price of houses has got to go
up.
o Necessity: Have got to .
I have got to buy some clothes.
In addition, the form have got , often replaces the auxiliar ‘do/does/did’ in negative and
interrogative sentences. So ‘ do you have …?’ becomes ‘ have you got
…?’ and ‘I
don't
have’
becomes ‘I haven't got ’.
● Moderate usage of shall/shan't , as opposed to ‘will’
.
Shall I go fetch the nurse?
● The construction of the verbs prevent/stop (sb) doing (st) is common.
BrE: He does that to prevent getting in trouble.
AmE: He does that to prevent from getting in trouble.
● The construction of the verbs love/like/intend + gerund is more common than in AmE.
BrE: I really love spending time with you.
AmE: I really love to spend time with you .
● The construction of the verbs begin/start/omit/enjoy + gerund is not
as common as in
AmE.
BrE: You enjoy to rile me up.
AmE: You enjoy riling me up.
● The construction go + and + bare infinitive is common.
BrE: I'll be prouder if you go and clear your desk.
AmE: I'll be prouder if you go to clear your desk.
● The construction come + and + bare infinitive is common.
BrE: At least come and have some dessert.
AmE: At least come to have some dessert.
● In British English you hire things for just a short time and the owner hires them out to
you. You rent things for a longer period. You rent a house, room, etc. and the owner lets
it
(out) to you. A house that's available for you to rent has a sign that says ‘To let’
outside, instead of ‘For rent’ .
I hired a boat to go through the Thames.
I have got a car to hire out if you need one.
I'm going to rent a flat in Bristol.
My mum's got a house to let in the outskirts of London.
● NO definite article when a certain role is implied:
o At sea (as a sailor).
o In prison (as a convict).
o At/In college/University (as a student).
o To/In/From hospital (as a patient).
o At church (as a churchgoer).
● Motorways and streets take a definite article.
The M6.
● The construction ‘Monday through Friday’
isn't ‘from Monday to Friday’
used. It's .
● Athletes play IN a team not ON a team.
● Assure, reassure, insure, ensure, make sure:
o Ensure is to make certain that something will happen.
‘Please ensure that the lights are switched off before leaving the building’
o Make sure is to make certain that something will happen (more informal).
‘
Make sure to feed the dog!’
o Assure someone or something, you tell someone that it's really true or will
happen.
‘The receptionist assured me that I wouldn't have to wait’
‘Christianity assures us there's forgiveness for all’
o Insure you can insure something against something bad happening. When it's
life against death, the term assure is more often used.
‘Is the house insured against fire?’ .
● Definite articles for ‘tell
the time’ and ‘play the piano’ are mandatory.
● Added preposition before days denoted by a single word. IE: On Friday.
● The construction in back of doesn't exist.
● On/Over/During the weekend aren't often used, only at the weekend (sometimes
during )
.
● Chat/Talk/Speak with isn't normally used. It’s only used when it’s meant to be a more
formal or longer talk. If not, it’s Chat/Talk/Speak to .
● The construction different than isn't used. It's different to/from .
● The construction off of
isn't used, it always drops the ‘of’
● AmE speakers often use be going to (and the informal short form gonna ) when giving
street directions, which is not a typical use in BrE. BrE speakers normally use imperatives
(with and without you ), and present simple or future forms with will
:
● to
Get + ‐infinitive is common in AmE to refer to achievements, meaning ‘manage to’ or
‘be able to’. This usage is less common in BrE.
● The present perfect is less common in AmE than BrE. AmE speakers often use the past
simple in situations where BrE speakers use the present perfect
● The past perfect is more common in AmE than in BrE, especially in situations where the
speaker sees one event as happening before another in the past:
● AmE uses in
+ a period of time after a negative verb in situations where BrE prefers for:
● [AmE]
● I haven’t really read anything like that in years .
(BrE preferred form: for years)
● [AmE]
● I haven’t talked to my brother in three years .
(BrE preferred form: for three years)
in
BrE uses on
with street names. AmE prefers :
[BrE]
They were a lovely family. They lived
in
Walton Street.
[AmE]
I used to live
on
Perot Street.
[AmE]
A:
How are you?
B:
I’mgood
I’m well
. (BrE preferred form I’m fine
or )
It all worked out
real good
. really well)
(BrE preferred form
[AmE]
There
will likely be other announcements before the end of this year. (
likely as an
adverb; BrE preferred form There are likely to be
)
[AmE]
The focus on the economy will likely continue when the new President takes office.
(BrE preferred form is likely to continue)
[AmE]
And what
’s likely
to happen? likely
( as an adjective, also common in BrE)
Question tags are much more common in BrE than in AmE, but a wide range of
question tags are used in both varieties:
[BrE]
She’s Swedish,
isn’t she
?
[AmE]
Elvis wasn’t your favourite rock star,
was he?
[AmE]
A:
I took the Chinese course last semester
.
B:
Oh you did
, ? Oh, did you?
(BrE preferred form with fallrise or rising intonation)
A:
Yeah
.
[AmE]
A:
My sister still lives with my mom
.
B:
She does
? Does she?
(BrE preferred form )
A:
Uhhuh
.
Tags at the end of affirmative statements which have an affirmative form occur in both
varieties but are quite rare in AmE:
[BrE]
He works really hard,
he does.
[AmE]
And so when she went to a nursing home, in the beginning, I think she kind of liked it.
She did art work there,
she did , yeah.
right
Both varieties use the tag , but it is more common in AmE:
A:
She’s studying geography right
, ?
B:
Yeah, geography
.
● The construction opportunity of + gerund is often used.
BrE:
I don't want to give you the opportunity of making it worse.
AmE: I don't want to give you the opportunity to make it worse.
● The verb sat often replaces sitting/seated.
My friends were all sat in front of the telly, watching some sort of sports competition.
● The verb stood often replaces
standing.
When I looked around, he was stood a few feet away, biting his nails.
● It almost never is forward, toward, rightward, onward, afterward, outward or
backward , it almost always is
forwards, towards, rightwards, afterwards, onward,
outwards, backwards (there are exceptions, especially with forms like ‘looking forward
to’).
● Different misc constructions (AmE on the left, BrE on the right):
o Out the (window, door, etc.) ‐‐ Out of the.
o In heat ‐‐ On heat
o Aside from ‐‐ Apart from.
o Filled out ‐‐ Filled in.
o Rained out ‐‐ Rained off.
o An herb ‐‐ A herb.
o Fork over/up ‐‐ Fork out.
o Reserved for ‐‐ Reserved to.
o Tucked in ‐‐ Tucked up.
o Harry, age 22 ‐‐ Harry, aged 22.
● BrE adds an ‘‐er’ suffix to athletes of certain sports.
Footballer
, cricket er
, volleyball er
, basketball
er
.
● Some collective nouns are taken as plural.
● It's always ‘she'll write to you’, the preposition can't be avoided.
● If you wish a particular situation existed at this moment, you use the past tense. He
wishes it were Tuesday already . In informal BrE it’s common to use was instead of ‘were’
in sentences like the last.
● On the table. This expression is exactly the opposite in BrE than in AmE. If you table
something in BrE you’re suggesting it, so other people consider it. If you do it in AmE it’s
being left to deal with in the future.
● The construction named for
isn't used. Always named after .
He was named after his father, who passed away before he was born.
That river is named after the man who discovered it.
● No capital letters after colons.
● BrE often says in a street or road while AmE says on a street or road
. AmE also often
leaves out words like street when giving addresses, whereas BrE almost always uses
them.
AmE: At 34th and 5th
BrE:
At the junction of 34th Street and 5th Avenue.
● Using very much before a verb is particularly common.
Rhonda very much enjoys skiing.
● Whereas AmE often uses the regular forms of certain verbs, BrE tends to also use the
irregular forms for those that end with a ‘t’
.
AmE BrE
Burned Burnt
Busted Bust
Daydreamed Daydreamt
Dreamed Dreamt
Kneeled Knelt
Leaned Leant
Learned Learnt
Lighted Lit
Misspelled Misspelt
Smelled Smelt
Spelled Spelt
Spilled Spilt
Spoiled Spoilt
Sunburned Sunburnt
● Other verb differences (for both past simple and past participle):
BrE: Fit, Dived, Pleaded.
AmE: Fitted, Dove, Pled.
● Other verb differences (only past participle):
BrE: Got, Proved, Sawn, Sewn, Sneaked, Spat.
AmE: Gotten, Proven, Sawed, Sewed, Snuck, Spit.
● Other verb differences (only past simple):
BrE: Sprang.
AmE: Sprung.
● Time adverbs just,
already and yet are often used with the simple past tense in AmE.
Although it's used sometimes in BrE it's considered more correct to use perfect simple.
BrE: The bell has just rung. / I've already seen him. / Have you eaten yet?
AmE: The bell just rang. / I already saw him. / Did you eat yet?
● You can use who or that when a word for a group of people like ‘family’ or
‘team’ is
followed by a plural word. When such words are followed by a singular verb, you usually
use which or
that.
A family who/that quarrel among themselves.
A team which/that has won most of its games.
● Rather is fairly formal and used a lot in BrE. It often suggests that something is bad or
unsuitable.
I was driving rather fast.
● Really followed by an adjective or adverb meaning ‘very’ is common in BrE, and often
used in AmE though the latter also uses real in the informal form. Real is not used in BrE
at all.
● The qualificative pretty is not as widely used in BrE as it is in AmE.
● Round . BrE tends to use the word round a lot in the same (or similar) sense than
‘around’ . Both as a preposition and as an adverb.
o Circular movement.
The water moving through the mechanism pushes the wheel round.”
o Surrounding or covering something.
‘Sitting round the table.’
o To mean not using the most direct way towards somewhere.
‘You'll have to go round the roadworks to get there’ .
o Many parts of a place, many people, different places.
‘Please let me show you round.’
‘Would someone hand the drinks round please?’
‘He's travelling round the world for a few years.’
o To solve a situation or problem.
‘There's no other way round it.’
o At about a particular time.
‘It must have been round midnight when I heard the scream.’
o To or in someone’s house.
‘Ilm inviting the neighbours round for a drink.’
o In the opposite direction.
‘When he turned round I recognised him immediately.’
o Round here , in the place, area of a town, etc. where you’re now.
‘Do you live round here?’
o Round and round
‘He stared at the washing machine, watching the clothes go round and
round.’
o All round
‘The garden had a fence all round to keep out the dogs.’
‘It was a beautiful room, with cushions scattered all round.’
● About . BrE often replaces ‘around’ with
about .
Stop fooling about, you two.
My bag must be about here somewhere.
● In both BrE and AmE presently can mean the same as ‘soon’ . But it's a little
old‐fashioned. In AmE and formal BrE it can also be used to mean ‘at the present time’ or
to talk about something that's happening now.
● In BrE
sick more often means ‘to throw up’
. If you’re talking about a general illness,
especially when you don’t say exactly what illness it is, you’d usually use ill
in BrE.
● In BrE
quite can mean both ‘somewhat’ and ‘very’ . There's not much to do other than
use context to understand which is which. But both are applicable when writing.
● BrE is more likely to hyphenate instead of creating compound words. If in doubt,
hyphenate.
Excel document:
The excel document has three tabs. The first tab is ‘Vocabulary’, the second one is ‘Spelling’,
the third one is ‘Idioms’.
Vocabulary:
AmE to BrE: These are not ‘suggestions’, that's what the words mean. The American terms
shouldn't be used, not even as synonyms to avoid repetition. For instance: ‘trainer’ is the
British term for ‘sneaker’. You shouldn't use ‘sneaker’ if you're going for a genuine British fic.
Not even to avoid repetition. Use ‘trainer’ as much as you need to use it. Think of it the
other way around, you're reading a book that's set in America, and it suddenly starts using
American/British terms interchangeably without a specific reason. So, the American terms in
that table are not to be used. If there's more than one meaning for a word, you'll find the
context of the Americanism of it between brackets. For example: ‘stall’
, the verb is universal,
but the noun, (small divide inside a toilet), is an Americanism, the word they'd use in Britain
would be ‘cubicle’.
BrE to AmE: These, on the other hand, are words that are either exclusively Britishisms or
not common elsewhere. It's to help you have more authentic dialogue and setting. For
instance: ‘demolish’ , you could just say ‘Mary ate the whole cake really quickly’ and it
wouldn't be wrong or weird, but if you were to say ‘Mary demolished that cake’ that would
give it a smidge of authenticity. The words there are not exclusive to what the term means,
they're to add depth. Some of the words there, though, are to show you that they have a
completely different meaning than they would have in America, and to watch out. For
example: you could say in America that ‘Peter is sick’
, and that would mean that Peter has
some kind of disease. In Britain that would mean that he's throwing up. Britons would say
‘Peter is ill’
. Some of the terms in this are very common or known in AmE but not the norm,
such as ‘clever’ .
Terms to avoid: They're simply that, terms to avoid. Things that either don't exist or that
have another name in Britain. Take it literally, if the word in it is in the plural form, the
singular form may still be common in Britain. Also, take in consideration that we live in a
globalised world and some of the words may be common in some parts of Britain by now.
Idioms/Sayings/Expressions:
● ‘‐ID.’ ‐‐ Either an idiom, a saying or an expression that's mostly literal to what's
shown. It can either have its counter American part or not.
● If the phrase is between inverted commas, it's an expression that slightly changes in
AmE, and the difference is highlighted.
● All the other ones are phrasal verbs (and similar). Most of them have example
phrases, all of them have a definition. Use this in combination with the first tab to
understand some of the differences.
Spelling:
Keep in mind, with all of that said, that we live in a globalised world, that American media
has been reaching Britain for decades and that some terms may have slipped in. It’s not that
if you use the American terms no British person will understand them, they will, they
understand everything in context. And yes, you may have loads of friends in Britain that
really use the term ‘that thing is a bitch’ to mean that it’s difficult to do. Every individual has
different ways of speaking and some people absorb more than others, this is meant to be a
general guide. Some British people use ‘ass’ instead of ‘arse’, some spell ‘analyze’ instead of
‘analyse’ and I’m sure some of them say ‘charge that to my credit card’ or say ‘backpack’
instead of ‘rucksack’. Please don’t tell me every single time it happens because Great Britain
has a population of over 60 million people and we’d be here all day if we were to nitpick on
every term. If you have an actual correction of something that’s GENERALLY wrong though,
don’t hesitate in contacting me.
LLB Bachelor of Laws
LLD Doctor of Laws
LLM Master of Laws
MA Master of Arts
MSc Master of Science
MB Bachelor of Medicine
MBA Master of Business Administration
MBsc Master of Business Science
MEcon
MEd
MLitt
MPhil Master of Philosophy
abb ‐ Abbreviation
adj ‐ Adjective
adv ‐ Adverb
interj ‐ Interjection
(sb) ‐ Someone
(st) ‐ Something