British English vs. American English Differences

Do you know any differences between British English vs. American English?

Look at these sentences. Do you know which sentences are more typical of British English or American English?

Shall I open the door for you?

He’s taking a shower.

France has won the World Cup.

I’m not hungry. I just ate.

Read the explanation to learn more.

British English vs. American English: Grammatical Differences

The main difference between British English and American English is in pronunciation.  Some words are also different in each variety of English, and there are also a few differences in how they use grammar.  Here are the five most common grammatical differences between British and American English.

1. 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 the same way in American English, but people often use the past simple when considering the action finished.  This is especially common with the adverbs already, just and yet.

2. Got and gotten

In British English, the past participle of the verb get is got.

In American English, people say gotten.

** Note that has got is commonly used in both British and American English to speak about possession or necessity. “have gotten” is not correct here.

3. 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 are always followed by a plural verb.

4. 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 a break, holiday, rest to speak about resting.
In American English, only the verb take (and not the verb have) is used this way.

5. Auxiliary verbs

Another grammar difference between American and British English is auxiliary verbs. We will first give you some information on the usage of shall in both accents.

British people often use shall to offer something, make a suggestion, and express the future. For example, “I shall go home now.” Americans know what shall means but rarely use it in conversation. It seems very formal. They normally use an alternative like should/can. In question form, a British might say, “Shall we go now?” while an American would probably say, “Should we go now?”

British English vs. American English: Spelling Differences

In terms of spelling, the main difference between the two is that British English keeps the spelling of words it has absorbed from other languages such as French and German. On the other hand, the latter is based mostly on how the word sounds when it is spoken.

Words ending in ‘our’ in British English words end in ‘or’ in American English.

Examples:

Colour =color

Flavour = flavor

Humour = humor

Neighbour = neighbor

Verbs ending in ‘ize’ or ‘ise’ are always spelled ‘ize’ in American English.

Examples:

Apologize or apologise = apologize

Recognize or recognize = recognize

Verbs ending in ‘yse’ are always spelled ‘yze’ in American English.

Examples:

Analyse = analyze

Paralyse = paralyze

Nouns ending in ‘ogue’ end with either ‘og’ or ‘ogue’ in American English.

Catalogue = catalog / catalogue

Dialogue = dialog / dialogue

It is indeed true when Bernard Shaw, a poet, and playwright, said that England and America are two countries separated by the same language. Besides the main differences in spelling, there are many instances a totally different word is used for the same thing.

American: Fall

British: Autumn

Meaning:  the third season of the year, when crops and fruits are gathered and leaves fall, in the northern hemisphere from September to November and in the southern hemisphere from March to May.

Sample Sentence: The countryside is ablaze with color in autumn / the fall.

American: Eggplant

British: Aubergine

Meaning: the purple egg-shaped fruit of a tropical Old World plant, which is eaten as a vegetable.

Sample Sentence: I bought some eggplants for dinner.

American: French Fries

British: Chips

Meaning: a thin strip of deep-fried potato.

Sample Sentence: Chips / French Fries are my favorite food from McDonald’s.

American: Soccer

British: Football

Meaning: a game played by two teams of eleven players with a round ball that may not be touched with the hands or arms during play except by the goalkeepers. The game’s object is to score goals by kicking or heading the ball into the opponent’s goal.

Sample Sentence: I like watching the soccer league in TV.

American: Sneakers

British: Trainers

Meaning: a soft shoe with a rubber sole worn for sports or casual occasions.

Sample Sentence: One of my hobbies is shoe collection. I own around fifty pairs of sneakers/trainers.  

Should I learn British or American English?

English is a difficult language to spell correctly.  There are a large number of exceptions to the rules.  In addition, there are lots of differences between British and American spellings.  For example, colour/color, centre/center, organise/organize, dialogue/dialog. You already use one type of English, and that’s perfectly OK.  There’s no right or wrong type of English.

When it comes to standardized tests such as IELTS, TOEFL, or other Cambridge qualification exams, it is perfectly acceptable to use either British or American English. As all of these tests are considered global standardized tests, they will accept different varieties of English in their exams.  For example, British or American spelling can be used in Cambridge English tests.  

In Cambridge Assessment English Speaking tests, examiners are trained to give equal marks to candidates using British or American spelling.  Your child will not get a higher band score for using a British accent.  They will simply care about her ability to communicate in a clear and effective way, this involves:

• saying individual words clearly (pronunciation)
• stressing the right parts of words and the right words in a sentence (word stress)
• ensuring the voice goes up and down at the right times (intonation).

However, one exception when choosing either British or American is more important is when your child is writing – or speaking.  Once she writes or spells a word one way, they must continue to spell it that way for the rest of the test – don’t suddenly switch to the other way around.  The simplest reason for not using both languages is that both languages are considered separate forms of English.  When we use British spelling, the examiner will make up his mind and consider our work as British language.  Therefore, if we switch later to American English, the examiner will consider it as a spelling mistake and will give us a low score for the Lexical Resource.

Parting words…

There are different types of English, and it’s great to learn the differences between them to avoid confusion, but that’s no reason for us to get stressed or anxious. American English and British English are mutually intelligible: one can understand the other about 95% of the time.  And even the words that are different will normally be understood thanks to their context.  Accidentally using one instead of the other will not automatically lead to miscommunication.