American English Did you have breakfast yet? Most of the differences between British and American English are in vocabulary, particularly to do with cars, travel and clothes, but there are also a few small differences in grammar. BRITISH AMERICAN Have you done it yet? tense Did you do it yet? ‘They've already ieft. ‘They already lef “Have you got enough? have gothhave ‘Do you have enough? Tve got very fat. get Tve gotten very fat. Don't forget to write to me Don't forget to write me. ‘We'll meet the clients tomorrow. prepositions We'll meot with the clients tomorrow. Did you stay at home Sunday? Did you stay home on Sunday? I's ten past four already. It’s ten after four already. Tf she'd done it we'd have been happy. | conditional | Ifshe would have done it, we'd have been happy.” “Heard commonly in speech, but regarded as incorrect standard changes from British English. t by many Americans. Another difference is in spelling — American spelling is simpler on the whole and there are some BRITISH AMERICAN ‘words ending in re theatre, litre, centre) ‘words ending in -our (colour, favour, harbour) ‘nouns ending with -ce (offence, defence) verbs ending with -se (practise) verbs ending with -ise (realise, modernise) words ending in -er (theater, liter, center) ‘words ending in -or (color, favor, harbor) ‘nouns ending with -8e (offense, defense) verbs ending with -ce (practice) verbs ending with -ize (realize, modernize) Exercise ‘The following dialogue is written in American English. Find the differences as noted in the tables above and then write the British equivalent of the words/phrases in the numbered spaces opposite. Tara Jenny Hi, Jenny! I didn’t see you at the party Saturday night. Did you stay home? (1) on Saturday night ___ @ ———— @ wo No, I didn't, Tara. I went to the theater in London and ‘met with some friends after the show. ‘That's too bad. If you'd have come you'd have seen Jack and his new girlfriend. 6 © o I didn’t realize Jack had a new girlfriend. Did he finish with Susie already? T guess so. Apparently he wrote her a few days ago and she's none too happy. ® @ ao) Poor Susie. She hasn’t gotten over her last boyfriend yet. Do you have her phone number? I'l eall her. ‘Yes, but welll be seeing her at the leisure conter this ‘afternoon to practice for our tennis match. Did you forget? an aa) as) aay ‘Oh yes, Ill meet you at a quarter after three. ‘Bye. oon qed rmenb py guoro80p N06 aNeH ET ‘uaq 0 ain g ‘poystuy Sprosqe oy SEH 2 ‘OBOE 9 ‘osroed BE {910009 TT ‘308 nok axe OT S308-4usey 94g 6 fou Prnot jy g ‘epuoLy owos wom y ‘onweNA g TOUIOY Ie g ‘SUAMSNY ‘Ady an Ane Suan: vannd GrammaWarkahtsPhtcpy Masters © Prete Hal International (UR) LA 195A eight reserved