Differences between

British English and

American English

1. Grammatical Differences
2. Differences in Spelling
3. Differences in Pronunciation
4. Lexical Differences

1.Grammatical
Differences

Verb Phrase
AmE

BrE

have

have got

Do you have the time ?

Have you got the time ?

I dont.

I havent.

Conjugation
AmE :

burn

burned

burned

burnt

burnt

BrE :

burn

AmE :

dream dreamed dreamed

BrE :

dream dreamt

dreamt

Tenses
AmE sometimes uses the simple past where
BrE has the present perfect.
AmE

BrE

I just ate

Ive just eaten

will / wont

shall / shant

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

Collective Nouns
AmE prefers collective nouns in the singular
whereas BrE allows also the plural
AmE
The government is.

BrE
The government are

Clausal patterns
sometimes differ
AmE

BrE

Come take a look

Come and take a look

I asked that he go

I asked him to go

were / was
AmE prefers were to was
AmE
I wish she were here.

BrE
I wish she was here.

Adverbials and prepositions

AmE
Ill go momentarily
real good
backward
Its twenty of four
Its in back of the
building

BrE
In a moment
really good
backwards
Its twenty to four
Its behind the building

2.Differences in
Spelling

Spelling
AmE

BrE

center
color
tire
mom, mommy
aluminum

centre
colour
tyre
mum, mummy
aluminium

3.Differences in
Pronunciation

Pronunciation
-

dance, chance
data
tune, duty
bird, floor

4. Lexical
Differences

There are three distinctions:

words that are only found in AmE
words that are only found in BrE
words that are established throughout
the world as part of World Standard
English (WSE)

Words that reflect cultural differences,

and are not part of WSE
AmE
Ivy League
Groundhog Day
Revenue sharing

BrE
A-levels
Giro
VAT

Words that are straightforward,

i.e. they have a single sense and a synonym
in the other variety
AmE
checking account
station wagon

BrE
current account
estate car

One WSE meaning and one or more

additional meaning(s) in AmE or BrE
caravan in both languages:
group of travellers through
the desert
but in the sense of vehicle towed by a car:
AmE
caravan

BrE
trailer

One meaning in WSE and a synonym in one

or the other of the two varieties
both have pharmacy
AmE
drugstore

BrE
chemists

No meaning in WSE
AmE

BrE

flyover

flypast

Effect of frequency
Words which are used in both varieties, but are
much more common in one of them:
AmE
apartment
store
mail

BrE
flat
shop
post

Equivalent lexical items

AmE

BrE

airplane
baggage
cookie

aeroplane
luggage
biscuit

Quiz:
AmE
freedom fries
gasoline
expressway
first floor
subway

BrE
chips
petrol
motorway
ground floor
underground

Quiz:
BrE
holiday
racecourse
driving license
prawn cocktail
jumper

AmE
vacation
racetrack
drivers license
shrimp cocktail
sweater, pullover

Informal word
(wanna, gotta,dunno, wannabee,gonna)
Wanna: Want to
Wanna can be used with all persons singular and plural,
except third person singular. This is because wanna scans
with I want to, you want to, we want to, they want to,
but not with he/she wants to where the final s is too
intrusive:
What you wanna do now? (Instead of: What do you want
to do now?)
I wanna go home. My mum and dad are waiting for me
and they wanna go out.
You'll never give up gambling. I'm sure of that. ~ You
wanna bet?
(which means: Do you want to place a bet on that?)

 Gonna: Going to
Gonna to express the going to form of the future
is used with first second and third person singular
and plural.
What we gonna do now? (= What are we going to
do now?)
Don't know about you two. I'm gonna put my feet
up and take a break.
We're gonna carry on and try and get there before
dark.

 Dunno:
Dunno, meaning I don't know is characteristic of
very informal speech in British English. Note that
the word stress in this expression is on the
second syllable, whereas
with gonna,gotta and wanna it is on the first
syllable.
Are you going to college when you leave school?
~Dunno!
Will you quit your job if they re-locate to
Manchester?
~ I dunno

 Gotta: have got to

Gotta is used in a similar way to gonna and wanna,
in this case to show the conversational pronunciation
of have got to, or as informal alternatives to have
to or must. It is not so much used in the
interrogative:
Don't go out there tonight. It's really dangerous.
~ A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do
I gotta / I've gotta phone home right now. My mum'll
be worried.
You gotta / You've gotta get changed right away.
The match starts in five minutes.

Wannabee:
a wannabee
This term derives originally from the US, but is now
used extensively in British
English. A wannabee (literally a want-to-be) is
someone who is trying to copy somebody else.
Usually the person they are trying to copy is
somebody famous.
Scores of Britney Spears wannabees raided the
shops where she had bought her latest outfit.