Executive summary about American and British English by Paul Kennard
The basic difference lies vocabulary level. Whereas the British have petrol , the Americans call it gasoline; while the British drive lorries, the Americans drive trucks; the Americans pay checks, whereas the British pay bills; the British eat chips, but the Americans eat French fries and so on. Furthermore both groups of people will often use the same words , however these words denote totally different things. This problem creates much cause of misunderstandings, especially to people who learn English as a second language.
Another important factor which separates British and American English is the pronunciation. Unlike the British , the Americans pronounce -r in last syllables, the example of which can be words like weather, sweater, soldier etc. Besides, the Americans use /a/ instead of British /o/: (hot, got, odd) and in the same way they replace British /a:/ with /ae/-"ash" in words like castle, can, dance etc.
The word princess has a different stress in American English as to British English. The British stress the second syllable, whereas in American English the first syllable of this word is stressed. Other examples are advertisement, laboratory, ballet (though this word can be stressed in two ways in the American variety of English.
Let us now compare both languages by taking a closer look at how grammar is approached. The most outstanding dissimilarity in the use of grammar is how Americans apply the simple past tense to situations where the British tend to use the present perfect tense. In addition the Americans are thought even to ignore the present perfect tense all together.
In contrast to British English, American spelling is rather simplified. This is not to say that American spelling is easier, but there are fewer rules to remember. Whereas the British have colour, harbour or honour, the Americans shorten it to color, harbor and honor, omitting u in ou clusters.
Another difference is not doubling of -l- in words whereas the British do so, for example traveler/traveller, leveling/levelling. Some words in American English end in -og, but the British spell them -ogue, e.g. dialogue/dialog, catalogue/catalog and so on. (realize/realise), Am. -ter/Br. -tre (center/centre) and many other individual cases: pajamas/pyjamas, program/programme, check/cheque, so the list could go on and on.
Others may claim that, on the other hand, these two varieties of the English language are different, and in addition, people should be aware of these aspects in which American English and British English differ.
Should I Learn American English Or British English?
American and British English are both variants of World English. This kind of formal English, particularly written English, is often called 'standard English'. Some people asked, "Which is better American or British English?" If you are moving to the US then learn American English, if you're going to work for a British company then learn British English. And don't forget there are many different kinds of English and the rising star of International English.
There are also some reasonably consistent spelling differences. There are some common rules for American English. In the following examples listed below, the first is UK English and the second is American English.
Where UK, Australian and NZ English often use the letter group of our, in American English the u is omitted. •
UK English uses an s where American English often substitutes a z.
capitalisation / capitalization
recognise / recognize
In word building, UK English doubles the final consonant where it is preceded by a vowel, whereas American English does not. •
Some words which are spelt with a 'c' in the noun form but an 's' in the verb form of some words are not spelt with the 'c' in American English - both noun and verb forms retain the 's'. •
Some words ending in 're' in U.K. and Australian English are spelt with 'er' in American English.
• U.K. English retains the old style of retaining 'oe' and 'ae' in the middle of some words, whilst American English uses just an 'e'.
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Some words in U.K. English retain the 'gue' at the end, as opposed to just the 'g' in American English. As you can see, there are really very few differences between standard British English and standard American English.
