DIFFERENCES BETWEEN

AMERICAN AND BRITISH

ENGLISH
Many Americans who love tea would turn up their
noses at the idea of adding milk to it.
Brits, on the other hand, are known for lacing their tea
with milk.
Though tea and milk are considered more of a staple in
Great Britain and just an occasional preference in the
United States, everyone can recognize the customs for
what they are.

The language that Americans and Brits share is a bit

like that—spoken differently in the two locations, but
understandable by both groups of speakers.
Early British American settlers interacted with Native
Americans—as well as with immigrants from other
countries—and they had to learn and use new words.

Meanwhile, words came and went out of fashion in

Great Britain, leaving their American counterparts none
the wiser.

Fast-forward four hundred years and the two dialects

are bound to have quite a few differences.
1. British expressions missing
from American English
Americans may like their s’mores and their grits, but they may not like the
Great Britain breakfast staple black pudding (a sausage containing pork,
pig’s blood, and suet). On the other hand, they may better enjoy eating
pasties (pies filled with meat).

Phrases are especially difficult to translate from British English to American

English because many of them have been created from the evolving British
culture. The phrase “at sixes and sevens” originally referenced the order of
the companies in the London Livery Company, but has become a common
idiom meaning “muddled” (in a state of bewildering confusion or disorder).
1. British expressions missing
from American English
 I haven’t seen that in donkey's years.
“Donkey’s years” translates to “a really long time,” mainly because
“donkey’s ears” kind of sounded like “donkey’s years” and became a
rhyming slang term.

 Bits and bobs

Headed to the grocery store for a few items? The commonly known US
phrase “odds and ends” comes in handy during a quick trip, but this idiom
has a British brother: bits and bobs. Derived from the words bit (coin) and
bob (shilling), bits and bobs can also be used in place of “bits and pieces.”
1. British expressions missing
from American English
 Let’s have a chinwag.
Though fairly self-explanatory, having a “chinwag” (sometimes "chin-wag")
means that you’re having a chat with someone, usually associated with
gossip. Just imagine a chin wagging up and down, and you’ll get the idea.

 You’ve thrown a spanner in the works.

When you put or throw a spanner in the works, it means you’ve ruined a
plan. A spanner is the word for a wrench in England, so it’s the British
equivalent of “throwing a wrench in the plan.”
2. Vocabulary differences
Some words exist in both American English and British English, but they
mean different things. You wouldn’t want to mix up an American geezer
(meaning an elderly person) with a British geezer (a person of any age, typically
male, who might be one’s friend or a person one thinks is “cool”). Similarly, you
would not want to call an American house homely (meaning plain or ugly) if
you mean the British version of the word (cozy, comfortable).

Depending on where you are, you’ll also want to make sure you’re referring
to the correct football. Across Europe, and throughout most of the world,
football refers to the sport with the black-and-white ball kicked across a
field (Americans call this soccer). In the United States, however, football is an
entirely different sport, played by throwing an oval-shaped ball that has
laces.
2. Vocabulary differences
2. Vocabulary differences
2. Vocabulary differences
British English American English British English American English
Trousers Pants Staff Faculty
Pants Underwear Maize Corn
Holiday Vacation Porridge Oatmeal
Jumper Sweater Curtains Drapes
Post Mail Flat Apartment
Chips Fries Biscuits Cookie
Crisps Chips To fancy To like
Aubergine Eggplant Knackered Tired
Banger Sausage Dummy Pacifier
2. Vocabulary differences
Standard word American Colloquialism British Colloquialism
mouth piehole cakehole
house crib gaff
friend homie mate, fam
tired beat knackered, shattered
excited hyped, amped buzzing

share the bill (BrE)

share the check (AmE) go Dutch split the bill
police officer cop copper, bobby
angry pissed pissed off
pleased stoked chuffed
drunk wasted, trashed hammered, battered
3. Spelling

One man is responsible for many of the spelling differences that exist
between American and British English. His name was Noah Webster. Yes,
the same Webster of Webster’s Dictionary. In the early nineteenth century,
Webster saw the extra letters in British English words and decided that they
were superfluous; he published a dictionary accordingly.

British English, however, is less revised.

This means that words like “color” and “favorite” in American English are
spelled “colour” and “favourite” in other parts of the world, like Great
Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, because they entered the
English language through the word’s original French roots and did not get
revised spelling in early American history.
3. Spelling
Some additional spelling differences include American English’s tendency
to end words with -ize rather than the British -ise. The -er ending of words
like theater and center is reversed in British English (theatre and centre,
respectively). Other words are almost unrecognizable as cognates, such as
curb and kerb.
British English American English
Manoeuvre Maneuver
Fuelling Fueling
Neighbour Neighbor
Centre Center 
Jewellery Jewelry
Towards Toward
Cancelled Canceled
Aluminium Aluminum 
Mum Mom
Carburettor Carburetor
3. Spelling
3. Spelling
4. Grammar
A. Present perfect and past simple
In British English, people use the present perfect to speak about a past
action that they consider relevant to the present.

The present perfect can be used in the same way in American English, but
people often use the past simple when they consider the action finished.
This is especially common with the adverbs already, just and yet.

British English American English

He isn't hungry. He has already had

lunch. He isn't hungry. He already had lunch.
- Have you done your homework - Did you do your homework yet?
yet? - Yes, I just finished it.
- Yes, I've just finished it.
4. Grammar
B. got and gotten
In British English, the past participle of the verb get is got.
In American English, people say gotten.
** Note that have got is commonly used in both British and American
English to speak about possession or necessity. have gotten is not correct
here.

British English American English

You could have gotten hurt!

You could have got hurt!
He's gotten very thin.
He's got very thin.
She has gotten serious about her career.
She has got serious about her career.
BUT:
BUT:
Have you got any money? (NOT Have you
Have you got any money?
gotten ...)
We've got to go now.
We've got to go now. (NOT We've gotten to ...)
4. Grammar
C. Verb forms with collective nouns
In British English, a singular or plural verb can be used with a noun that
refers to a group of people or things (a collective noun). We use a plural
verb when we think of the group as individuals or a singular verb when we
think of the group as a single unit.
In American English, a singular verb is used with collective nouns.
** Note that police is always followed by a plural verb.

British English American English

My family are visiting from Pakistan. My family is visiting from Pakistan.

My team are winning the match. My team is winning the match.
The crew are on the way to the airport. The crew is on the way to the airport.
The police are investigating the crime. The police is investigating the crime.
4. Grammar
D. have and take
In British English, the verbs have and take are commonly used with nouns
like bath, shower, wash to speak about washing and with nouns like break,
holiday, rest to speak about resting.

In American English, only the verb take (and not the verb have) is used this
way.

British English American English

I'm going to have/take a shower. I'm going to take a shower.

Let's have/take a break. Let's take a break.
4. Grammar
E. shall
In British English, people often use Shall I ...? to offer to do something
and/or Shall we ...? to make a suggestion.

It is very unusual for speakers of American English to use shall. They

normally use an alternative like Should/Can I ...? or Do you want/Would you
like ...? or How about ...? instead.

British English American English

It's hot in here. Shall I open the window? It's hot in here. Can I open the window?
Shall we meet in the café at 5? Do you want to meet in the café at 5?
Shall we try that again? How about we try that again?
4. Grammar
F. prepositions
Prepositions are short words which serve to indicate relations between words in a
sentence including relationships of a part to the whole (e.g. the antenna of the TV-
set, a page of a book), location (e.g. in/under/on/above the table), a manner of doing
something (e.g. with a hammer, without oil, by bus, on foot), time (e.g. at 5, in the
morning, till nigh, from Monday to Friday).
4. Grammar
F. prepositions
BrE AmE*
to cater for smb** to cater smb
to write to smb to write smb
to play in a team to play on a team
to enrol on a course to enroll in a course
at the weekend on/during/over the weekend
to chat/speak/talk to to chat/speak/talk with/to
different from/to different from/than
opportunity to do/of doing smth opportunity to do smth

to call/ring on (123)-123-1234 to call at (123)-123-1234

to fill in a form to fill out a form (BUT: to fill in a blank)

rained off (cancelled due to rain) rained out

from Sunday/Monday/etc. starting on Sunday/Monday/etc.

4. Grammar
4. Grammar
Simple past Simple past Past participle Past participle
Infinitive (Br) (Am) (Br) (Am)
burned/ burned/ burned/ burned/
burn burnt burnt burnt burnt
bust bust busted bust busted
dove/
dive dived dived dived dived
dreamed/ dreamed/ dreamed/ dreamed/
dream dreamt dreamt dreamt dreamt
get got got got gotten
leaned/ leaned/
lean leant leaned leant leaned
learned/ learned/
learn learnt learned learnt learned
4. Grammar
pleaded/ pleaded/
plead pleaded pled pleaded Pled
proved/
prove proved proved proved proven
sawn/
saw sawed sawed sawn sawed
smelled/ smelled/
smell smelt smelled smelt smelled
spilled/ spilled/
spill spilt spilled spilt spilled
spoiled/ spoiled/ spoiled/ spoiled/
spoil spoilt spoilt spoilt spoilt
stank/
stink stank stunk stunk stunk
woke/
wake woke waked woken woken
5. Punctuation

Another important grammatical distinction is the use of punctuation

between American and British English. If an American were to pick up a
book in a London bookstore, they may be surprised by the inverted use of
quotation marks. In the United States, double quotation marks are used for
initial quotations, and single quotation marks are used when there is a
quote inside of a quote. In Great Britain, however, the exact opposite is true.

Then there’s the Oxford comma—also known as the serial comma. This
little mark can spark quite the controversy, though it isn’t necessarily
required in either American or British English. Americans, however, tend to
be more liberal with it, while Brits use it only if a sentence would be unclear
without it.
5. Punctuation
There are even more differences in how American and Brits punctuate: Brits
place commas and periods outside of quotation marks while Americans
place them inside. And, British English does not add a period to
abbreviations that Americans would write as “Mr., Dr., and Mrs.”

more examples
6. Formatting
Dates:

Another example is how Americans and Brits format dates. One simple
difference—which may cause someone to be late to an international
meeting—is the way dates are written. Americans write dates as month-day-
year. So, April 6, 2021 would be 4/6/2021. In Great Britain, they write dates at
day-month-year, making that same date 6/4/2021.
6. Formatting
Time:

Have you ever heard the expression military time? If yes, then chances are
you heard it in an American film, not a British one. Military time is what
many Americans call the “24-hour clock,” as this system of telling time is
uncommon there and is predominantly used by the military, police, or in
aviation. And, while it is used in Britain and the rest of Europe, Americans
mostly use the 12-hour clock. Additionally, they use colons when telling
time, whereas the British often use the full stop. This means that in Britain
people may wake up at 8.00 and go to bed at 20.00, whereas in the US they
may get up at 8:00 AM and go to sleep at 8:00 PM. AM comes from the Latin
phrase ante meridiem (before noon) and PM from the phrase post meridiem
(after noon)..
7. Tone
It probably comes as no surprise that Americans tend to be more laid-back
and upfront with their language than their British counterparts. Even at the
office, Americans commonly greet others with a “hey” or a “what’s up?”. In
Great Britain, however, you’re more likely to get a “good morning” and a
“how do you do?”.

British idioms may seem silly to Americans, but they can convey a sense of
fun while maintaining polite conversation. Some Brits may say “and Bob’s
your uncle” after listing a set of simple instructions. Other idioms are
clearly related between American and British English. In American English,
you may hear “odds and ends,” but in British English you’re more likely to
hear “bits and bobs.”
7. Tone
Despite both groups’ accents and idiosyncratic expressions, Brits and
Americans have little problem communicating with each other in English. If
you visit London, you may be invited to afternoon tea. If you don’t “fancy”
milk in your drink, you can let them know.
8. Pronunciation