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1. BRITISH
ENGLISH
VS
AMERICAN
ENGLISH

2. ● The English language was first introduced to the Americas by British
colonization, beginning in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Similarly, the language spread to numerous other parts of the world as
a result of British trade and colonisation elsewhere and the spread of
the former British Empire, which, by 1921, held sway over a population
of 470–570 million people, approximately a quarter of the world's
population at that time.
● Over the past 400 years, the form of the language used in the
Americas especially in the United State and that used in the United
Kingdom have diverged in a few minor ways, leading to the versions
now occasionally referred to as American English and British English.

3. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AMERICAN
AND BRITISH ENGLISH INCLUDE:
● grammar
● vocabulary
● spelling
● punctuation
● formatting of dates and numbers
● idioms

4. GRAMMAR:
Americans use the present perfect tense less than speakers of British English
and a British teacher might mark wrong some things that an American teacher
would say are correct.
● Did you do your homework yet? (US)
● Have you done your homework yet? (Brit.)
● I already ate. (US)
● I’ve already eaten. (Brit.)
In British English, ‘have got’ is often used for the possessive sense of ‘have’ and
‘have got to’ is informally used for ‘have to’. This is much less common in
American English.
● I’ve got two sisters. (Brit.)
● I have two sisters. (US)
● I’ve got to go now. (Brit.)
● I have to go now. (US)
There are a number of other minor grammatical differences.

5. VOCABULARY:
There are a lot of examples of different words being used in British and American English.
Here are a few of the commonest:
● Angry (Brit.) = mad (US)
● Autumn = fall
● Boot (of a car) = trunk
● Chemist’s = drug store
● Cupboard = closet
● Flat = apartment
● Lift = elevator
● Nappy = diaper
● Pavement = sidewalk
● Petrol = gas/gasoline
● Rubbish = trash
● Tap = faucet
● Trousers = pants
There are British words which many Americans will not understand and contrary. There are
also words which exist in both British and American English but have very different
meanings.

6. SPELLING:
There are also a number of different spelling rules between British English and American English.
a) Some words that end in ‘-tre’ in British English end in ‘-ter’ in American English.
● theater, center (US)
● theatre, centre (Brit.)
b) Some words that end in ‘-our’ in British English end in ‘-or’ in American English.
● color, labor (US)
● colour, labour (Brit.)
c) Some words are shorter in American English than in British English.
● catalog, program (US)
● catalogue, programme (Brit.)
There are other minor spelling differences between British and American English.

7. PUNCTUATION:
● Titles:
In American English, Mr., Ms., and Mrs. all have periods. In British, however, no
periods are used.
● Quotes:
British style uses single quotation marks for initial quotations, and then double
quotes when there is a quotation inside the quotation. The British also put
punctuation that is not part of the quotation outside the quotation marks.
Americans do the opposite on both counts.
● For example:
o British style: ‘I love lyrics that tell stories’, said the songwriter, ‘like in
John’s song where he says that he “put on his blue suede shoes and
boarded the plane.”’
o American style: “I love lyrics that tell stories,” said the songwriter, “like in
John’s song where he says that he ‘put on his blue suede shoes and
boarded the plane.’”
Don’t worry, in most other matters of style, the Americans and British tend to
agree. Luckily, the above style choices are exceptions rather than the rule.

8. FORMATTING OF DATES AND NUMBERS:
● Dates:
When writing a date, Americans put month, day and year in that order. So,
December 25, 2015 would be 12/25/2015. The British (and most of the rest of
the world’s) practice is to list the day, month, then year. So, the same date
would be 25/12/2015.To avoid confusion, writing out the month is probably your
best tactic.
● Time:
When denoting time, the British system uses periods—noon would be 12.00—
while the American system uses colons (12:00).

9. CHECK YOUR ANSWERS: