Differences between British English and American English

There are quite a few noticeable differences between the British English dialect and the evolved dialect of American English.
These are the ones we will cover:
Spelling
Pronunciation {sounds}
Pronunciation {accent}
Grammar
Vocabulary

AMERICAN – “-or” BRITISH – “-our” Color Colour Honor Honour Favorite favourite AMERICAN – “-ll” BRITISH – “-l” Enrollment Enrolment Fulfill Fulfil Skillful skilful AMERICAN – “-ze” BRITISH – “-se” Analyze Analyse Criticize Criticise Memorize Memorise

AMERICAN – “-er” BRITISH – “-re” Center Centre Meter Metre Theater theatre AMERICAN – “-og” BRITISH – “-ogue” Analog Analogue Catalog Catalogue Dialog Dialogue AMERICAN – “-ck” or “-k” BRITISH – “-que” Bank Banque Check Cheque

AMERICAN – “-e” BRITISH – “-ae” or “-oe” Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Maneuver Manoeuvre Medieval Mediaeval AMERICAN – “-dg” “-g” “-gu” BRITISH – “-dge” “-ge” “-gue” Aging Ageing Argument Arguement Judgment Judgement AMERICAN – “-ense” BRITISH – “-ence” License Licence Defense Defence

Other word-specific differences -- AMERICAN BRITISH Jewelry Jewellry Draft Draught Pajamas Pyjamas Plow Plough Program Programme Tire Tyre

Base words that end in L normally double the L in British English when a suffix is added. The letter can double in American as well – but ONLY IF the stress is on the second syllable of the base word. BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Counsel Counseling Counselling Equal Equaled Equalled Model Modeling Modelling Quarrel Quarreling Quarrelling Signal Signaled Signalled Travel Traveling Travelling BASE WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Excel Excelling Excelling Propel Propelling Propelling

WORD AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION BRITISH PRONUNCIATION Teacher Father Letter Water Aunt Tomato

There are also other words borrowed from French that feature stress differences.
American first-syllable; British last-syllable:
Mus tache Mus tache
Ci garette Ciga rette

The next 2 videos show a teacher saying the same text first with the American accent and then with the British accent

American accent

British accent

NOUNS
In British English, collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms, depending on whether the emphasis is on the body or the members within it.
i.e.“A committee was appointed.”
“ The committee were unable
to agree.”
VERBS
morphology
American -- "-ed"
British -- "-t"
i.e. learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt
British English rarely use “gotten;” instead, “got”
is much more common.
Past participles often vary:
i.e. saw – American: sawed; British: sawn
tenses
British English employs the present perfect to talk about a recent event {i.e. “I’ve already eaten,” “I’ve just arrived home.”}
auxiliaries
British English often uses “shall” and “shan’t”
American English uses “will” and “won’t”

American
& British
English
sometimes
have
different
words for
the same
things --
AMERICAN BRITISH Apartment Flat Argument Row Carriage/coach Pram Bathroom Loo Can Tin Cookie Biscuit Diaper Nappy Elevator Lift Eraser Rubber Flashlight Torch Fries Chips Gas Petrol Guy Bloke/chap

AMERICAN BRITISH Highway Motorway Hood {of a car} Bonnet Jelly Jam Kerosene Paraffin Lawyer Solicitor Line Queue Mail Post Napkin Serviette Nothing Nought Period Full stop Potato chips crisps AMERICAN BRITISH Truck Lorry Trunk Boot Vacation Holiday Windshield Windscreen License Plate Number Plate Pacifier Dummy Parking lot Car park Pharmacist Chemist Sidewalk Pavement Soccer Football Trash can Bin

American and British English speakers often use the same words but intend very different meaning with them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_British_and_American_English {for more examples!} WORD AMERICAN BRITISH Biscuit Dinner roll Cookie Brew Beer Tea Bureau Chest of drawers Writing table/desk Casket Coffin Jewelry Box First Floor Ground Floor “ Second” Floor To hire To employ To rent

Intemann, Dr. F. “Teaching English Grammar and Lexis.”
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~intemann/BA/grammar-lexis/bara-ristau-schubert.pdf
Jones, Susan. “List of American vs. British Spelling.”
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/jones/spelling.htm
Wallechinsky, David & Irving Wallace. “Trivia on History of Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Part 1.”
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/history-of-merriam-webster-dictionary-part-1.htm
Wikipedia. “British English.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English
Wikipedia. “American and British English Differences.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences

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Differences between British English and American English

by Francisco Moreno on Feb 26, 2009

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Differences between British English and American English — Presentation Transcript