Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 43 views

    British or American English

    Uploaded by

    maria serbanica
    There are differences between British and American English vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Some key differences are: - Vocabulary: Words like pavement (GB) vs sidewalk (US), lift vs elevator, and rubbish vs garbage. - Grammar: Uses of yet, at the weekend vs on the weekend, and was vs were in subjunctive sentences. - Punctuation: Placement of the final comma in a list differs. - Spelling: Variations in words ending in -our/-or, -re/-er, -ice/-ise, doubling l, and words like cheque vs check and programme vs program. - Dates: Day-month-year format

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    British or American English

    Uploaded by

    maria serbanica
    43 views2 pages
    There are differences between British and American English vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Some key differences are: - Vocabulary: Words like pavement (GB) vs sidewalk (US), lift vs elevator, and rubbish vs garbage. - Grammar: Uses of yet, at the weekend vs on the weekend, and was vs were in subjunctive sentences. - Punctuation: Placement of the final comma in a list differs. - Spelling: Variations in words ending in -our/-or, -re/-er, -ice/-ise, doubling l, and words like cheque vs check and programme vs program. - Dates: Day-month-year format

    Original Description:

    British or American English

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    There are differences between British and American English vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Some key differences are: - Vocabulary: Words like pavement (GB) vs sidewalk (US), lift vs elevator, and rubbish vs garbage. - Grammar: Uses of yet, at the weekend vs on the weekend, and was vs were in subjunctive sentences. - Punctuation: Placement of the final comma in a list differs. - Spelling: Variations in words ending in -our/-or, -re/-er, -ice/-ise, doubling l, and words like cheque vs check and programme vs program. - Dates: Day-month-year format

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    43 views2 pages

    British or American English

    Uploaded by

    maria serbanica
    There are differences between British and American English vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Some key differences are: - Vocabulary: Words like pavement (GB) vs sidewalk (US), lift vs elevator, and rubbish vs garbage. - Grammar: Uses of yet, at the weekend vs on the weekend, and was vs were in subjunctive sentences. - Punctuation: Placement of the final comma in a list differs. - Spelling: Variations in words ending in -our/-or, -re/-er, -ice/-ise, doubling l, and words like cheque vs check and programme vs program. - Dates: Day-month-year format

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    British or American English?

    There are many differences between British and American English. Generally, it doesn't matter
    which variety of English you speak or write, and most native English speakers will understand
    you – whichever type of English you use.

    Here are some of the biggest differences between British and American English.

    Vocabulary
    Some common vocabulary differences are:
    pavement (GB) – sidewalk (US)
    lift (GB) – elevator (US)
    lorry (GB) – truck (US)
    rubbish (GB) – garbage / trash (US)
    holiday (GB) – vacation (US)
    return ticket (GB) – round trip (US)

    Check in a dictionary to see if a word is particulary Britishh or American English. A good


    dictionary should also give you the American or British equivalent.

    Grammar
    1. British speakers use "yet" with the present perfect tense, while American speakers tend to use
    the Past Simple:
    Have you eaten dinner yet? (GB)
    Did you eat dinner yet? (US)

    2. "at the weekend" (GB) but "on the weekend" (US)

    3. British speakers will often use "was" in subjunctive sentences, while Americans prefer "were"
    as in:
    "If I was you, I'd…" (GB) and "If I were you, I'd…" (US)

    Punctuation
    In British English, the final comma before "and" (in a list) is omitted, but not in American
    English.
    She bought cereal, coffee, sugar and tea. (GB)
    She bought cereal, coffee, sugar, and tea. (US)

    Spelling
    1. –or and –our
    British English tends to use -our in adjectives,whereas American English uses -or:
    For example: colour (GB) and color (US); neighbour (GB) and neighbor (US)

    2. –er and –re


    Some noun endings are -re in British English, but -er in American English:
    For example: centre (GB) and center (US)
    3. – ice and –ise
    Some words have -ice ending for the noun and -ise ending for the verb in British English. For
    example: practice (noun) and to practise (verb). However, in American English both noun and
    verb are spelled practice.

    4. –l and –ll
    In British English, when a word ends in a single consonant, it is doubled when we add a suffix
    beginning with a vowel: For example: traveller; levelled
    However, in American English the 'l' is not doubled: For example: traveler, leveled

    5. Other common words


    British English and American English have different spellings for certain words:
    For example: cheque (GB) – check (US); programme (GB) – program (US)

    Writing dates
    In British English we follow the day – month – year format, although this is month – day – year
    format in American English.
    1/7/2010 is July Ist in British English, but January 7th in American English.

    You might also like