British and American English Lingyu

Subject: English Name: Lingyu Qiu

Teacher: Gemma HijanoGroup: 2n batxilleratYear: 2010-2011School: INS Eduard FontserèTown: L’Hospitalet de LlobregatDate: 17th January 2011

INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my teacher, Gemma Hijano Navas, who has helped me so much as she

has given me some information and made suggestions to deal with the topic and has also

told me where to find useful books or documents and finally has read it carefully to check

the content.

I also want to thank my friend, He Wei, who is studying at university and helped me to

borrow the books.

In addition, I want to thank other friends, who gave me the opportunity to accomplish the

practice and gave me some information about the topic as well.

All in all, thanks to all the people who have helped me.

__________________________________________________________________BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 2


TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Why I chose the topic.......................................................................................4

2. Introduction.......................................................................................................5

3. About English...................................................................................................6

4. Varieties in British and American English.........................................................8

5. Dialects and accents of British and American English.....................................10

6. How British and American English came to be Different.................................11

7. British English since Elizabethan times............................................................14

8. American English since Elizabethan times......................................................16

9. Interactions between British and American English.........................................21

10. Some differences between American and British English...............................22

10.1 Grammar.................................................................................................22

10.2 Vocabulary..............................................................................................26

10.3 Spelling....................................................................................................33

10.3.1 Spelling of verbs...................................................................................34

10.4 Pronunciation..........................................................................................35

10.5 Writing.....................................................................................................38

11.British English speakers versus American English speakers............................40

12. Conclusion.........................................................................................................42

13. Bibliography.......................................................................................................44



1- Why I chose the topic

I’ve chosen this topic because, apart from being an international language and thus,

essential and really useful, I love it.

I remember so much when I arrived in Barcelona; I couldn't speak Spanish, Catalan or

English, I only could speak Chinese and I just knew the twenty-six letters in the English

alphabet so I couldn't communicate with anybody. But I didn't like learning Spanish or

Catalan either, because these two languages didn't sound good to me and their grammar

was too different from my language, so it was difficult for me to learn them. Instead, I loved

learning English, and as a result, it was easier for me to learn it, because it sounded really

good and its grammar was easier than Spanish and Catalan for me. From then, I have

improved my English progressively. In addition, last summer I met some British and I had

the opportunity to practise with them. I also met a German too and he spoke American

English, because his teacher had taught him it, so there were words that I couldn't

understand. From then, I’ve been curious about American English.

Actually, when I knew that I had to choose a topic, I was really worried about it because I

had never done it in my life, and what’s more, my Spanish and Catalan were really bad.

But finally this topic came to my mind, which was motivating and interesting for me. So I

thought I was a really lucky girl.



2- Introduction

When I started to learn English, I didn't know about any variants in English because I didn't

know much about English.

One day, when I was watching an English film, I noticed that there were many words

pronounced differently from the way I had learnt them, so I asked my teacher why some

words were pronounced in different ways. Then she told me that there were many

variations of English in the world. So in every country, where English was spoken, there

were differences concerning pronunciation. Before I heard it, I thought there were only

American English and British English in the world, because I had a German friend who

spoke American English.

There are several English variants but I am going to deal with American English and British

English. These two are similar, the written language is quite the same but the

pronunciation and vocabulary are pretty different. And I think that if I know the differences,

it will be useful for me.

In order to accomplish this work, the biggest problem was finding someone specialised in

the topic to help me with the practice. First, there was a university teacher of English, who

offered me the possibility to answer some questions to me if they were not too specific as

she spoke British English mainly. Finally, she couldn’t answer me.

Next, I thought of another way to do this part. So as I have British and American friends, I

made them listen a conversation by British or American people and I asked them

questions about it. As result, I learnt many things, thanks to them.



3- About English

About three hundred years ago, English was simply the language of the English. The

language we know today as English, developed by about 1400 out of England, with a good

deal of borrowing from Norman French, the language of those who had conquered

England in the year 1066. Wales, Scotland and Ireland were at that time separate

countries whose inhabitants spoke Celtic. The North American continent was unknown to

Europeans. Australia had not yet been discovered. The language in which European

scholars wrote and communicated was Latin. If we take English to be around six hundred

years old we can say that, for half its history, it was exclusively the mother tongue of the

people of England.

In the 17th century, English wasn’t spoken by Americans but then the British came there

and there was a very important colonization of Britain. So, after it, people started speaking

English. The Colonization was followed by trade and by the establishment of colonies of

settlers. European languages (including English) came to be used in places far from

Europe, both as the home language of the emigrants and their children, and also as the

language in which the new trading communities conducted their business. In addition, the

English was used for administration, education and commerce, either as the mother

tongue or as a foreign or second language.

The settlers from England and later from all over the British Isles founded communities

which used English as their native language, not only at home and at work but also for

government and law. Yet in many places these English-speaking settlers were a minority.

This was the case in North America for many decades, but the American Indian population

declined as the colonists multiplied, and eventually the English-speaking settlers far out-

numbered the non-English speaking population, which included colonists of other

nationalities as well.

English came to be used, then, not only as the mother tongue by the English, not only by

the population of Britain as a whole (after the incorporation of Wales, Scotland and

Ireland), not only by the English-speaking settlers in the colonies and dominions, but also


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ as a foreign language by large numbers of non-English speaking inhabitants of those

territories. By the beginning of this century, English had already become a language of

world-wide use by colonists.

Nowadays, there are 300 million people speak English as their mother tongue, and at least

a further 300 million use it regularly as a second language or are able to communicate in

English when the need arises. It is a characteristic of all languages that varieties can be

observed and described. Of course, they are all varieties of one and the same language;

British and American English are varieties of English; as Mexican, Puerto Rican and

Castilian are all varieties of Spanish. The important point is that different varieties exist in

all languages. Whatever the varieties of any language may be, their number will reflect the

sheer “size” of the language, that is, the number of people who use it, its geographical

spread, and the range of its uses.

In some countries, although English is not the mother tongue of the majority of inhabitants

it may be the “medium of instruction”, the language in which education is offered, at least

in a major part of the educational system, or it may be an official language, used, for

example, in courts of law. In such circumstances English is a second language.

Elsewhere, when English has no special status it is a foreign language. Thus in Singapore,

Hong Kong, Ghana, Nigeria, to name only a few examples, English is a second language

because it has special status, and is used as a medium of instruction; in France, Brazil,

Thailand, Japan and many others it is a foreign language.



4- Varieties in British and American English

The three dimensions (user, use and social relations) are found in both British and

American English. The precise details vary, which is not surprising, when one realizes that

variety depends on society and that Britain and America are different societies.

The world-wide picture that emerges is that of two families of English, one stemming from

linguistic contact with Britain, the other from contact to the United States. They can be

shown diagrammatically.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

“Standard English”

American English British English

family family

United States Canada West British Australasia Africa

Indies Isles

Australia New Zealand

Rhodesia

S. Africa

Thus, If English is a language for the whole world, if this world-wide language displays

complex variations of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, if these variations are

broadly similar in American and in British English, it is also true that there is no other

different set of variations to be considered. The language, as a whole, is so sufficiently


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ close-knit that, in order to embrace all varieties of English, only two families of varieties, a

British and an American family, are required. Australian varieties, or those of the West

Indies, India-Pakistan, Africa, etc. can be described as belonging to one family or the

other, even though it is often necessary to suggest a mixture of the two.



5- Dialects and accents of British and American English

When we refer to British and American English, two kinds of distinction need to be made:

first, forms of English in areas where it is the mother-tongue and areas where it is not; and

secondly, forms of English related to British English and forms related to American English.

A language has a very special place in the culture and society of a person for whom it is

the first language – the mother tongue, the native language – which can not be matched

by any second or foreign language. The first language is indeed the very carrier and

vehicle of the society's culture, whereas a second language is almost always a tool for

practical activities of various kinds.

Whatever the status of English in a given country, there is one further observation that can

be made about it – whether it is oriented towards British English or American English. It is

certain to belong to one branch of the family or the other, even though the position in some

countries may well be changing. Taking first language countries, Australian and New

Zealand English is more like British than American English, as also are West Indian and

South African English; Canadian, on the other hand, is more like American English rather

than British. And each possesses its own characteristic features, specially in accent.

Similar orientations can be seen in may other countries; thus, English in Hong Kong and

Singapore, in Malaysia and Fiji, is British English whereas English in Western Samoa ,

Mexico and the Philippines is American English. A few countries have a dual tradition. In

Japan, for instance, a long pre-war tradition of British English teaching (led by the work of

Harold Palmer) was followed by the period of American occupation during which American

English became the standard. Brazil, Chile and Argentina are three other countries where

both British and American English have their adherents. There is even some evidence in a

few countries of a swing away from American-oriented English teaching towards British-

oriented English teaching, and vice versa.



6- How British and American English came to be Different

American English begins in Elizabethan times, around the year 1600 when English-

speaking settlers began to live on the Atlantic coast of the American continent. These first

settlers had grown up in England; they had learnt as children to speak and write English in

the last quarter of sixteenth century and what’s more, they were people who did not have

much formal school training. They were not used to writing. Of course, one should not

forget that among the colonists there was a large proportion of educated ministers but

there were not enough of them to attend to all the religious and governmental duties on the

members of the communities that were established. So unusual and important functions

frequently devolved up on men who in their homelands would never have been faced with

such tasks. So an example of one important function in colonial days in New England was

that of keeping records of the activities carried on through the various governing bodies

which the colonists established.

Many of these first settlers had not been to school enough to know how to spell some very

common words. Moreover, these scribes were accustomed to use pronunciations and

words in their daily life that seldom if ever appeared in the writings. The records left by

these early New England clerks and secretaries are therefore interesting for the light they

shed on the speech actually used by common people in certain parts of England during

the first half of the seventeenth century. In England records of the kind kept in New

England were made by people trained to write as they should speak, not as they really did

speak. Consequently, the records kept in England do not possess the linguistic interest of

those kept in New England at the same period. Then the colonists naturally weren’t aware

of the changes going on in the language in Great Britain. In addition, there was

colonization of many countries too, who spoke Spanish, German, French, and other

countries had come and had contributed their share toward making American English differ

somewhat from the English used beyond the Atlantic.

As a result, British and American English came to be different: first, British English

changed itself, as a result of the passage of time and the social history of the British Isles.

Secondly, English as spoken and written in America acquired a character of its own,


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ reflecting the growth and history of the American community. And third, the interaction and

the relations between Britain and American changed themselves, which also affected the

history of English.

On 18th June, 1812, the relations between British and Americans weren't good because of

trade and conflict so there was a War.(from 1812 to 1815). This war caused the

differences between Americans and Englishmen to be sharply accentuated. There was a

tendency after the war for writers to single out and stress points of contrast between the

peoples of the two countries. It was easy to be seen by the end of the eighteenth century

when the language employed in the United States differed somewhat from that used in

England. The Americans were quick to claim that the language as used by them was

vastly superior to that employed in England, and the English lost no time in taking the

opposite view of the matter. These two views have been maintained with varying degrees

by their followers from then on.

What's more, among the colonies established by England it has been only in the United

States that a literature has been produced which can even remotely be thought of in

comparison with that produced in the homeland. American authors and works have

inevitably been compared to English writers and their products. These reviews and

comparisons have tended to keep open the question of the relative superiority of the

English used in England and that used in the United States.

The really surprising thing about the English of England and that of the United States is not

that they differ slightly. When they consider the great number of people of different

nationalities who have come to this country during the past tree hundred years they may

well marvel that the present-day speech is so nearly standard English that whenever an

American travels in the English-speaking world they do not have real difficulty in

understanding the English speech they hear and in making themselves understood.

The difference, however, between American English and British English has been a

subject of study for the past century and a half. Some of the observations made by those

who have dealt with the subject are quite useless, and show that their authors were not

competent to pass any judgement on any phase of the subject they treated. Other

observations were made by people who had the background necessary to enable them to __________________________________________________________________BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 12

INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ have sensible views about the growing divergence between British and American usage.



7- British English since Elizabethan times

Some of the words, expressions and grammatical rules are the same as those of present-

day English (e.g. dedicating, I shall be sorry, etc.); and others are different, though

recognisable (e.g. I know not, happ'ns, etc.).

In British English the first new material to come into use was a great quantity of learned

words, mostly taken in from Latin and Greek sources, as a result of the revival of learning

which was already going on throughout Europe by the time of Shakespeare's birth. As

scholars became aware and familiar with the classical manuscripts brought to the West by

refugees from Constantinople, captured by the Turks, great quantities of ideas and

therefore of vocabulary were taken into English from Latin, Greek and other languages. It

is surprising to discover that none of the following words (among several hundred others)

existed in English before about 1600:

Some Words borrowed from Latin or Greek:apparatus formula

arena maximum

complex minimum

curriculum series

Another quite different source of borrowings was from foreign countries, especially those

that made up the British Empire (was the largest formal empire that the world had ever

known. As such, its power and influence stretched all over the globe). As English-speaking

traders, administrators, soldiers and missionaries travelled, they needed to import a

number of words into the English language.

These are some of them:

bungalow (from India)

kangaroo (from Australia)


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ pyjamas (from Persia)

tattoo (from Polynesia)

tea (from China)



8- American English since Elizabethan times

In the earliest, colonial period, the first task for English in America was the need to find

names to refer to places, plants, animals, and customs which existed in America but had

no equivalent in Britain. The greatest source of new words and expressions was the large

number of American Indian languages spoken on the American continent.

Here are some of the words borrowed by American English belonging from American

Indian languages:

Trees, Plants, Fruits

catalpa (a tree with heart-shaped leaves, trumpet-shaped flowers, and slender seed

pods.)

hickory (a chiefly North American tree which yields tough, heavy wood.)

pecan (a hickory tree of the southern US, which produces pecans.)

pokeweed (a North American plant with red stems, cream flowers, and purple berries.)

squash (a gourd with flesh that can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable.)

tamarack (a slender North American larch.)

Food

hominy (coarsely ground corn used to make grits.)

hooch (alcoholic drink, especially inferior or illicit whisky.)

pemmican (a pressed cake made from pounded dried meat mixed to a paste with melted

fat.)

pone (bread.)

succotash (a dish of maize and lima beans boiled together.)

Amerindian Culture

manitou (a good evil spirit as an object of reverence.)

potlatch (a ceremonial feast at which possessions are given away or destroyed to display

wealth )


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ papoose (a young North American child.)

powwow (a North American Indian ceremony involving feasting and dancing.)

tomahawk (a light axe formerly used as a tool or weapon by American Indians.)

Animals

cayuse (an American Indian pony)

moose (American term for elk.)

opossum (an American marsupial which has a naked prehensile tail and hind feet with an

opposable thumb.)

raccoon (a greyish-brown omnivorous American mammal with a black facial mask and a

ringed tail.)

skunk (a black-and-white striped American mammal of the weasel family, able to spray

foul-smelling irritant liquid from its anal glands at attackers.)

woodchuck (a North American marmot with a heavy body and short legs.)

A second cultural contact for the English-speaking settlers in America was with French. It

is not surprising that the contact with the great French Empire should leave traces in

American English.

Some of the words were themselves first borrowed by the French from Indians; others are

borrowings direct from French into English:

apache (a member of an American Indian people living chielfly in New Mexico and

Arizona.)

brave (an American Indian warrior.)

cache (a hidden store of things.)

chowder (a rich soup typically containing fish, clams, or corn with potatoes and orions.)

rapids (happening in a short time or at great speed.)


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ Another great European nation, Spain, occupied large areas of North America. As with

French, so with Spanish, over the years many Spanish words were borrowed by American

English:

adobe (a kind of clay used to make sun-dried bricks.)

hacienda (a large estate with a house.)

plaza (a shopping centre)

sierra (a long jagged mountain chain.)

sombrero (a broad-brimmed felt hat, typically worn in Mexico and the south-western US.)The Dutch presence was also sufficiently long and extensive to have influenced American

English. The following words are among those borrowed from the Dutch:

bedspread (a decorative cloth used to cover a bed.)

boss (a person who is in charge of an employee or organization.)

dumb (stupid)

Santa Claus (Father Christmas.)

bush (back country)

dope (drug)

By far, the largest single immigrant group was made up of slaves of African origin. Their

influence on the language was less than might be expected from their numbers. There are

three main reasons for this. First, they did not share a single tribal, geographical or

linguistic origin, but included members of different places, who had little if anything in

common as far as languages is concerned.

Secondly, the forced immigrants from Africa were slaves, and so their own culture,

customs and language did not have any value. The oppressions laid upon the unlucky

Africans by the succession of white hands through which they had to put up with , from the

Arabic slave traders by way of British, American, Dutch and other sailors, to the British,

French, Spanish or American plantation owners, meant the denial and suppression of their

own culture.


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ Thirdly, the children and further descendants of the African slaves had to learn English,

both in order to communicate with their masters and as a lingua franca ( a language

systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in

particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongue) for their

own use, given thus the accidental, random mixture of mutually incomprehensible

languages which were found on most plantations and in most black townships.

Few words of African origin survive in American English, apart from the following:

gumbo (a stew, soup)

hoodoo (a curse or spell)

okra (a vegetable)

voodoo (a cult)

If the influence of African languages upon American English in the shape of borrowed

words is very small, that does not mean that Afroamericans have no characteristic forms of

English. On the contrary, the post-war surge of ethnic consciousness on the part of the

black population has provided a justification for differentiation from the standard variety,

both in grammar and in pronunciation, as a badge of membership of the black community.

"Black English" is a reality, and one which raises educational problems of great importance

in Modern America.

Another language which has provided many borrowings is German. From the very large

number of German-speaking immigrants, American English has taken in words such as

these:

Beer garden (a garden attached to a pub, where beer is served.)

delicatessen (a shop spelling cooked meats, cheesed, and unusual or foreign prepared

foods.)

frankfurter (a seasoned smoked sausage made of beef and pork.)

hamburger (a round patty of minced beef, fried and typically served in a bread roll.)

lager (of considerable or relatively great size, extent, or capacity.)


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ noodle (a very thin, long strip of pasta or a similar flour paste.)

poker (a metal rod with a handle, used for prodding and stirring an open fire.)

semester (a half-year term in a school or university, especially in North America.)

So, the past history of English on the two sides of the Atlantic begins with Elizabethan

English transported to the New World. Gradually a distinctive American English grew up

and became no longer a colonial variant but an equal partner with British English and a

powerful source of innovation and expressions.



9- Interactions between British and American English

We have already seen the way in which British and American diverged, and the main

changes which each underwent. There remains one important aspect of their history to be

noticed, and that is the way in which they have influenced each other.

The interactions fall into three phases. First, American English was colonial in status and

British English was dominant. During this phase the influence and the flow of development

was from British to American English.

In the second phase, from Independence until the First World War, American English

established for itself a character of its own, including a reputation for creating new

expressions and being racy and original, while still being regarded and perhaps regarding

itself as a junior partner beside British English.

Thirdly, which continues at the present time, American English emerges as of equal status

and value as that of British English and in some respects reversing the earlier flow of

influence, so that it is frequently British English which draws on American English.



10- Some differences between American and British English

The American who hears British English, like the Englishman who hears American English,

knows with certainty that what he hears is different from the way he himself speaks. If he is

sophisticated about language, for example, if he is a teacher of English, he is likely to

assume that the differences reside in roughly equal proportion in the grammar, the

vocabulary and the pronunciation of the two forms of English.

10.1- Grammar differences

The number of grammatical differences turns out to be rather small and their nature seems

to be trivial.

The commonest differences can be grouped under three headings: differences to do with

the verb; differences to do with the noun or pronoun; differences to do with the preposition.

In addition, there are a small number of miscellaneous differences.

1.American people use a past simple tense in some cases where British people use a

present perfect, because in American English, the past simple is often used to give news.

2.Americans use the verb have a little differently from British people in certain cases.

British English:

• When we are talking about states like possession, relationship, illness, etc, the

normal spoken (informal) present-tense forms of to have are as follows.

For example: I've got a car.

• Got-forms are less common in the past tense, and in past questions and negatives,

do-forms are often used.

For example: I had flu last week. (not: I had got flu...).__________________________________________________________________BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 22


• Got is not used with infinitives, participles, or -ing forms. You cannot say to have

got a headache or having got a brother.

• In more formal spoken or written English, simple auxiliary-verb forms are generally

used instead of got -forms.

For example: The company has a reputation for efficiency.

• When there is an idea of repetition or habit, the got-forms are not used, and do is

used in questions and negatives.

Compare:

I haven't got any whisky.

We don't usually have whisky in the house.

• Do-forms are also becoming common in British English even when there is no idea

of repetition, under the influence of American English.

For example: Sorry, I don't have any whisky. / Do you have time for a drink?

• When have is used with got, weak forms and contractions are common.

For example: I've got a ticket for the cup final.

American English:

• In American English, have can be used as a normal verb (with do in questions and

negatives) when talking about all kinds of states as well as actions. (American

usage is therefore much simple than British).

For example: I have a problem. / Do you have a light?

• Got-forms are also possible in informal speech; in very informal speech, have can

be omitted.

For example: I('ve) got a problem.

• Got- and do-forms may be mixed.

For example:'I('ve) got a new apartment.'- ' Oh, do you?'

• Note that when get is used to mean receive, become, etc, the American past

participle is gotten.

For example: she's just gotten a raise in salary.



3. The subjective is much more common in American than in British English.

For example:

US: It's essential that he be informed.

GB: It's essential that he should be informed.

4. Americans sometimes use his where the British say one's. In American English, if

“one” has been used at the beginning of a sentence, “he, him, his and himself” are often

used to refer back to this one. In the British English, “one” can be used as subject or

object, there is also a possessive one's, and a reflexive pronoun oneself.

For example:

US: One should try to get to know his (or one's) neighbors.

GB: One should try to know one's neighbours.

5. British speakers often say I have done, I can do, I might do, etc, in cases where

Americans would just say I have, I can, I might because in British English (but not

American), do can also be used in this way after another auxiliary verb.

For example: 'Come and stay with us.' - 'I may (do), if I have the time.'

*In some cases, do can be used together with so.

For example: 'Put the car away, please.' -'I've already done so.'



6. There are many small differences in the use of prepositions and adverb particles.

Examples:

US GB

check something out check something

do something over do something

fill in/out a form fill in a form

meet with somebody meet somebody

protest something protest against something

stay home stay at home

visit with somebody visit somebody

Monday through Friday Monday to Friday

7. On the telephone. US: Hello, is this Zac? GB: Hello, is that Zac?

8. In informal speech, many Americans use like in cases where most educated British

people would prefer as or as if.

• Like is a preposition- it is followed by a noun or a pronoun.

For example: I'm very like my brother.

• As is a conjunction- it is followed by a clause, with a subject and verb.

For example: She's a fine singer, as her mother used to be.

• As is also used before prepositional expressions.

For example: In 1939, as in 1914, there was a great surger of patriotic feeling.

• In informal American English, like is very often used as a conjunction instead of as.

This usage is becoming common in British English. It is still considered “incorrect” in

formal styles of British and American English. Like is also often used, in an informal

style, instead of as if.__________________________________________________________________BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 25


For example: Nobody loves you like I do, baby.

• In a very informal style (especially in American English), like is often used instead of

as if.

For example: She sat there eating cream cakes like there was no tomorrow.

• In a formal written style, as is sometimes followed by the word-order and structure

of questions.

For example: He was a Catholic, as were most of his friends.

9. In informal speech, Americans sometimes use adverb forms without -ly.

For example: US: He looked at me real strange/ GB: He looked at me really strangely.

10.2- Lexical differences

There are far more examples of British and American differences in vocabulary than in

grammar. When comparing the grammar of the two it is unexpectedly difficult to find many

examples, and most of those are rather trivial. But in vocabulary there is no shortage of

examples. The problem is how to find and describe a pattern of vocabulary differences,

rather than simply listing a large body of unrelated items. In fact, it is possible to

distinguish three types of vocabulary.

The first kind of vocabulary to be mentioned comprises the great majority of the word-stock

of English as a whole. This occurs identically in both American and British English. Words

such as man, woman, fish, sky, tree, day, week, mathematics, green, hot, smell, and tens

of thousands of others are exactly the same in both kinds of English. The greatest interest

lies in the two other types of vocabulary, where differences exist between American and

British usage.

The second category comprises a fairly large number of items where an idea or an object

which exists in both British and American culture, but where different words are used for

them in the two forms of English.


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ The third category covers words for ideas or objects which have no counterparts in the

other country. An obvious group of examples would be words for geographical features or

plants or animals found only in America; or words for games and sports not shared

between the British and the Americans. British English retains the vocabulary of a

monarchy but these terms are clearly part of English as a whole, whereas the American

vocabulary of presidential government is more restricted to American society.

Sometimes different words are used for the same idea (US apartment/ GB flat), or the

same word has different meanings (mad= US angry/ GB crazy).

Here is a list of words:

US Meaning in GB GB

Alumnus Graduate

Anyplace Anywhere

Apartment A set of rooms for living

in, usually on one floor

of a large building.

Flat

Attorney Lawyer Barrister,solicitor

Automobile Car Car (motor)

Baby-carriage Pram

Bar Piece of metal Pub

Cab The cab of a lorry is the

front part in which the

driver sits.

Taxi

Call collect Reverse charges (when telephoning)

Can A metal container in

which something such

as food, drink, or paint

is put.

Tin


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ Candy Sweet foods such as

chocolate is referred as

candy

Sweets

Closet Cupboard

Cookie Biscuit

Corn Small painful areas of

hard skin which can

from on your foot.

Maize

Crazy People is very foolish or

strange.

Mad

Dessert Something sweet, such

as fruit or pudding, that

eat at the end of a

meal.

Sweet

Dish-towel Tea-towel

Faculty In some universities or

college, a faculty is a

group of related

departments.

Staff (of a university)

Fall Something or someone

move quickly from

somewhere.

Autumn

Freeway A major road that has

been specially built for

fast travel over long

distances

Motorway

Expressway A wide road that is Motorway



designed so that a lot of

traffic can move along it

very quickly.Gas, gasoline Any substance that is

neither liquid nor solid,

e.g. oxygen.

Petrol

Mad Someone who is mad

has a mind that does

not work in a normal

way, with the result that

their behaviour is very

strange.

Angry

Mail Message Post

Mailbox Mailpost

Math Maths

Mean The mean is a number

that is the average of a

set of numbers. It is

also meaning of words.

Nasty, vicious (of a person)

Motor Car Engine

Movie The movies are movies

in general, or the

business and art of

making movies.

Film

The movies The cinema

Muffler Scarf Silencer


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ Noplace Nowhere

One-way In streets or traffic

systems, vehicles can

only travel in one

direction.

Single (ticket)

Overpass Flyover

Purse A purse is a very small

bag that people,

especially women, keep

their money in.

Handbag

Potato chips Crisps

Private hospital A private hospital is a

hospital which is not

supported financially by

the government and

which people has to

pay for visit.

Nursing home

Railroad (car) Railway (carriage)

Raise Achieve, lift Rise (in salary)

Rest room Public toilet

Round- trip Return (ticket)

Rubber Rubber is a strong,

waterproof, elastic

substance made from

the sap of a tropical

tree or produced

Condom (male contraceptive)



chemically. It is also a

small piece used to rub

out mistakes of writing,

drawing or typing.Rubbers A piece of rubber used

for erasing pencil

marks.

Gumshoes, wellington boots

Run When someone runs in

a race, they run in

competition with other

people.

Ladder (in tights)

School An institution for

educating children.

School, college, university

Shorts Something is not long. Underpants

Shoulder A part of body. Verge (of a car)

Sick To vomit. ill

Sidewalk Pavement

Sneakers A soft shoe worn for

sports.

Gym shoes,tennis-shoes

Someplace Somewhere

Spigot A type of valve that

controls the flow of a

liquid from one source

to another.

Tap (outdoor)

Store Booking. Shop

Stove An apparatus which

provides heat, either for

Cooker



cooking or for heating a

room.Subway A passage for

pedestrians that goes

underneath a busy road

or a railway track.

Tube, underground (train)

Sweater A pullover with long

sleeves.

Jersey, jumper, pullover, sweater

Thread A long thin line. Cotton

Truck An open vehicle used

for carrying goods on a

railway.

Van, lorry

Trunk Elephant nose. Boot (of a car)

Undershirt Vest

Vacation holiday(s)

Vest T-shirt Waistcoat

Wheat Corn,wheat



10.3- Spelling differences

Not all the differences in spelling between British and American usage are due to American

innovations. Some of them arose inevitably from the fact that the original common source

of both, Elizabethan English, permitted much greater variation in spelling than is tolerated

today, and sometimes the alternative that eventually became standardised in America was

different from the preferred alternative in British English.

In American English, final -l is not usually doubled in an unstressed syllable, it is only

usually doubled if the syllable is stressed.

Compare:

re'bel, re'belled 'travel, 'traveled

But is doubled after one consonant.

Skill, skillful

In British English, final -l is doubled words that end in -l preceded by a vowel usually

double the -l when a suffix is added and if the syllable is not stressed.

Compare:

'travel, 'travelled, 'equal, 'equalled

1. Some words end in -ter in American English, and -tre in British:

e.g: US theater, center / GB theatre, centre.

2. Some words end in -or in American English, and -our in British:

e.g: US color / GB colour.

3. Some words end in -og in American English, and -ogue in British:

e.g: US catalog, dialog, analog / GB catalogue, dialogue, analogue.

4. Many verbs end in -ize in American English, but in -ize or -ise in British:

e.g: US realize / GB realize or realise.



5. Some spelling differences in individual words:

US GB

analyze analyse

check cheque (from a bank)

defense defence

jail aol, jail

jewelry jewellery

offense offence

pajamas pyjamas

plow plough

practice (verb) practise

pretense pretence

program programme

specialty speciality

10.3.1- Spelling of verbs-ed & -t

The category involves verbs that use -ed or -t for the past simple and past participle.

Generally, the rule is that if there is a verb form with -ed, American English will use it, and

if there is a form with -t, British English uses it. However, these forms do not exist for

every verb and there is variation.

For example:

Base form American English British English

to dream dreamed dreamed/ dreamt

to leap leaped leaped/ leapt

to learn learned learned/ learnt


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ base form & -ed

It includes verbs that use either the base form of the verb or the -ed ending for the past

simple.

For example:

Base form American English British English

to fit fit fitted

to forecast forecast forecasted

to wed wed wedded

10.4- Pronunciation differences

Pronunciation is a difficult matter anyway. Many people have an idea that there is one

proper way of pronouncing practically all words, and that the dictionary is the place where

this proper way may be found. Another view of the matter is that there are various proper __________________________________________________________________BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 35

INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ ways of pronouncing a large number of the words in their language. Many people are

sensitive about pronunciations that they have been taught to believe are exclusively

proper.

Pronunciation is a matter of noises, of speech-sounds. Any accent consists of a regular

system of sounds. In order to describe the similarities between British and American

accents the author must rely on the reader's ability to “read with his ears”, to recall in his

mind what English sounds like when it is spoken. For most people, this means recalling a

considerable experience of hearing either an accent from the British family of varieties of

English being spoken, or an accent from the American family; they usually have only a

limited and uncertain experience of an accent from the other family. Fortunately, the

differences that need to be discussed belong to a fairly small number of types.

There are many different regional accents in both Britain and American. The most

important differences between 'standard' American and 'standard' British speech are as

follows:

1. Stressed vowels are often lengthened more in American English than in British.

2. Vowels are often nasalized in American English; that is to say, air comes out

through the nose and mouth at the same time. Vowels are not nasalized in most

British pronunciations, so this makes the two accents sound very different.

3. Most vowels are pronounced a little differently in British and American English.

Three vowels are very different:

• The vowel /əʊ/ (as in home, no) is a diphthong (double vowel) in British English; in

American English it is closer to being a monophthong (single vowel), and it sounds

very different.

• The vowel /ɒ/ (as in pot) is pronounced in American words without lip-rounding, and

sounds like the vowel /ɑ:/ (as in palm).

• Many British people pronounce /ɑ:/ (a back vowel) in some words where Americans

pronounce /ӕ/ (a front vowel).



Examples: can´t, castle, fast, glass, class, staff, after, pass, example.

4. In standard British English, r is only pronounced before a vowel. In American

English, r is pronounced in all positions in a word, and it changes the quality of a

vowel that comes before it. so words like car, turn, offer sound very different in

British and American speech.

5. In American English, t and d both have a very light 'voiced' pronunciation /d/ between vowels – so writer /'raidәr/ and rider /'raidәr/ sound the same. In British

English, t remains 'unvoiced' between vowels: writer ( /'raitә(r)/ ), rider ( /'raidә(r)/).

6. before -u and -ew, British people pronounce n-, d- and t- like ny-, dy- and ty- ( /nj-, dj-, tj/ ). Americans pronounce them as they are written.

Examples: tune (GB /tju:n/ ; US / tu:n/ ); new (GB / nju:/; US /nu:/) ; duke, due,

dew, reduce, tube, intuition, tumour, nude.

7. Words ending in -tile are pronounced with /-tail/ in British English, and /-tl/ in

American.

Examples : fertile (GB /'f :tail/, US /'f :rtl/ ɜ ɜ ).

8. Borough and through are pronounced differently in British and American English:

GB /'b r ,'θ r /; US /'ʌ ə ʌ ə b r ,'θ r /.ʌ əʊ ʌ əʊ

9. Can and Can't. In general American pronunciation these two words have the same

vowel-sound; in British pronunciation they have different vowel-sound (can like man

and can't approximately like barn). The way in which the American speaker is made

aware of the very important difference between “can-positive” and “can-negative” is

by the fact that the final t-sound has the effect of making the vowel-sound in

American English can't shorter than in American English can.

Compared to the small number of grammatical differences between American and British

English, differences of pronunciation are many indeed, and compared with the somewhat

random and individual nature of vocabulary differences, differences of pronunciation are


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ rather systematic. From this point of view it could be argued that the biggest differences

between the two lie, in fact, in pronunciation. Certainly when individuals from Britain and

America meet in conversation it is above all by their accents that they identify their

differences.

Yet even so, there is no doubt, the underlying rules for producing speech are more alike

than they are different. Both British and American pronunciations share a set of phonemes

which are identical as to the number and type of consonants and only slightly different as

to the number and type of vowels; they share an identical system of stress and rhythm,

and they organize pitch-changes into a similar intonation system. Where they differ is

chiefly in vowel-quality, in the treatment or r-sounds, in intervocalic t-sounds becoming /d/ in American accents, in small differences of intonation, in the extent of nasality in vowels

following a nasal consonant, and in the extent of vowel-lengthening in stressed syllables.

The differences are characteristic, in the sense that they immediately identify the speakers

as belonging to one community or the other. They are difficult to learn to imitate exactly,

but they can very quickly be learned as a passive skill of comprehension. The differences

between British and American accents rarely cause any difficulty in comprehension.

10.5- Writing differences

American usage is different from British in certain ways when they write the letters.

1. In dates, the month is put before the day (March 21st 1970 = 3/21/1970), British

people put the day first ( 21st March, 1970).

2. After the salutation, Americans normally put a colon (Dear Mr. Haekes:) or

(informally) a comma (Dear Mr Haekes,). In British English we either use no

punctuation or put a comma.

3. Gentlemen is used instead of Dear Sirs.

4. Yours faithfully is not used; common endings are Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Yours __________________________________________________________________BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 38


sincerely or Yours truly.

5. Americans are often addressed (and sign their names) with the first name in full,

followed by the initial of a middle name (Keith S. Parker). This is unusual in Britain.

6. Americans usually write Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Dr. with a full stop.



11. British English speakers versus American English speakers

I got in contact with some British and American friends and I asked them to help me in

order to do some research about the situation of both variants nowadays . First, I asked

my British friends to listen to a conversation by American people and I did the same with

my American friends but with a conversation by Bristish people. Once they listened to it,

they told me if they had had any problems to understand it. Finally, I asked them some

questions connected to it.

Here are the questions:

1.What do British think about the differences between British and American English?

The main differences are the accent and simple changes in words for things such as

elevator in American English and lift in British English. For them, There is no difficulty in

understanding one another. British people pronounce words more accurately whereas

Americans show like a “lazy” way of pronouncing words.

2. What do Americans think about the British and American English?

The American expressions are very colloquial and people with a mediocre English level

will find it difficult to understand its proper meaning.

3. Which one is better? (for British and American)An important point is that different doesn't mean wrong. And there is not a better or worse

language or regional variety of language better than another, because they are just

different. People may just think one is easier to understand.

4. Which one do people normally like to speak?People like to speak in the way that he or she feels the most comfortable with, because

people doesn't mind what they speak. The most important is pronunciation so people can


INS Eduard Fontserè 2010-2011________________________________________________________________________ understand.

5. Do British find difficult to understand American English?No, because it is extremely easy to understand.

6. Do Americans find difficult to understand British English?No, because it is extremely easy to understand.



12. Conclusion

After dealing with this topic, I can say that I think it has helped me so much to improve my

English and I have learnt quite a lot since I started.

• American English and British English are variants of English as a whole language.

• The English language was first introduced to the Americans by British colonization,

beginning in the early 17th century. Similarly, the language spread to other

countries due to the expansion of the British Empire .

• The standard usage in the colonies remained that of the motherland until the

American Revolution. Thereafter American English was no longer a colonial variety

of the English of London but had acquired an identity of its own.

• The colonists were not illustrated; they spoke English but they couldn't write it.

• American English borrowed words from Spanish, Dutch or French because of

colonization as well and they did the same with words from Indians in America.

• The differences do not only affect the pronunciation. There are also many

grammar, writing and lexical differences.

• The main area of difference is the vocabulary and the spelling used. There are

many differences in these areas. The most significant one is the use of different

words to name the same things but bearing in mind that these words have

different meanings in each variant at the same time.

• People whose first language is English appreciate the different speaking styles that

English speakers from different English speaking countries have. In addition,

anyone can say that he or she doesn't like the way an American sounds or a British

does as there are also Australian , Scottish , Irish , South African or New Zealand __________________________________________________________________BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 42


accents and more. Most people whose second language is English have an accent,

but it is usually their own accent.

• Currently, British English and American English speakers can communicate and

understand one another, in spite of the differences.



13. Bibliography

Books:1. Funk, W. Word origins and their Romantic Stories, Bell Pub. New York. 1978.

2. Marck Wardt, A.H. American English. O.U.P. 1958.

3. Marck Wardt, A.H. & Quirk, R. Acommon Language BBC. 1964.

4. Mathews, M.M. The beginning of American English. The university of Chicago

Press. 1973.

5. Meacken, H.L. The American Language, knopf.1970.

6. Stevens, P. British and American English, Coller Machaillan. 1972.

7. J.L. Dillard, A history of American English.

8. Harold, Edwards,The sound of American English

9. Kenneth, The Intonation of American English

10. G.H.Valeins ,Spelling (a chapter).

Websites:

11. http://xzn.2000y.net/mb/2/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=122644

12. http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/44021487

13. http://www.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/americanbritish.html

14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English

15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_colonization_of_the_Americas

16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences

17.http://esl.about.com/od/toeflieltscambridge/a/dif_ambrit.htm

18.http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/The-Influence-On-British-English-By-American-


http://xzn.2000y.net/mb/2/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=122644

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_colonization_of_the_Americas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/americanbritish.html

http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/44021487


English/1157553

19.http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm

20.http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1837_aae/page46.

shtml

21.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism

22.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution

23.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire

24.http://www.britishempire.co.uk/

25.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca

26.http://www.onestopenglish.com/grammar/grammar-reference/american-english-vs-

british-english/differences-in-american-and-british-english-grammar-

article/152820.article

27.http://www.slideshare.net/cupidlucid/grammar-and-vocabulary-of-american-and-

british-english-presentation

28.http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/59661372


Documents

British and American English Lingyu