AMERICAN ENGLISH
that spoken in Great Britain.
American English has been evolving ever since
North America itself was founded. Through its
various twists and turns and unexpected
evolutions, English has become the language
we now know and love. Here’s an in-depth
look at the language’s every iteration, from the
year 1600 up through the present day.
Noah Webster- (A teacher and Author) is
one of the main contributors to American
English.
➢ He wrote three important volumes
which made up the book ‘A
Grammatical Institute of the English
Language’. One such volume was
‘American Speller’ which was designed
to create accuracy and uniformity of
pronunciation in schools.  New England, and due west), Southern
➢ in 1806, Webster’s first dictionary was
published, and in 1828 he published his
‘American Dictionary of the English
Language’.
➢ Webster had a huge influence on
American English: he introduced the
s p e l l i n g s o f  c o l o r  ( c o l o u r )
and  fiber  (fibre) and he also got rid of
the English pronunciation of
‘forehead’ (with its silent ‘h’) and
suggested its current pronunciation.
17th century-American English was
subdued in its enthusiasm, too; dramas and
other forms of fiction were eschewed in
favor of more utilitarian (and often more
spiritual) texts.
18th century- North American English
began to grow independent from its
English predecessor.
➢ spurred on by thought leaders like Ben
Franklin, whose Poor Richard’s Almanac
was filled with “prudent and witty
aphorisms” attributed to his pseudonym,
an undereducated but wise farmer
named Richard Saunders, English slowly
shifted towards a more playful
approach. Fellow publisher Thomas
Paine and others also adopted a more
commonsensical writing style.
By 1790-when the United States took its first
census, there were four million Americans,
90% of whom were descendants of English
colonists. This, of course, left no question
that our official native language would be
“English,” but it would not be the same as
By around 1720- Americans had begun to
notice that their evolving dialect was
different from the ol’ mother tongue.
➢ The Scots and the Irish began to arrive in
the United States, bringing new dialects
and a distinctive accent. Swedish,
Spanish, Dutch, and French speakers
also began to arrive during the colonial
era, helping shape new dialect areas
throughout the colonies.
By the 1800’s- there were three distinct
dialect areas with different pronunciations,
but similar vocabulary: Northern (New York,
(Virginia to Georgia, out to Louisiana and
due west), and Midland (Pennsylvania and
the lower Midwest).
➢ This evolution was primarily an
intentional one, pushed along by
people like Franklin, Paine, and other
patriots. As Noah Webster would
explain roughly 60 years later: “The
reasons for American English being
different than English are simple […
as] an independent nation, our
honor requires us to have a system of
our own, in language as well as
government.”
Americanisms - new words and phrases
created throughout the centuries. signified
the split from our English forefathers.
As early as 1735- the English began to refer
to American English, and our
“Americanisms”, as barbaric, sneering and
laughing at the hundreds of new American
terms being used.
American English- also gladly adopted
words from other languages, among them
more than a few (like  moose, raccoon,
and opossum) from different Native
American tongues. Words were borrowed
from the languages of Spanish, French,
and German immigrants, too: armada
from the Spanish,  chocolate  from the
French,  dollar  and  ouch!  from the
Germans.
By 1756-the differences between
American and British English were
pronounced enough that Samuel
Johnson’s  Dictionary of the English
Language  was able to single out and
criticize what Johnson called “the
American dialect.”
The English thought we were particularly
barbaric as the pronunciations of words
changed:
▪ Bhar – instead of “bear.”
▪ Knowed – instead of “knew.”
▪ Lay – instead of “lie.”

▪ Missionary – instead of “mission’ry.”

But, most atrocious to the English was the

19th century- Deeply enriched by the heavy use of contractions such as ain’t,
earlier works of Mark Twain, saw American can’t, don’t, and couldn’t.
Literature and American grammar enter a
sort of golden age. 
SPELLING DIFFERNCES:
➢ But the 19th century also saw English
grammar rise to its most refined levels British and American English have some
yet, both in terms of its grammatical spelling differences. The common ones are
standards and its perceived presented in the table below.
importance.
British English American English
➢ The 19th century witnessed the creation
of thousands of new words, too, many -oe-/-ae- (e.g. -e- (e.g. anemia,
of them related to science and anaemia, diarrhoea, diarrhea,
medicine. encyclopaedia) encyclopedia)
-t (e.g. burnt, dreamt, -ed (e.g. burned,
leapt) dreamed, leaped)
Early examples of words that had become
obsolete in England that continued to be -ence (e.g. defence, -ense (defense,
offence, licence) offense, license)
used in the United States were
-ell- (e.g. cancelled, -el- (e.g. canceled,
▪ allow, guess, reckon, meaning to think.
jeweller, marvellous) jeweler, marvelous)
▪ bureau, meaning a chest of drawers.
-ise (e.g. appetiser, -ize (e.g. appetizer,
▪ fall, meaning “autumn.” familiarise, organise) familiarize, organize)

▪ gotten, where “got” was being used as -l- (e.g. enrol, fulfil, -ll- (e.g. enroll, fulfill,
the past participle of “get.” skilful) skillfull)

▪ wilt -ogue (e.g. -og (e.g. analog,

analogue, monolog, catalog)
monologue,
catalogue) *Note that American
Other words that were simply “created” English also
included such terms as “groundhog,” an recognizes words
animal that didn’t exist in England; spelled with –ogue
“lightning rod” for whiskey; “belittle,”
coined by Thomas Jefferson in 1787; -ou (e.g. colour, -o (e.g. color,
behaviour, mould) behavior, mold)
“bamboozle,” meaning to swindle, and
hundreds of others. -re (e.g. metre, fibre, -er (e.g. meter, fiber,
centre) center)

Of other terms, the meaning was changed,

such as:
Vocabulary differences
▪ Bluff – Instead of using the British river
The Americans and the British also have
“bank,” bluff began to be used in the
some words that differ from each other. The
South in the late 17th century and was
table below lists some of the everyday
the first word that was “officially”
objects that have different names,
attacked as being a “barbarous”
depending on what form of English you are
American term.
using.
▪ Fork – Though it continued to be used as
a term for an eating utensil, Americans British English American English
began to also use the term to mean a
trousers pants
branch of a road or a river.
flat apartment
▪ Help – Americans began to refer to
servants as help beginning around 1630.
 bonnet (the front of hood
the car)
boot (the back of trunk
the car)
lorry truck
university college
holiday vacation

American English- collective nouns are

considered singular (e.g. The band is
playing). In contrast, collective nouns can
be either singular or plural in British English,
although the plural form is most often used
(e.g. The band are playing).