British vs.

American English
I. Spelling Rules
There are some spelling differences in American English. In the 1800's, the US Congress
actually called for several changes to make words more phonetic. Look at the following
examples:
Example (British British English
American English
American)
centre - center
1
words ending in -re
change to -er
metre - meter
2
words ending in -our
change to -or
colour - color
3
words ending in -ogue
change to -og
catalogue - catalog
4
words ending in -ise/ize
ending only in -ize
realise/realize - realize
- l not always doubled after travelled - traveled
5
final -l doubled after short vowel
a short vowel
modelling - modeling
defence - defense
6
words ending in -ence
change to -ense
licence - license
II. Pronunciation
American pronunciation

usually equals General American (GenAm) pronunciation

used by educated Americans, on television and on radio

described in dictionaries of American English (e.g. Merriam-Webster, Random House dictionaries)

most Americans and Canadians speak something similar to General American

there are some regional differences, but they are usually very small

the only major exception is the South of the US (especially outside of big cities), which has its own
distinct accent

GenAm pronunciation is rhotic = the letter r is always pronounced

British pronunciation

usually equals Received Pronunciation (RP)

this is the pronunciation that you will learn at a British language school; it is also the model taught in
course books and dictionaries from publishers like Oxford and Longman

in the UK, only a small percentage of people speak something similar to RP

"normal people" only speak it in the southeast of England in the area near Oxford, Cambridge,
Brighton and London (excluding working-class Londoners, who speak Cockney or Estuary)
elsewhere RP is spoken only by upper-class people, academics, actors, TV personalities, politicians
and English teachers
"normal" Britons usually speak with their local accents, which are often quite different from RP, and can
be very hard to understand to untrained ears
sometimes cities that are only 20 km apart have very different accents

RP is non-rhotic = the letter r is usually "silent", unless it is followed by a vowel

here's how it works
in words like car, tower, inform and first, r is silent (r is not followed by a vowel)
in words like red, foreign, print, r is pronounced (r is followed by a vowel)
R is also pronounced at the end of a word, if the next word starts with a vowel, for example:
number eight, far away
most RP speakers also insert an r in phrases like: the idea(r) of, Africa(r) and Asia, law(r) and
order - this r is not in the spelling; they just use it to separate two vowels
the following pairs sound exactly the same in RP: or/awe, court/caught, sore/saw,
farther/father, formerly/formally - in General American, they all sound different
Other differences

words of French origin often pronounced differently on either side of the Atlantic
RP - stress falls on the first syllable X GenAm stress falls on the second syllable
e.g. "ballet" RP ['bufei] X GenAm [b'fei]
other words: chauffeur, buffet, brochure
the letter "T" (Do you say buddah or butter?)
in BrE, words of more than one syllable that have a double "t" in the middle, like "butter" or
"matter" are pronounced with a hard "t" sound, rather than the softer "d" sound of AmE
where t is followed by "u" in words such as "tuna", a BrE speaker pronounces this word as
"tyoona" rather than the AmE "toona"

vowel differences
BrE [u] vs. AmE [ou]

III. Grammar
generally, it is agreed that no one version is "correct" however, there are certainly preferences in use
the most important rule of thumb is to try to be consistent in your usage
if you decide that you want to use AmE spellings then be consistent in your spelling (i.e. The color of the
orange is also its flavour - color is American spelling and flavour is British) and grammar

use of the Present Perfect

BrE - used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present
moment - e.g. I've lost my key. Can you help me look for it?

AmE - the following is also possible e.g. I lost my key. Can you help me look for it? (in British English that
would be considered incorrect)
already, just and yet

BrE - I've just had lunch. I've already seen that film. Have you finished your homework yet?

AmE - I just had lunch OR I've just had lunch. I've already seen that film OR I already saw that film.
Have your finished your homework yet? OR Did you finish your homework yet?
Possession

there are two forms to express possession in English: have or have got

while both forms are correct, have got (have you got, he hasn't got, etc.) is generally the preferred form in
British English while most speakers of American English employ the have (do you have, he doesn't have
etc.)

Do you have a car? vs. Have you got a car?

Prepositions

e.g. American English - on the weekend X British English - at the weekend

Past Simple/Past Participles

get - AmE the past participle is gotten e.g. He's gotten much better at playing tennis.

the following verbs have two acceptable forms of the past simple/past participle in both American and
British English, however, the irregular form is generally more common in British English (the first form of
the two) and the regular form is more common to American English
Burn - burnt OR burned
Dream - dreamt OR dreamed
Smell - smelt OR smelled

Spell - spelt OR spelled

Spill - spilt OR spilled
Spoil - spoilt OR spoiled

IV. Vocabulary
probably the most significant difference between BrE and AmE is in the vocabulary
first of all, place the following words under the correct heading:
Sidewalk - Movie - Portion of French Fries - Lift - Packet of chips - Can of fizzy drink - Pants Trousers - Portion of chips - Elevator - Pavement - Film - Packet of crisps - Can of soda
British English

refer to the other handout for more vocabulary

American English