DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

England and America are two countries
divided by a common language.”
~George Bernard Shaw
1. Grammatical Differences
2. Differences in Spelling
3. Differences in Pronunciation
4. Differences in Vocabulary
GRAMMATICAL DIFFERENCES
 Speakers of American English generally use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less
than speakers of British English. In spoken American English, it is very common to use the simple past
tense as an alternative in situations where the present perfect would usually have been used in British
English. The two situations where this is especially likely are: 
 1. In sentences which talk about an action in the past that has an effect in the present:
 American English (AmE) / British English (BrE)
 Jenny feels ill. She ate too much. (AmE)

 Jenny feels ill. She's eaten too much. (BrE)

 I can't find my keys. Did you see them anywhere? (AmE)

 I can't find my keys. Have you seen them anywhere? (BrE)

 2. In sentences which contain the words already, just or yet:

 American English / British English
 A: Are they going to the show tonight? 

 B: No. They already saw it. (AmE)

 A: Are they going to the show tonight?

 B: No. They've already seen it. (BrE)

 A: Is Samantha here?

 B: No, she just left. (AmE)

 A: Is Samantha here?

 B: No, she's just left. (BrE)

 A: Can I borrow your book?

 B: No, I didn't read it yet. (AmE)

 A: Can I borrow your book?

 B: No, I haven't read it yet. (BrE)

 NOUN PHRASE
SOME DIFFERENCES OF WORD ORDER

AmE BrE

Hudson River River Thames

a half hour half an hour

 USE OF THE ARTICLE

AmE BrE

In the future In future

In the hospital In hospital

DIFFERENCES IN SPELLING
1. Words ending with -re BE words ending with –re often end with –er in AE:

British American
centre Center
metre meter
litre liter
2. Words ending with -our BE words ending with –our usually end with –or in
AE:
Colour Color
humour humor
neighbour neighbor
3. Words ending with –ise or -ize BE verbs that can be spelled with either –ise or –ize at
the end always end with –ize in AE:

Apologize/apologise apologize
organize /organise organize
recognize /recognise recognize

4. Words ending with –yse BE verbs ending with –yse always end with –yze in
AE:
analyse analyze
paralyse paralyze
catalyse catalyze
5. Words ending with ae or oe BE words spelled with the double vowels ae or oe are
spelled with e only in AE:
British American
oestrogen estrogen
paediatric Pediatric
manoeuvre maneuver

6. Words ending with -ence BE nouns ending with –ence sometimes end with –ense in
AE:
defence defense
Offence offense
licence license

7. Words ending with -ogue  BE nouns ending with –ogue end with either –og or –
ogue in AE:
analogue dialogue analog or analogue dialog or
catalogue dialogue catalog or catalogue

8. Words ending with al/el/il/ol/ul BE verbs ending with a vowel +’ l’, double the ‘l’ when
adding endings that begin with a vowel. In AE, the ‘l’ is
not doubled:

travelled traveled
travelling traveling
traveller traveler
fuelled fueled
fuelling fueling