How are British and American English different?

Many countries speak English in 2021. The language has imbibed the local flavours and quirks of the various nations that they are spoken in. This has given birth to myriad hybrids of the English language. The two main demarcations of the language are British and American English.

British English

American English

British English is centuries older than American English.

The British arrived at the New World in 1607 CE. Their foremost permanent residential colony was at Jamestown.

 

British like to retain more letters than Americans do while spelling words. ‘Colour’, ‘aeroplane’, ‘programme’, ‘behaviour’ and ‘humour’ are British spellings.

Americans omit letters while spelling certain words. ‘Color’, ‘airplane’, ‘program’, ‘behavior’ and ‘humor’ are American spellings.

 

These are some British English spellings: ‘tyre’, ‘grey’, ‘analyse’, ‘theatre’, ‘centre’.

Americans have reversed letters or used new ones to spell the same words: ‘tire’, ‘gray’, ‘analyze, ‘theater’, ‘center’.

‘R’ is generally silent in British English.

‘R’ is generally strongly pronounced in American English.

The stress is often on different syllables from American English.

The stress is often on different syllables from British English.

Prepositions are used differently from American English in certain cases. (a) I talked to Radha. (b) Monday to Friday (c) At the weekend (d) I haven’t seen him for months.

Prepositions are used differently from British English in certain cases. (a) I talked with Radha. (b) Monday through Friday (c) On the weekend (d) I haven’t seen him in months.

The tense forms may sometimes differ from American English. (dive, dived, dived) (spill, spilt, spilt)

The tense forms may sometimes differ from British English. (dive, dove, dived) (spill, spilled, spilled)

The vocabulary may differ from American English. Britishers may use ‘high street’, ‘flat’, ‘lift’, ‘university’, ‘trousers’, ‘holiday’, ‘shop’, ‘football’, ‘chemist’,   ‘jumper’, ‘post box’, ‘biscuit’ etc.

The vocabulary may differ from British English. Americans may use ‘main street’, ‘apartment’, ‘elevator’, ‘college’, ‘pants’, ‘vacation’, ‘store’, ‘soccer’, ‘drugstore’, ‘sweater’, ‘mailbox’, ‘cookie’ etc.

 

Some words may differ in meaning and context from American English. ‘First floor’ means the floor right above the ground floor. ‘Subway’ means the path underneath a railway or road. Chips refer to long pieces of fried potato served piping hot as a side dish.

Some words may differ in meaning and context from British English. ‘First floor’ means the floor closest to ground level. ‘Subway’ means underground railway. Chips refer to slender pieces of fried potato served cold as a snack.

The British currency is the pound sterling. They don’t have colloquial synonyms for it. A Britisher may use terms like ‘one pound eighty’ and ‘four pounds fifty’.

In the USA, dollars are also called bucks. Americans may use terms like ‘a dollar eighty’ and ‘four dollars and eighty cents’.

British English uses that DD/MM/YY format to write dates. You may use both dots and slashes while writing them. In British English, you write 25 October 2021, 25.10.2021, or 25/10/2021.

American English uses that MM/DD/YY format to write dates. You may use slashes while writing them (e.g. 10/25/2021). In American English, you write October 25, 2021.

A Londoner may say that she has breakfast at 8.00  and comes back home from work at 19.30.

Americans prefer to use the terms ‘AM’, ‘PM’ and ‘:’ when referring to the time. A New Yorker may say that she has breakfast at 8:00 AM and comes back home from work at 7:30 PM.

 

Read more on:

 

https://www.britishcouncilfoundation.id/en/english/articles/british-and-american-english#:~:text=Aside%20from%20spelling%20and%20vocabulary,e.g.%20The%20band%20is%20playing).&text=%27Needn%27t%27%2C%20which,all%20used%20in%20American%20English.

 

https://www.lexika-translations.com/blog/differences-between-the-british-and-american-english/

 

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/six-difference-between-britsh-and-american-english/3063743.html

 

#British, #American, #language, #philology, #NewYork, #London, #date, #time, #money, #AM, #PM, #spelling, #grammar, #syntax, #pronunciation, #prepositions, #tenses, #vocabulary, #USA, #Britain

https://pixabay.com/photos/new-york-city-architecture-urban-5111206/: This is old picture of New York city: Image by Armando Muciño from Pixabay 

 

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