British and American English

English is spoken all over the world in many different ways with many different words. The two countries with the most distinctive word differences and the most widely taught are British and American English.

The three major differences between British and American English are spelling, vocabulary and pronunciation.

Today let’s look at some of the differences between them.

Firstly, let’s look at differences in spelling.

A lot of words ending in or containing “-our” in British English end in or contain “-or” in American English, for example, colour-color, humour-humor, favourite-favorite…

A lot of words ending in “-ise” in British Englishend in “-ize” in American English, for example recognise-recognize, patronise-patronize, etc.

Words which end in “-re” in British English end in “-er” in American English. Here are some examples: centre-center, metre-meter, fibre-fiber.

Next let’s look at some very common vocabulary differences. There are lots more but these ones are very useful when travelling!

	British English	American English
	pavement	sidewalk
	nappy	diaper
	trousers	pants
	petrol	gas, gasoline
	lift	elevator
	flat	apartment
	chips	French fries
	film	movie
	trainers	sneakers

Finally, when it comes to pronunciation, it is important to remember that the “r” sound in American English is generally more pronounced than in British English.

Words ending in “r” in British English are normally pronounced with an open “r” at the end. Let’s look at the word “car” which when pronounced in British English sounds almost like ”cah”.

North American English speakers are considered to be rhotic speakers and they pronounce a rhotic consonant in all instance, while non-rhotic speakers only pronounce ”r” before vowels. Bear in mind though that this may not always be the case as English has many different accents.