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American and British English differences Collected by SEYYED HOSSEIN ZAHEDI all From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Written forms of American English are fairly well standardized across the United States and in the overwhelming majority of their grammatical forms they are in general agreement with standard written British English. An unofficial standard for spoken American English has developed because of the mass media and geographic and social mobility. This standard is generally called a General American or Standard Midwestern accent and dialect and can typically be heard from network newscasters, although local newscasters tend toward more parochial forms of speech. Despite this unofficial standard regional variations of American English have not only persisted but have actually intensified, according to linguist William Labov. Regional dialects in the United States typically reflect the elements of the language of the main immigrant groups in any particular region of the

country, especially in terms of pronunciation and vernacular vocabulary. Scholars have mapped at least four major regional variations of spoken American English: Northern (really north-eastern), Southern, Midland, and Western (Labov, Ash, & Boberg, 2006).[1] After the American Civil War, the settlement of the western territories by migrants from the east led to dialect mixing and levelling, so that regional dialects are most strongly differentiated in the eastern parts of the country that were settled earlier. Localized dialects also exist with quite distinct variations, such as in Southern Appalachia and New York City. British English also has a reasonable degree of uniformity in its formal written form. The 12/14/2008spoken forms though vary considerably, reflecting a long history of dialect development amid isolated populations. Dialects and accents vary not only between the countries in the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but also within these

individual countries. There are also differences in the English spoken by different socio-economic groups in any particular region. Received Pronunciation (RP), which is "the educated spoken English of south-east England", has traditionally been regarded as "proper English"; this is also referred to as BBC English or the Queens English. The BBC and other broadcasters now intentionally use a mix of presenters with a variety of British accents and dialects, and the concept of "proper English" is now far less prevalent.[2] British and American English are the reference norms for English as spoken, written, and taught in the rest of the world. For instance, the English-speaking members of the Commonwealth often closely follow British English forms while many new American English forms quickly become familiar outside of the United States. Although the dialects of English used in the former British Empire are often, to various extents, based on standard British

English, most of the countries concerned have developed their own unique dialects, particularly with respect to pronunciation, idioms, and vocabulary; chief 1 among them are Canadian English and Australian English, which rank third and fourth in number of native speakers.[3][4] Contents • • • • • • • • • 1 Historical background 2 Pronunciation 3 Grammar o 3.1 Nouns  3.11 Formal and notional agreement o 3.2 Verbs  3.21 Verb morphology  3.22 Use of tenses  3.23 Verbal auxiliaries  3.24 Transitivity  3.25 Complementation o 3.3 Presence or absence of syntactic elements  3.31 The definite article o 3.4 Prepositions and adverbs  3.41 Phrasal verbs o 3.5 Miscellaneous grammatical differences 4 Word derivation and compounds 5 Lexis (vocabulary) o 5.1 General trends o 5.2 Words mainly used in a single form  5.21 Words mainly used in British English  5.22 Words mainly used in American English  5.23 Words with different meanings o 5.3

Word choice o 5.4 Numbers o 5.5 Monetary amounts o 5.6 Time-telling o 5.7 Selected lexical differences  5.71 Levels of buildings  5.72 Figures of speech  5.721 Idioms  5.73 Education  5.74 Transport/Transportation  5.75 Greetings o 5.8 Entertainment 6 Writing o 6.1 Spelling 6.11 Historical origins 6.12 Spelling and pronunciation 6.13 Latin-derived spellings o 3.1 -our, -or 2 3.2 -re, -er 3.3 -ce, -se 3.4 -xion, -ction 6.14 Greek spellings o 6.141 -ise, -ize  4.11 -yse, -yze o 6.142 -ogue, -og o 6.143 Simplification of ae (æ) and oe (œ) 6.15 Compounds and hyphens 6.16 Doubled consonants o 6.161 Doubled in British English o 6.162 Doubled in American English 6.17 Dropped e 6.18 Different spellings, different connotations 6.19 Acronyms and abbreviations 6.110 Miscellaneous spelling differences 6.111 References 6.112 External links 6.113 Notes o 6.2 Punctuation o 6.3 Titles and headlines o 6.4 Dates o 6.5 Times o o o • • • • • • • • • • 7

Pronunciation • • • • • 7.1 Accent 7.2 Stress o 7.21 French stress o 7.22 -ate and -atory o 7.23 Miscellaneous stress 7.3 Affixes o 7.31 -ary -ery -ory -bury, -berry, -mony o 7.32 -ile o 7.33 -ine 7.4 Weak forms 7.5 Miscellaneous pronunciation differences o 7.51 Single differences o 7.52 Multiple differences 3 Historical background The English language was first introduced to the Americas by British colonization, beginning in the early 17th century. Similarly, the language spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and colonization elsewhere and the spread of the former British Empire, which, by 1921, held sway over a population of about 470– 570 million people: approximately a quarter of the worlds population at that time. Over the past 400 years, the form of the language used in the Americasespecially in the United Statesand that used in the United Kingdom and the British Islands have diverged in many ways, leading to the dialects now

commonly referred to as American English and British English. Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary (lexis), spelling, punctuation, idioms, formatting of dates and numbers, and so on, although the differences in written and most spoken grammar structure tend to be much more minor than those of other aspects of the language in terms of mutual intelligibility. A small number of words have completely different meanings between the two dialects or are even unknown or not used in one of the dialects. One particular contribution towards formalizing these differences came from Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary (published 1828) with the intention of showing that people in the United States spoke a different dialect from Britain. This divergence between American English and British English once caused George Bernard Shaw to say that the United States and United Kingdom are "two countries divided by a common language"; a similar

comment is ascribed to Winston Churchill. Likewise, Oscar Wilde wrote, "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language." (The Canterville Ghost, 1888) Henry Sweet predicted in 1877 that within a century, American English, Australian English and British English would be mutually unintelligible. It may be the case that increased worldwide communication through radio, television, the Internet, and globalization has reduced the tendency to regional variation. This can result either in some variations becoming extinct (for instance, the wireless, superseded by the radio) or in the acceptance of wide variations as "perfectly good English" everywhere. Often at the core of the dialect though, the idiosyncrasies remain. Nevertheless, it remains the case that although spoken American and British English are generally mutually intelligible, there are enough differences to cause occasional misunderstandings or at times embarrassment

– for example, some words that are quite innocent in one dialect may be considered vulgar in the other. 4 Pronunciation Grammar Nouns Formal and notional agreement In BrE, collective nouns can take either singular (formal agreement) or plural (notional agreement) verb forms, according to whether the emphasis is, respectively, on the body as a whole or on the individual members; compare a committee was appointed. with the committee were unable to agree.[5][6] Compare also the following lines of Elvis Costellos song "Olivers Army": Olivers Army are on their way / Olivers Army is here to stay. Some of these nouns, for example staff,[7] actually combine with plural verbs most of the time. In AmE, collective nouns are usually singular in construction: the committee was unable to agree. AmE however may use plural pronouns in agreement with collective nouns: the team takes their seats, rather than the team takes its seats. The rule of thumb is that a group acting as a unit is

considered singular and a group of "individuals acting separately" is considered plural.[8] However, such a sentence would most likely be recast as the team members take their seats. Despite exceptions such as usage in the New York Times, the names of sports teams are usually treated as plurals even if the form of the name is singular.[9] The difference occurs for all nouns of multitude, both general terms such as team and company and proper nouns (for example, where a place name is used to refer to a sports team). For instance, BrE: The Clash are a well-known band; AmE: The Clash is a well-known band. BrE: New York are the champions; AmE: New York is the champion. Proper nouns that are plural in form take a plural verb in both AmE and BrE; for example, The Beatles are a well-known band; The Giants are the champions. Verbs Verb morphology • The past tense and past participle of the verbs learn, spoil, spell (only in the wordrelated sense), burn, dream, smell, spill, leap,

and others, can be either irregular (learnt, spoilt, etc.) or regular (learned, spoiled, etc) In BrE, the irregular and regular forms are current; in some cases (smelt, leapt) there is a strong tendency towards the irregular forms (especially by speakers using Received Pronunciation); in other cases (dreamed, leaned, learned[10]) the regular forms are 5 • • • • • • • somewhat more common. In AmE, the irregular forms are never or rarely used (except for burnt and leapt).[11] Nonetheless, as with other usages considered nowadays to be typically British, the t endings are often found in older American texts. However, usage may vary when the past participles are actually adjectives, as in burnt toast. (Note that the two-syllable form learnèd /lɜːnɪd/, usually written simply as learned, is still used as an adjective to mean "educated", or to refer to academic institutions, in both BrE and AmE.) Finally, the past tense and past participle of dwell and

kneel are more commonly dwelt and knelt on both sides of the Atlantic, although dwelled and kneeled are widely used in the US (but not in the UK). Lit as the past tense of light is much more common than lighted in the UK; the regular form enjoys more use in the US, although it is somewhat less common than lit.[12] By contrast, fit as the past tense of fit is much more used in AmE than BrE, which generally favors fitted.[13] The past tense of spit "expectorate" is spat in BrE, spit or spat in AmE.[14] The past participle of saw is normally sawn in BrE and sawed in AmE (as in sawn-off/sawed-off shotgun).[15] The past participle gotten is rarely used in modern BrE (although it is used in some dialects), which generally uses got, except in old expressions such as illgotten gains. According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, "The form gotten is not used in British English but is very common in North American English, though even there it is often regarded as

non-standard." In AmE, gotten emphasizes the action of acquiring and got tends to indicate simple possession (for example, Have you gotten it? versus Have you got it?). Gotten is also typically used in AmE as the past participle for phrasal verbs using get, such as get off, get on, get into, get up, and get around: If you hadnt gotten up so late, you might not have gotten into this mess. Interestingly, AmE, but not BrE, has forgot as a less common alternative to forgotten for the past participle of forget. In BrE, the past participle proved is strongly preferred to proven; in AmE, proven is now about as common as proved.[16] (Both dialects use proven as an adjective, and in formulas such as not proven).[17] AmE further allows other irregular verbs, such as dive (dove) or sneak (snuck), and often mixes the preterit and past participle forms (spring–sprang, US also sprung–sprung), sometimes forcing verbs such as shrink (shrank–shrunk) to have a further form, thus

shrunk–shrunken. These uses are often considered nonstandard; the AP Stylebook in AmE treats some irregular verbs as colloquialisms, insisting on the regular forms for the past tense of dive, plead and sneak. Dove and snuck are usually considered nonstandard in Britain, although dove exists in some British dialects and snuck is occasionally found in British speech. By extension of the irregular verb pattern, verbs with irregular preterits in some variants of colloquial AmE also have a separate past participle, for example, "to buy": past tense bought spawns boughten. Such formations are highly irregular from speaker to speaker, or even within idiolects. This phenomenon is found chiefly in the northern US and other areas where immigrants of German descent are predominant, and may have developed as a result of German influence[18] 6 (though in German, both are regular past participle forms, cf. kaufen, kaufte, gekauft (bought) and lesen, las, gelesen (read)). Even in

areas where the feature predominates, however, it has not gained widespread acceptance as "standard" usage. Use of tenses • BrE uses the present perfect tense to talk about an event in the recent past and with the words already, just, and yet. In American usage, these meanings can be expressed with the present perfect (to express a fact[citation needed]) or the simple past (to imply an expectation[citation needed]). This American style has become widespread only in the past 20 to 30 years; the British style is still in common use as well. o "Ive just arrived home." / "I just arrived home" o "Ive already eaten." / "I already ate" (Recently the American use of just with simple past has made inroads into BrE, most visibly in advertising slogans and headlines such as "Cable broadband just got faster".) • • Similarly, AmE occasionally replaces the pluperfect with the preterite.[citation needed] Also, US spoken usage

sometimes, especially with the contracted forms, substitutes the conditional for the pluperfect (If I would have cooked the pie we could have had it for lunch),[citation needed] but this tends to be avoided in writing. In BrE, have got or have can be used for possession and have got to and have to can be used for the modal of necessity. The forms that include ‘‘got’’ are usually used in informal contexts and the forms without got in contexts that are more formal. In American speech the form without got is used more than in the UK, although the form with got is often used for emphasis. Colloquial AmE informally uses got as a verb for these meanings – for example, I got two cars, I got to go. • The subjunctive mood (morphologically identical with the bare infinitive) is regularly used in AmE in mandative clauses (as in They suggested that he apply for the job). In BrE, this usage declined in the 20th century, in favor of constructions such as They suggested that he should

apply for the job (or even, more ambiguously, They suggested that he applied for the job). Apparently, however, the mandative subjunctive has recently started to come back into use in BrE.[19] Verbal auxiliaries • Shall (as opposed to will) is more commonly used by the British than by Americans.[20][21] Shant is seldom used in AmE (almost invariably replaced by wont or am not going to), and very much less so amongst Britons. American grammar also tends to ignore some traditional distinctions between should and 7 • would[22]; however, expressions like I should be happy are rather formal even in BrE. The periphrastic future (be going to) is about twice as frequent in AmE as in BrE.[23] Transitivity The following verbs show differences in transitivity between BrE and AmE. • • • • • • • • • agree: Transitive or intransitive in BrE, usually intransitive in AmE (agree a contract/agree to or on a contract). However, in formal AmE legal writing one often

sees constructions like as may be agreed between the parties (rather than as may be agreed upon between the parties). appeal (as a decision): Usually intransitive in BrE (used with against) and transitive in AmE (appeal against the decision to the Court/appeal the decision to the Court).[24] catch up ("to reach and overtake"): Transitive or intransitive in BrE, strictly intransitive in AmE (to catch sb up/to catch up with sb). A transitive form does exist in AmE, but has a different meaning: to catch sb up means that the subject will help the object catch up, rather the opposite of the BrE transitive meaning. In other words, the subject acts more like an indirect object. cater ("to provide food and service"): Intransitive in BrE, transitive in AmE (to cater for a banquet/to cater a banquet). claim: Sometimes intransitive in BrE (used with for), strictly transitive in AmE. meet: AmE uses intransitively meet followed by with to mean "to have a meeting with",

as for business purposes (Yesterday we met with the CEO), and reserves transitive meet for the meanings "to be introduced to" (I want you to meet the CEO; she is such a fine lady), "to come together with (someone, somewhere)" (Meet the CEO at the train station), and "to have a casual encounter with". BrE uses transitive meet also to mean "to have a meeting with"; the construction meet with, which actually dates back to Middle English, appears to be coming back into use in Britain, despite some commentators who preferred to avoid confusion with meet with meaning "receive, undergo" (the proposal was met with disapproval). The construction meet up with (as in to meet up with someone), which originated in the US,[25] has long been standard in both dialects. provide: Strictly monotransitive in BrE, monotransitive or ditransitive in AmE (provide sb with sth/provide sb sth). protest: In sense "oppose", intransitive in BrE, transitive

in AmE (The workers protested against the decision/The workers protested the decision). The intransitive protest against in AmE means, "to hold or participate in a demonstration against". The older sense "proclaim" is always transitive (protest ones innocence). write: In BrE, the indirect object of this verb usually requires the preposition to, for example, Ill write to my MP or Ill write to her (although it is not required in 8 some situations, for example when an indirect object pronoun comes before a direct object noun, for example, Ill write her a letter). In AmE, write can be used monotransitively (Ill write my congressman; Ill write him). Complementation • • The verbs prevent and stop can be found in two different constructions: "prevent/stop someone from doing something" and "prevent/stop someone doing something". The latter is well established in BrE, but not in AmE Some verbs can take either a to+infinitive construction or a

gerund construction (e.g, to start to do something/doing something) For example, the gerund is more common: [26] o In AmE than BrE, with start, begin,[27] omit,[28] enjoy;[29] [30] o In BrE than AmE, with love, like,[31] intend.[32] Presence or absence of syntactic elements • • • Where a statement of intention involves two separate activities, it is acceptable for speakers of AmE to use to go plus bare infinitive. Speakers of BrE would instead use to go and plus bare infinitive. Thus, where a speaker of AmE might say Ill go take a bath, BrE speakers would say Ill go and have a bath. (Both can also use the form to go to instead to suggest that the action may fail, as in He went to take/have a bath, but the bath was full of children.) Similarly, to come plus bare infinitive is acceptable to speakers of AmE, where speakers of BrE would instead use to come and plus bare infinitive. Thus, where a speaker of AmE might say come see what I bought, BrE speakers would say come and see

what Ive bought (notice the present perfect tense: a common British preference). Use of prepositions before days denoted by a single word. Where British people would say She resigned on Thursday, Americans often say She resigned Thursday, but both forms are common in American usage. Occasionally, the preposition is also absent when referring to months: Ill be here December (although this usage is generally limited to colloquial speech). In the UK, from is used with single dates and times more often than in the United States. Where British speakers and writers may say the new museum will be open from Tuesday, Americans most likely say the new museum will be open starting Tuesday. (This difference does not apply to phrases of the pattern from A to B, which are used in both BrE and AmE.) A variation or alternative of this is the mostly American the play opens Tuesday and the mostly British the play opens on Tuesday. 9 • American legislators and lawyers always use the preposition

of between the name of a legislative act and the year it was passed, while their British colleagues do not. The definite article • • • • • • A few institutional nouns take no definite article when a certain role is implied: for example, at sea (as a sailor), in prison (as a convict), and at/in college (for students). Among this group, BrE has in hospital (as a patient) and at university (as a student), where AmE requires in the hospital and at the university. (When the implied roles of patient or student do not apply, the definite article is used in both dialects.) Likewise, BrE distinguishes in future ("from now on") from in the future ("at some future time"); AmE uses in the future for both senses. AmE omits, and BrE requires, the definite article in a few standard expressions[clarification needed] such as tell (the) time. In BrE, numbered highways usually take the definite article (for example "the M25", "the A14") while in

America they usually do not ("I-495", "Route 66"). Southern California is an exception, where "the 5" or "the 405" are the standard. A similar pattern is followed for named roads, but in America, there are local variations and older American highways tend to follow the British pattern ("the Boston Post Road"). AmE distinguishes in back of [behind] from in the back of; the former is unknown in the UK and liable to misinterpretation as the latter. Both, however, distinguish in front of from in the front of. Dates usually include a definite article in UK spoken English, such as "the eleventh of July", or "July the eleventh", while American speakers most commonly say "July eleventh". Prepositions and adverbs • • • In the United States, the word through can mean "up to and including" as in Monday through Friday. In the UK Monday to Friday, or Monday to Friday inclusive is used instead; Monday

through to Friday is also sometimes used. (In some parts of Northern England the term while can be used in the same way, as in Monday while Friday, whereas in Northern Ireland[citation needed] Monday till Friday would be more natural.) British athletes play in a team; American athletes play on a team. (Both may play for a particular team.) In AmE, the use of the function word out as a preposition in out the door and out the window is standard to mean "out through". For example, in AmE, one jumps "out of a boat" by jumping "out the porthole," and it would be incorrect in standard AmE to "jump out the boat" or climb "out of the porthole." In BrE, out of is preferred in writing for both meanings, but out is common in speech.[33] Several other uses of out of are peculiarly British (out of all recognition, out of the team; 10 • • • • • • • • • • • • cf. above);[34] all of this notwithstanding, out of is

overall more frequent in AmE than in BrE (about four times as frequent, according to Algeo[35]). The word heat meaning "mating season" is used with on in the UK and with in in the US. The intransitive verb affiliate can take either with or to in BrE, but only with in AmE. The verb enrol(l) usually takes on in BrE and in in AmE (as in "to enrol(l) on/in a course") and the on/in difference is used when enrolled is dropped (as in "I am (enrolled) on the course that studies.") In AmE, one always speaks of the street on which an address is located, whereas in BrE in can also be used in some contexts. In suggests an address on a city street, so a service station (or a tourist attraction or indeed a village) would always be on a major road, but a department store might be in Oxford Street. Moreover, if a particular place on the street is specified then the preposition used is whichever is idiomatic to the place, thus "at the end of Churchill Road." BrE

favours the preposition at with weekend ("at (the) weekend(s)"); the constructions on, over, and during (the) weekend(s) are found in both varieties but are all more common in AmE than BrE.[36] Adding at to the end of a question requesting a location is common in AmE, for example, "where are you at?", but would be considered superfluous in BrE. After talk American can use the preposition with but British always[citation needed] uses to (that is, Ill talk with Dave / Ill talk to Dave). The American form is sometimes seen as more politically correct in British organisations, inducing the ideal of discussing (with), as opposed to lecturing (to). This is, of course, unless talk is being used as a noun, for example: "Ill have a talk with him" in which case this is acceptable in both BrE and AmE. In both dialects, from is the preposition prescribed for use after the word different: American English is different from British English in several respects. However,

different than is also commonly heard in the US, and is often considered standard when followed by a clause (American English is different than it used to be), whereas different to is a common alternative in BrE.[37][38] It is common in BrE to say opposite to as an alternative to opposite of, the only form normally found in AmE. The use of opposite as a preposition (opposite the post office) has long been established in both dialects, but appears to be more common in British usage. The noun opportunity can be followed by a verb in two different ways: opportunity plus to-infinitive ("the opportunity to do something") or opportunity plus of plus gerund ("the opportunity of doing something"). The first construction is the most common in both dialects, but the second has almost disappeared in AmE and is often regarded as a Briticism. Both British and Americans may say (for example) that a river is named after a state, but "named for a state" would rightly be

regarded as an Americanism. BrE sometimes uses to with near (we live near to the university), while AmE avoids the preposition in most usages dealing with literal, physical proximity (we live near the university), although the to reappears in AmE when near takes the 11 • • • comparative or superlative form, as in she lives nearer/nearest to the deranged axe murderers house. In BrE, one calls (or rings) someone on his or her telephone number; in AmE, one calls someone at his or her telephone number. When referring to the constituency of a US Senator the preposition "from" is usually used: "Senator from New York," whereas British MPs are "for" their constituency: "MP for East Cleveland." In AmE, the phrases aside from and apart from are used about equally; in BrE, apart from is far more common.[39] Phrasal verbs • • • • In the US, forms are usually but not invariably filled out, but in Britain they can also be filled in.

However, in reference to individual parts of a form, Americans may also use in (fill in the blanks). In AmE the direction fill it all in (referring to the form as a collection of blanks, perhaps) is as common as fill it all out. Britons facing extortionate prices may have no option but to fork out, whereas Americans are more likely to fork (it) over or sometimes up; both usages are however found in both dialects. In both countries, thugs will beat up their victim; AmE also allows beat on (as both would for an inanimate object, such as a drum) or beat up on, which are often considered slang. When an outdoor event is postponed or interrupted by rain, it is rained off in the UK and rained out in the US. Miscellaneous grammatical differences • • • In AmE, some prescriptionists feel that which should not be used as an antecedent in restrictive relative clauses. According to The Elements of Style (p 59), "that is the defining, or restrictive pronoun, which the nondefining, or

nonrestrictive." This distinction was endorsed by Fowlers Modern English Usage, but the use of which as a restrictive pronoun is common in great literature produced on both sides of the Atlantic.[40] In names of American rivers, the word river usually comes after the name (for example, Colorado River), whereas for British rivers it comes before (as in the River Thames). Exceptions in BrE include the Fleet River, which is rarely called the River Fleet by Londoners outside of official documentation, and also where the river name is an adjective (the Yellow River). Exceptions in the US are the River Rouge and the River Raisin, both in Michigan and named by the French. This convention is mixed, however, in some Commonwealth nations, where both arrangements are often seen. In BrE the word sat is often colloquially used to cover sat, sitting and seated: Ive been sat here waiting for half an hour. The brides family will be sat on the righthand side of the church This construction is not

often heard outside the UK In 12 • • • the 1960s, its use would mark a speaker as coming from the north of England but by the turn of the 21st century this form had spread to the south. Its use often conveys lighthearted informality, as many speakers intentionally use an ungrammatical construction they would probably not use in formal written English. This colloquial usage is widely understood by British speakers Similarly stood can be used instead of standing. To an American, these usages are passive, and may imply that the subject had been involuntarily forced to sit or stand, or directed to hold that location. In most areas of the United States, the word with is also used as an adverb: Ill come with instead of Ill come along. However, in some British Dialects, come with is used as an abbreviation of come with me, as in Im going to the office – come with. This particular variant is also used by speakers in Minnesota and parts of the adjoining states: Want to come

with? This is another expression possibly arising from German (kommst du mit?) in parts of the United States with high concentrations of German American populations. It is similar to South African English, where the expression comes from Dutch, and is used by Afrikaans speakers when speaking English. The word also is used at the end of a sentence in AmE (just as as well and too are in both dialects), but not so commonly in BrE, although it is encountered in Northern Ireland. Additionally, sentence ending as well is more formal in AmE than in BrE. Before some words beginning with h with the first syllable unstressed, such as hallucination, hilarious, historic(al), horrendous, and horrific, some (but not most) British writers prefer to use an over a (an historical event, etc.) American writers normally use a, although there are occasional uses of an historic (al) in AmE.[41] Unlike BrE, AmE typically uses an before herb, since the h in this word is silent for most Americans. Word

derivation and compounds • • Directional suffix -ward(s): British forwards, towards, rightwards, etc.; American forward, toward, rightward. In both dialects, distribution varies somewhat: afterwards, towards, and backwards are not unusual in America; while in Britain forward is common, and standard in phrasal verbs like look forward to. The forms with -s may be used as adverbs (or preposition towards), but rarely as adjectives: in Britain as in America, one says "an upward motion". The Oxford English Dictionary in 1897 suggested a semantic distinction for adverbs, with -wards having a more definite directional sense than -ward; subsequent authorities such as Fowler have disputed this contention. AmE freely adds the suffix -s to day, night, evening, weekend, Monday, etc. to form adverbs denoting repeated or customary action: I used to stay out evenings; the library is closed Saturdays. This usage has its roots in Old English, but many of these constructions are now

regarded as American (for example, the OED labels nights "now chiefly N. Amer colloq"; but to work nights is standard in BrE). 13 • • • • • In BrE, the agentive -er suffix is commonly attached to football (also cricket; often netball; occasionally basketball). AmE usually uses football player Where the sports name is usable as a verb, the suffixation is standard in both dialects: for example, golfer, bowler (in Ten-pin bowling and in Lawn Bowls), and shooter. AmE appears to sometimes use the BrE form in baller as slang for a basketball player, as in the video game NBA Ballers. However, this is derived from slang use of to ball as a verb meaning to play a basketball. English writers everywhere occasionally (and from time immemorial) make new compound words from common phrases; for example, health care is now being replaced by healthcare on both sides of the Atlantic. However, AmE has made certain words in this fashion that are still treated as phrases in

BrE. In compound nouns of the form <verb><noun>, sometimes AmE favours the bare infinitive where BrE favors the gerund. Examples include (AmE first): jump rope/skipping rope; racecar/racing car; rowboat/rowing boat; sailboat/sailing boat; file cabinet/filing cabinet; dial tone/dialling tone. More generally, AmE has a tendency to drop inflectional suffixes, thus favoring clipped forms: compare cookbook vs. cookery book; Smith, age 40 vs Smith, aged 40; skim milk vs. skimmed milk; dollhouse vs dolls house; barbershop vs barbers shop.[42] This has recently been extended to appear on professionally printed commercial signage and some boxes themselves (not mere greengrocers chalkboards): can vegetables and mash potatoes appear in the U.S Singular attributives in one country may be plural in the other, and vice versa. For example, the UK has a drugs problem while the United States has a drug problem (although the singular usage is also commonly heard in the UK); Americans read

the sports section of a newspaper, while the British are more likely to read the sport section. However, BrE maths is singular, just as AmE math is: both are abbreviations of mathematics. Lexis (vocabulary) Most of the differences in lexis or vocabulary between British and American English are in connection with concepts originating from the 19th century to the mid 20th century, when new words were coined independently.[citation needed] Almost the entire vocabularies of the car/automobile and railway/railroad industries (see Rail terminology) are different between the UK and US, for example. Other sources of difference are slang or vulgar terms, where frequent new coinage occurs, and idiomatic phrases, including phrasal verbs. The differences most likely to create confusion are those where the same word or phrase is used for two different concepts. Regional variations, even within the US or the UK, can create the same problems. General trends While the use of American expressions in

the UK is often noted, movement in the opposite direction is less common. But such words as book (meaning "to reserve") and roundabout (otherwise called a traffic circle or rotary) are clearly current in AmE, although often regarded as British. Some other "Briticisms", such as go missing (as an 14 alternative to disappear), bespoke (for custom-made or made-to-order), or run-up (for "period preceding an event") are increasingly used in AmE, and a few (for instance, early on) are now completely standard. Words mainly used in a single form Though the influence of cross-culture media has done much to familiarize BrE and AmE speakers with each others regional words and terms, many words are still recognized as part of a single form of English. Though the use of a British word would be acceptable in AmE (and vice versa), most listeners would recognize the word as coming from the other form of English, and treat it much the same as a word borrowed from any

other language. For instance, an American using the word chap or mate to refer to a friend would be heard in much the same way as an American using the Spanish word amigo. Words mainly used in British English Some speakers of AmE are aware of some BrE terms, such as lorry, queue, chap, bloke, loo, and shag, although they would not generally use them, or may be confused as to whether someone intends the American or British meaning (such as for biscuit). They will be able to guess approximately what some others, such as “driving licence,” mean. However, use of many other British words such as naff (unstylish, though commonly used to mean "not very good"), risks rendering a sentence incomprehensible to most Americans. Words mainly used in American English Speakers of BrE are likely to understand most AmE terms, examples such as sidewalk, gas (gasoline/petrol), counterclockwise or elevator (lift), without any problem although they would generally not use them. Certain terms

which are heard less frequently in the UK, such as semi (articulated lorry), stroller (pram/pushchair) or kitty-corner/cattycorner (diagonally opposite) are highly unlikely to be understood by most BrE speakers. Words with different meanings Words such as bill (AmE "paper money", BrE and AmE "invoice") and biscuit (AmE: BrEs "scone", BrE: AmEs "cookie") are used regularly in both AmE and BrE, but mean different things in each form. As chronicled by Winston Churchill, the opposite meanings of the verb to table created a misunderstanding during a meeting of the Allied forces] in BrE to table an item on an agenda means to open it up for discussion, whereas in AmE, it means to remove it from discussion. Word choice • In the UK, the word whilst may be used as a conjunction (as an alternative to while, especially prevalent in some dialects), but while is used as a noun. In AmE only while is used in both contexts. For example, I will be a while

versus 15 whilst/while you were out, your friend called. To Americans the word whilst, in any context, seems very archaic or pretentious or both. In some regions of England, the word while is used to mean "until", so whilst may be used in spoken English to avoid confusion. • In the UK, generally the term fall meaning "autumn" is obsolete. Although found often from Elizabethan to Victorian literature, continued understanding of the word is usually ascribed to its continued use in America. • In the UK, the term period for a full stop is now obsolete. For example, Tony Blair said, "Terrorism is wrong, full stop", whereas in AmE, "Terrorism is wrong, period."[43] • Media domination has seen American vocabulary encroaching on British in recent decades, so that (for example) truck is now increasingly heard in the UK instead of lorry, and line is used as well as queue – so that the verb queue up or queue is now sometimes replaced with

stand in line. Numbers When saying or writing out numbers, the British will typically insert an and before the tens and units, as in one hundred and sixty-two or two thousand and three. In America, it is considered correct to drop the and, as in two thousand three; however, this is rarely heard in everyday speech, two thousand and three being much more common.[citation needed] Some American schools teach students to pronounce decimally written fractions (e.g 5) as though they were longhand fractions (five tenths), such as five hundred thirteen and seven tenths for 513.7 This formality is often dropped in common speech It is steadily disappearing in instruction in mathematics that is more advanced and science work as well as in international American schools. In the UK, 5137 would generally be read five hundred and thirteen point seven, although if it were written 513 7⁄ 10 , it would be pronounced five hundred and thirteen and seven tenths. In counting, it is common in both

varieties of English to count in hundreds up to 1,900 – so 1,200 may be twelve hundred. However, Americans use this pattern for much higher numbers than is the norm in British English, referring to twenty-four hundred where British English would most often use two thousand four hundred. Even below 2,000, Americans are more likely than the British are to read numbers like 1,234 as twelve hundred thirty-four, instead of one thousand two hundred and thirty-four. In BrE, it is also common to use phrases such as three and a half thousand for 3,500, whereas in AmE this construction is almost never used for numbers under a million. In the case of years, however, twelve thirty-four would be the norm on both sides of the Atlantic for the year 1234. The year 2000 and years beyond it are read as two thousand, two thousand (and) one and the like by both British and American speakers. For years after 2009, they are frequently said twenty ten, twenty twelve etc. by the BBC 16 For the house

number (or bus number, etc.) 272, British people tend to say two seven two while Americans tend to say two seventy-two. There is also a historical difference between billions, trillions, and so forth. Americans use billion to mean one thousand million (1,000,000,000), whereas in the UK, until the latter part of the 20th century, it was used to mean one million million (1,000,000,000,000). It is believed that Margaret Thatcher started the change on advice from the Bank of England. The British prime minister, Harold Wilson, in 1974, told the House of Commons that UK government statistics would now use the short scale; followed by the Chancellor, Denis Healey, in 1975, that the treasury would now adopt the US billion version. Although historically such numbers were not often required outside of mathematical and scientific contexts. One thousand million was sometimes described as a milliard, the definition adopted by most other European languages. However, the "American" version

has since been adopted for all published writing, and the word milliard is obsolete in English, as are billiard (but not billiards, the game), trilliard and so on. However, the term yard, derived from milliard, is still used in the financial markets on both sides of the Atlantic to mean "one thousand million". All major British publications and broadcasters, including the BBC, which long used thousand million to avoid ambiguity, now use billion to mean thousand million. Many people have no direct experience with manipulating numbers this large, and many non-American readers may interpret billion as 1012 (even if they are young enough to have been taught otherwise at school); also, usage of the "long" billion is standard in some non-English speaking countries. For these reasons, defining the word may be advisable when writing for the public. See long and short scales for a more detailed discussion of the evolution of these terms in English and other languages. When

referring to the numeral 0, British people would normally use nought, oh, zero or nil in instances such as sports scores and voting results. Americans use the term zero most frequently; oh is also often used (though never when the quantity in question is nothing), and occasionally slang terms such as zilch or zip. Phrases such as the team won two–zip or the team leads the series, two–nothing are heard when reporting sports scores. The digit 0, for example, when reading a phone or account number aloud, is nearly always pronounced oh in both language varieties for the sake of convenience. In the internet age, the use of the term oh can cause certain inconveniences when one is referencing an email address, causing confusion as to whether the character in question is a zero or the letter O. When reading numbers in a sequence, such as a telephone or serial number, British people will usually use the terms double or triple/treble followed by the repeated number. Hence, 007 is double oh

seven. Exceptions are the emergency telephone number 999, which is always nine nine nine, and the apocalyptic "Number of the Beast", which is always six six six. The directory inquiries prefix 118 is also one one eight in Britain In the US, 911 (the US emergency telephone number) is usually read nine one one, while 9/11 (in reference to the September 11, 2001 attacks) is usually read nine eleven. 17 Monetary amounts • • • • • • • Monetary amounts in the range of one to two major currency units are often spoken differently. In AmE one may say a dollar fifty or a pound eighty, whereas in BrE these amounts would be expressed one dollar fifty and one pound eighty. For amounts over a dollar, an American will generally either drop denominations or give both dollars and cents, as in two-twenty or two dollars and twenty cents for $2.20 An American would not say two dollars twenty On the other hand, in BrE, two pounds twenty would be the most common form. It

is more common to hear a British-English speaker say one thousand two hundred dollars than a thousand and two hundred dollars, although the latter construct is common in AmE. The term twelve hundred dollars, popular in AmE, is frequently used in BrE but only for exact multiples of 100 up to 1900. Speakers of BrE very rarely hear amounts over 1900 expressed in hundreds, for example twenty-three hundred. The BrE slang term quid is roughly equivalent to the AmE buck and both are often used in the two respective dialects for round amounts, as in fifty quid for £50 and twenty bucks for $20. A hundred and fifty grand in either dialect could refer to £150,000 or $150,000 depending on context. A user of AmE may hand-write the mixed monetary amount $3.24 as $324 or $324 (often seen for extra clarity on a check); BrE users will always write this as £3.24, £3·24 or, for extra clarity on a cheque, as £324. In all cases there may or may not be a space after the currency symbol, or the

currency symbols may be omitted depending on context.[44] In order to make explicit the amount in words on a check, Americans write three and 24⁄ 100 (using this solidus construction or with a horizontal division line): they do not need to write the word dollars as it is usually already printed on the check. UK residents, on a cheque, would write three pounds and 24 pence, three pounds ‒ 24 or three pounds ‒ 24p, since the currency unit is not preprinted. To make unauthorized amendment difficult, it is useful to have an expression terminator even when a whole number of dollars/pounds is in use: thus Americans would write three and 00⁄ 100 or three and no⁄ 100 on a three-dollar check (so that it cannot easily be changed to, for example, three million) and UK residents would write three pounds only, or three pounds exactly.[45] The term pound sign in BrE always refers to the currency symbol £, whereas in AmE pound sign means the number sign, which the British call the hash

symbol, #. (The British telephone company BT, in the 1960s–1990s, called this gate on telephone keypads.) In BrE, the plural of the word pound is often considered pound as opposed to pounds. For example, three pound forty and twenty pound a week are both legitimate British English. This does not apply to other currencies, however, so that the same speaker would most likely say three dollars forty, twenty dollars a week in similar contexts. In BrE, the use of p instead of pence is common in spoken usage. Each of the following have equal legitimacy: three pounds, twelve p, three pounds and twelve p, three pounds, twelve pence, three pounds and twelve pence, as well as just eight p or eight pence. 18 • AmE uses words like nickel, dime, and quarter for small coins. In BrE, the usual usage is 10-pence piece or 10p piece for any coin below £1, with piece sometimes omitted, but pound coin and two-pound coin. BrE did have specific words for a number of coins before decimalisation.

Time-telling Fifteen minutes after the hour is called quarter past in British usage and a quarter after or, less commonly, a quarter past in American usage. Fifteen minutes before the hour is usually called quarter to in British usage and a quarter of, a quarter to or a quarter till in American usage; the form a quarter to is associated with parts of the Northern United States, while a quarter till is found chiefly in the Appalachian region. Thirty minutes after the hour is commonly called half past in both BrE and AmE. In informal British speech, the preposition is sometimes omitted, so that 5:30 may be referred to as half five (by contrast, in the German halb fünf is half-an-hour before five, i.e 4:30) Half after used to be more common in the US. The AmE formations top of the hour and bottom of the hour are not commonly used in BrE. Forms like eleven forty are common in both dialects. See below for variation in written forms Selected lexical differences Levels of buildings There

are also variations in floor numbering between the US and UK. In most countries, including the UK, the "first floor" is one above the entrance level while the entrance level is the "ground floor". On (BrE) lift / (AmE) elevator buttons in the UK the Ground Floor is often denoted by the letter G, or the number 0. Normal American usage labels the entrance level as the "first floor" or the "ground floor", the floor immediately above that is the "second floor". American (AmE) apartment buildings / (BrE) blocks of flats frequently are exceptions to this rule. The ground floor often contains the lobby and parking area for the tenants, while the numbered floors begin one level above and contain only the apartments themselves. Figures of speech Both BrE and AmE use the expression "I couldnt care less" to mean the speaker does not care at all. Speakers of AmE sometimes incorrectly state this as "I could care less", literally

meaning precisely the opposite. Intonation no longer reflects the originally sarcastic nature of this variant, which is not idiomatic in BrE and might be interpreted as anything from nonsense (or sloppiness) to an indication that the speaker does care. In both areas, saying, "I dont mind" often means, "Im not annoyed" (for example, by someones smoking), while "I dont care" often means, "The matter is trivial or boring". However, in answering a question like "Tea or coffee?", if either alternative is equally 19 acceptable, an American may answer, "I dont care", while a British person may answer, "I dont mind". Either sounds odd to the other In BrE, the phrase I cant be arsed (to do something) is a vulgar equivalent to the British or American I cant be bothered (to do something). This can be extremely confusing to Americans, as the Southern British pronunciation of the former sounds similar to I cant be asked.,

which sounds either defiantly rude or nonsensical Older BrE often uses the exclamation "No fear!" where current AmE has "No way!" An example from Dorothy L. Sayers: Q.: Wilt thou be baptized in this faith? A.: No fear! from A Catechism for Pre- and Post-Christian Anglicans This usage may confuse users of AmE, who are likely to interpret and even use "No fear!" as enthusiastic willingness to move forward. Idioms A number of English idioms that have essentially the same meaning show lexical differences between the British and the American version; for instance: British English American English not touch something with a bargepole not touch something with a ten-foot pole sweep under the carpet sweep under the rug touch wood knock on wood see the wood for the trees see the forest for the trees throw a spanner (in the works) throw a (monkey) wrench (in the works) 20 tuppence worth also two pennies worth, two pence worth, two two cents worth

pennyworth, two pennyth, or (using a different coin) hapennyth) skeleton in the cupboard skeleton in the closet a home from home a home away from home blow ones trumpet blow (or toot) ones horn a drop in the ocean a drop in the bucket storm in a teacup tempest in a teapot flogging a dead horse beating a dead horse havent (got) a clue dont have a clue or have no clue a new lease of life a new lease on life if the cap fits (wear it) if the shoe fits (wear it) lie of the land lay of the land taking the mick/mickey making fun of taking the piss making fun of 21 having a go making fun of am i bothered? (pronounced bah-verd) do i care? take the shame own up to it In some cases, the "American" variant is also used in BrE, or vice versa. Education In the UK, a student is said to study, to read or informally simply to do a subject. In the recent past the expression to read a subject was more common at the older universities such as Oxford and

Cambridge. In the US, a student studies or majors in a subject (although concentration or emphasis is also used in some US colleges or universities to refer to the major subject of study). To major in something refers to the students principal course of study, while to study may refer to any class being taken. Students may also major in a subject in the UK as a part of degrees with modules from two or more subjects. BrE: "She did biology at Cambridge." (informal use only) "She studied biology at Cambridge." "She read biology at Cambridge." AmE: "She majored in biology at MIT." "His concentration is biology at MIT." At the tertiary or university level in BrE, each module is taught by a lecturer or tutor, while professor is the job-title of a head of department, that is, there is only one Professor of English at the university. In AmE, each class is generally taught by a professor (at some institutions, professor is a reserved title, with

other members of the faculty being referred to as lecturers or instructors in a way that more closely corresponds to the BrE usage). In both BrE and AmE, anyone giving an actual lecture is clearly, at that moment, a lecturer, whether or not they are also a professor, an instructor, a tutor or indeed a 22 special guest speaker. At the primary and secondary levels, the term teacher is used instead in both BrE and AmE. The word course in American use typically refers to the study of a restricted topic (for example, a course in Early Medieval England, a course in Integral Calculus) over a limited period of time (such as a semester or term) and is equivalent to a module at a British university. In the UK, a course of study is likely to refer to a whole program of study, which may extend over several years, and be made up of any number of modules. In the UK, a student is said to sit or take an exam, while in the US, a student takes an exam. The expression he sits for an exam also arises

in BrE, but only rarely in AmE; American lawyers-to-be sit for their bar exams, and American masters and doctoral students may sit for their comprehensive exams, but in nearly all other instances, Americans take their exams. When preparing for an exam, students revise (BrE)/review (AmE) what they have studied; the BrE idiom to revise for has the equivalent to review for in AmE. Examinations are supervised by invigilators in the UK and proctors (or (exam) supervisors) in the US. In the UK, a teacher sets an exam, while in the US, a teacher writes or gives an exam. BrE: "I sat my Spanish exam yesterday." "I plan to set a difficult exam for my students, but I dont have it ready yet." AmE: "I took my exams at Yale." "I spent the entire day yesterday writing the exam. Im almost ready to give it to my students." Another source of confusion is the different usage of the word college. (See a full international discussion of the various meanings at

college.) In the US, this refers to a post-high school institution that grants bachelors degrees, while in the UK it refers primarily to an institution between secondary school and university (normally referred to as a Sixth Form College after the old name in secondary education for Years 12 and 13, the 6th form) where intermediary courses such as A Levels or NVQs can be taken and GCSE courses can be retaken. College may sometimes be used in the UK or in Commonwealth countries as part of the name of a secondary or high school (for example, Dubai College). It should be noted, however, that in the case of Oxford, Cambridge, London, Lancaster and Durham universities, all members are also members of a college which is part of the university, for example, one is a member of St. Peters College, Oxford and hence the University. 23 In both the US and UK, college can refer to some division within a university such as the "college of business and economics". Institutions in the US

that offer two to four years of post-high school education often have the word college as part of their name, while those offering more advanced degrees are called a university. (There are exceptions, of course: Boston College, Dartmouth College and The College of William and Mary are examples of colleges that offer advanced degrees.) American students who pursue a bachelors degree (four years of higher education) or an associate degree (two years of higher education) are college students regardless of whether they attend a college or a university and refer to their educational institutions informally as colleges. A student who pursues a masters degree or a doctorate degree in the arts and sciences is in AmE a graduate student; in BrE a postgraduate student although graduate student also sometimes used. Students of advanced professional programs are known by their field (business student, law student, medical student, the last of which is frequently shortened to med student). Some

universities also have a residential college system, the details of which may vary from school to school but generally involve common living and dining spaces as well as college-organized activities. "Professor" has different meanings in BrE and AmE. In BrE, it is the highest academic rank, followed by Reader, Senior Lecturer and Lecturer. In AmE "Professor" refers to academic staff of all ranks, with (Full) Professor (largely equivalent to the UK meaning) followed by Associate Professor and Assistant Professor. There is additionally a difference between American and British usage in the word school. In British usage "school" by itself refers only to primary (elementary) and secondary (high) schools, and to sixth forms attached to secondary schools – if one "goes to school", this type of institution is implied. By contrast, an American student at a university may talk of "going to school" or "being in school". US law

students and med students almost universally speak in terms of going to "law school" and "med school", respectively. However, the word is used in BrE in the context of higher education; to describe a division grouping together several related subjects within a university, for example a "School of European Languages" containing departments for each language, and also in the term "art school". It is also the name of some of the constituent colleges of the University of London, e.g School of Oriental and African Studies, London School of Economics. Among high school and college students in the United States, the words freshman (or the gender-neutral term frosh or first year), sophomore, junior and senior refer to the first, second, third, and fourth years, respectively. For first-year students, "frosh" is another gender-neutral term that can be used as a qualifier, for example "Frosh class elections". It is important that the

context of either high school or college first be established, or else it must be stated directly (that is, She is a high school freshman. He is a college junior) Many institutions in both countries also use the term first-year as a gender-neutral replacement for freshman, although in the US this is recent usage, formerly referring only to those in the first year as a graduate student. One exception is the University of Virginia; since its founding in 1819, the terms "first-year", "second-year", "third-year", and "fourth-year" have been used to describe undergraduate university students. At the 24 United States military academies, at least those operated directly by the federal government, a different terminology is used, namely "fourth class", "third class", "second class", and "first class" (note that the order of numbering is the reverse of the number of years in attendance). In the UK, first year

university students are often called freshers, especially early in the academic year; however, there are no specific names for those in other years, or for school pupils. Graduate and professional students in the United States are known by their year of study (a "second-year medical student" or a "fifth-year doctoral candidate." Law students are often referred to as "1L", "2L", or "3L" rather than "nth-year law students"; similarly medical students are frequently referred to as "M1", "M2", "M3", or "M4"). While anyone in the US who finishes studying at any educational institution by passing relevant examinations is said to graduate and to be a graduate, in the UK only degree and above level students can graduate. Student itself has a wider meaning in AmE, meaning any person of any age studying at any educational institution, whereas in BrE it tends to be used for people studying at a

post-secondary educational institution. In the UK, the US equivalent of a high school is often referred to as a secondary school regardless of whether it is state funded or private. Secondary education in the United States also includes middle school or junior high school, a two or three year transitional school between elementary school and high school. The names of individual institutions can be confusing. There are several "University High Schools" in the United States that are not affiliated with any postsecondary institutions and cannot grant degrees, and there is one public high school, Central High School of Philadelphia, which does grant bachelors degrees to the top ten percent of graduating seniors. British secondary schools often have the word college in their names A public school has opposite meanings in the two countries. In the US this is a government-owned institution supported by taxpayers. In England and Wales, the term strictly refers to an ill-defined group

of prestigious private independent schools funded by students fees, although it is often more loosely used to refer to any independent school. Independent schools are also known as private schools, and the latter is the correct term in Scotland and Northern Ireland for all such fee-funded schools. Strictly, the term public school is not used in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the same sense as in England, but nevertheless, Gordonstoun, the Scottish private school which Charles, Prince of Wales attended, is sometimes referred to as a public school. Government-funded schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland are properly referred to as state schools – but are sometimes confusingly referred to as public schools (with the same meaning as in the US); whereas in the US, where most public schools are administered by local governments, a state school is typically a college or university run by one of the states. Speakers in both the United States and the United Kingdom use several additional

terms for specific types of secondary schools. A prep school or preparatory school is an independent school funded by tuition fees; the same term is used in the UK for a private school for pupils under thirteen, designed to prepare them for fee-paying public schools. 25 An American parochial school covers costs through tuition and has affiliation with a religious institution. In England, where the state-funded education system grew from parish schools organised by the local established church, the Church of England (C.of E, or C.E), and many schools, especially primary schools (up to age 11) retain a church connection and are known as church schools, C.E Schools or CE (Aided) Schools There are also faith schools associated with the Roman Catholic Church and other major faiths, with a mixture of funding arrangements. In the US, a magnet school receives government funding and has special admission requirements: students gain admission through superior performance on admission tests.

The UK has city academies, which are independent privately sponsored schools run with public funding, and which can select up to 10% of pupils by aptitude. Also, in the UK some Local Education Authorities maintain Grammar Schools (State funded secondary schools) which admit pupils according to performance in an examination(known as the 11+). Admission is usually restricted to the top 10% or less of those who sit the exam Transport/Transportation Americans refer to transportation, while British people refer to transport. As transportation in Britain was a penalty for a crime, that is, deportation, the British use the word communication to include goods and persons, whereas in America the word primarily refers to messages sent by post or electronics. The British devised the term telecoms for this last use; it is not quite standard in America. Differences in terminology are especially obvious in the context of roads. The British term dual carriageway, in American parlance, would be a

divided highway. Central reservation on a motorway in the UK would be a median on a freeway, expressway, highway, or parkway in the US. The one-way lanes that make it possible to enter and leave such roads at an intermediate point without disrupting the flow of traffic are generally known as slip roads in the UK, but US civil engineers call them ramps, and further distinguish between on-ramps (for entering) and off-ramps (for leaving). When American engineers speak of slip roads, they are referring to a street that runs alongside the main road (separated by a berm) to allow off-the-highway access to the premises that are there, sometimes also known as a frontage road – in the UK this is known as a service road. In the UK, the term outside lane refers to the higher-speed overtaking lane (passing lane in the US) closest to the center of the road, while inside lane refers to the lane closer to the edge of the road. In the US, outside lane is only used in the context of a turn, in which

case it depends on which direction the road is turning (i.e, if the road bends right the left lane is the outside lane, but if the road bends left the right lane is the outside lane). Both also refer to slow and fast lanes (even though all actual traffic speeds may be at or even above the legal speed limit). UK traffic officials, firefighters and police officers refer to 26 Lanes 1, 2 and 3 as slow, middle and fast lanes respectively. In the US the meanings are exactly reversed, with Lane 1 referring to the fast lane and so on.[citation needed] In the UK, drink driving is against the law, while in the US the term is drunk driving. The legal term in the US is driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). The equivalent legal phrase in the UK is drunk in charge of a motor vehicle (DIC), or more commonly driving with excess alcohol. Greetings When Christmas is explicitly mentioned in a greeting, the universal phrasing in North America is Merry

Christmas. In the UK, Happy Christmas is also heard It is increasingly common for Americans to say Happy Holidays, referring to all winter holidays (Christmas, Yule, New Years Day, Hanukkah, Diwali, St. Lucia Day and Kwanzaa) while avoiding any specific religious reference. Seasons Greetings is a less common phrase in both America and Britain. Entertainment On British television each year of a show is referred to as a series, while on American television each year is referred to as a season. Additionally, the entire run of a show is called a series in American English and several series can take place in the same fictional universe. Writing Spelling American and British English spelling differences are one aspect of American and British English differences. The spelling systems of Commonwealth countries, for the most part, closely resemble the British system. In Canada, however, while most spelling is "British", many "American" spellings are also used. Additional

information on Canadian and Australian spelling is provided throughout the article. Historical origins In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardized. Differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. Current British English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnsons Dictionary of the English Language (1755), whereas many American English spellings follow Noah Websters An American Dictionary of the English Language of 1828. 27 Webster was a strong proponent of spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. Many spelling changes proposed in the US by Webster himself, and in the early 20th century by the Simplified Spelling Board, never caught on. Among the advocates of spelling reform in England, the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French) spellings of certain words proved decisive. Subsequent spelling adjustments in the UK had little effect on present-day US spelling, and

vice versa. While in many cases American English deviated in the 19th century from mainstream British spelling, on the other hand it has also often retained older forms. Spelling and pronunciation In a few cases, essentially the same word has a different spelling which reflects a different pronunciation. As well as the miscellaneous cases listed in the following table, the past tenses of some irregular verbs differ in both spelling and pronunciation, as with smelt (mainly UK) versus smelled (mainly US): see American and British English differences: Verb morphology. UK USA aeroplane airplane aluminium aluminum Notes Aeroplane, originally a French loanword, is the older spelling. According to the OED,[1] "[a]irplane became the standard U.S term (replacing aeroplane) after it was adopted by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1916. Although A Lloyd Jones recommended its adoption by the BBC in 1928, it has until recently been no more than an occasional form in

British English." In the British National Corpus,[2] aeroplane outnumbers airplane by more than 7:1. The case is similar for UK aerodrome[3] and US airdrome,[4] although both of these forms are now obsolescent. The prefixes aero- and air- both mean air, the first coming from the Greek word αέρας. Thus, for example, the first appears in aeronautics, aerostatics and aerodynamics, and so on, where the second suffix is a Greek word, while the second occurs (invariably) in aircraft, airport, airliner, airmail, etc. where the second suffix is an English word. In Canada, Airplane is used more commonly than aeroplane, although aeroplane is not unknown, especially in parts of French Canada (the current French term is, however, avion aéroplane designating in French 19th-century flying machines. Both Canada and Australia use aerodrome as a technical term. The spelling aluminium is the international standard in the sciences (IUPAC). The American spelling is nonetheless used by many

American scientists. Humphry Davy, the elements discoverer, first proposed the name alumium, and then later 28 arse ass barmy balmy aluminum. The name aluminium was finally adopted to conform with the -ium ending of metallic elements.[5] Canada as US, Australia as UK. In vulgar senses "buttocks" ("anus"/"wretch"); unrelated sense "donkey"/"idiot" is ass in both. Both forms are found in Canada and Australia ("ass" to a lesser extent in the latter; "arse" may be used in North America as a "non-vulgar replacement"). In sense "slightly insane", "crazy", "foolish",[6] which has limited meaning in American English. Both forms originated in 19th century England from other senses: barmy meant "frothing [as of beer]"; balmy means "warm and soft [as of weather]". British barmy is generally misheard in North America as balmy. behove behoove bogeyman boogeyman

The spoken form is pronounced IPA: /ˈboʊgiːˌmæn/ ("BOHghi-man") in the UK, so that the US form, boogeyman, is reminiscent of the 1970s disco dancing boogie to the UK ear. carburettor carburetor British pronunciation IPA: /ˌkɑːbəˈɹɛtə(ɹ)/; US IPA: /ˈkɑɹbəˌɹeɪtɚ/. Canada spelling and pronunciation as US charivari shivaree, In the US, where both terms are mainly regional,[7] charivari is charivari usually pronounced as shivaree, which is also found in Canada and Cornwall,[8] and is a corruption of the French word. coupé coupe For a two-door car; the horse-drawn carriage is coupé in both; unrelated "cup"/"bowl" is always coupe. In the US, the E is accented when used as a foreign word. eyrie aerie Rhyme with weary and hairy respectively. Both spellings and pronunciations occur in the US. fillet fillet, filet Meat or fish. Pronounced the French way (approximately) in the US. furore furor Furore is a late 18th-century Italian loan that

replaced the Latinate form in the UK in the following century,[9] and is usually pronounced with a voiced e. Canada as US, Australia has both.[10] grotty grody Clippings of grotesque; both are slang terms from the 1960s.[11] haulier hauler Haulage contractor; haulier is the older spelling.[12] moustache mustache In the US, according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary, the British spelling is an also-ran, yet the pronunciation with secondsyllable stress is a common variant. mum(my) mom(my) Mother. Mom is sporadically regionally found in the UK (West Midlands English); some British dialects have mam,[13] and this is often used in Northern English, Irish and Welsh English. In the US region of New England, especially in the case of the Boston accent, the British pronunciation of mum is often 29 retained, while it is still spelled mom. Canada has mom and mum; in Australia, mum is used. naivety naïveté The American form is from French,

ending /-ˈeɪ/; the British form is nativised, ending /-i/. In the UK, naïveté is a minor variant, used about 20% of the time in the British National Corpus; in the US, naivete and naiveté are marginal variants, and naivety is almost unattested.[14][15] pernickety persnickety Persnickety is a late 19th-century North American alteration of the Scottish word pernickety.[16] quin quint Abbreviations of quintuplet. scallywag scalawag In the US (where the word originated, as scalawag),[17] scallywag is not unknown.[18] snigger snicker speciality specialty In British English the standard usage is speciality, but specialty occurs in the field of medicine,[19] and also as a legal term for a contract under seal. In Canada, specialty prevails; in Australia both are current.[20] titbit tidbit Latin-derived spellings -our, -or Most words ending in unstressed -our in the United Kingdom (e.g, colour, flavour, honour, armour, rumour) end in -or in the United States (i.e, color, flavor, honor,

armor, rumor). Where the vowel is unreduced, this does not occur: contour, paramour, troubadour, are spelled thus everywhere. Most words of this category derive from Latin non-agent nouns having nominative -or; the first such borrowings into English were from early Old French and the ending was -or or -ur.[21] After the Norman Conquest, the termination became -our in Anglo-French in an attempt to represent the Old French pronunciation of words ending in -or,[22] though color has been used occasionally in English since the fifteenth century.[23] The -our ending was not only retained in English borrowings from Anglo-French, but also applied to earlier French borrowings.[21] After the Renaissance, some such borrowings from Latin were taken up with their original -or termination; many words once ending in -our (for example, chancellour and governour) now end in -or everywhere. Many words of the -our/-or group do not have a Latin counterpart; for example, armo(u)r, behavio(u)r, harbo(u)r,

neighbo(u)r; also arbo(u)r meaning "shelter", though senses "tree" and "tool" are always arbor, a false cognate of the other word. Some 16th and early 17th century British scholars indeed insisted that -or be used for words of Latin origin (e.g color[23]) and -our for French loans; but in many cases the etymology was not completely clear, and therefore some scholars advocated -or only and others -our only.[24] 30 Websters 1828 dictionary featured only -or and is generally given much of the credit for the adoption of this form in the US. By contrast, Dr Johnsons 1755 dictionary used the our spelling for all words still so spelled in Britain, as well as for emperour, errour, governour, horrour, tenour, terrour, and tremour, where the u has since been dropped. Johnson, unlike Webster, was not an advocate of spelling reform, but selected the version best-derived, as he saw it, from among the variations in his sources: he favoured French over Latin

spellings because, as he put it, "the French generally supplied us."[25] Those English speakers who began to move across the Atlantic would have taken these habits with them and H L Mencken makes the point that, "honor appears in the Declaration of Independence, but it seems to have got there rather by accident than by design. In Jefferson’s original draft it is spelled honour. "[26] Examples such as color, flavor, behavior, harbor, or neighbor scarcely appear in the Old Baileys court records from the 17th and 18th century, whereas examples of their -our counterparts are numbered in thousands.[27] One notable exception is honor: honor and honour were equally frequent down to the 17th century,[28] Honor still is, in the UK, the normal spelling as a persons name. Derivatives and inflected forms. In derivatives and inflected forms of the -our/or words, in British usage the u is kept before English suffixes that are freely attachable to English words (neighbourhood,

humourless, savoury) and suffixes of Greek or Latin origin that have been naturalized (favourite, honourable, behaviourism); before Latin suffixes that are not freely attachable to English words, the u can be dropped (honorific, honorist, vigorous, humorous, laborious, invigorate), can be either dropped or retained (colo(u)ration, colo(u)rize), or can be retained (colourist).[21] In American usage, derivatives and inflected forms are built by simply adding the suffix in all environments (favorite, savory, etc.) since the u is absent to begin with Exceptions. American usage in most cases retains the u in the word glamour, which comes from Scots, not Latin or French; saviour is a common variant of savior in the US. The British spelling is very common for "honour" (and "favour") on wedding invitations in the United States.[29] The Space Shuttle Endeavour has a u as it is named after Captain Cooks ship, HMS Endeavour. The name of the herb savory is thus spelled

everywhere, although the probably related adjective savo(u)ry, like savour, has a u in the UK. Honor (the name) and arbor (the tool) have -or in Britain, as mentioned above. As a general noun, rigour (IPA: /ˈrɪgə(ɹ)/) has a u in the UK; the medical term rigor (often IPA: /ˈraɪgɔː(ɹ)/) does not. Commonwealth usage. Commonwealth countries normally follow British usage In Canada -or endings are not uncommon, particularly in the Prairie Provinces, though they are rarer in Eastern Canada.[24] In Australia, -or terminations enjoyed some use in the 19th century, and now are sporadically found in some regions,[24] usually in local and regional newspapers, though -our is almost universal. The name of the Australian Labor Party, founded in 1891, is a remnant of this trend. 31 -re, -er In British usage, some words of French, Latin, or Greek origin end with a consonant followed by -re, with the -re unstressed and pronounced /ə(ɹ)/. Most of these words have the ending -er in the US.

The difference is most common for words ending -bre or -tre: British spellings theatre, goitre, litre, lustre, mitre, nitre, reconnoitre, saltpetre, spectre, centre, titre; calibre, fibre, sabre, and sombre all have -er in American spelling. The ending -cre, as in acre, lucre, massacre, mediocre, is preserved in American English, to indicate the c is pronounced /k/ rather than /s/. After other consonants, there are not many -re endings even in British English: louvre, manoeuvre after -v-; meagre, ogre after -g-; euchre, ochre, sepulchre after -ch-. In the US, ogre and euchre are standard; manoeuvre and sepulchre are usually maneuver and sepulcher; and the other -re forms listed are variants of the equivalent -er form. The e preceding the r is retained in US derived forms of nouns and verbs, for example, fibers, reconnoitered, centering, which are, naturally, fibres, reconnoitred and centring respectively in British usage. It is dropped for other inflections, for example, central,

fibrous, spectral. However such dropping cannot be regarded as proof of an -re British spelling: for example, entry derives from enter, which has not been spelled entre for centuries. The difference relates only to root words; -er rather than -re is universal as a suffix for agentive (reader, winner) and comparative (louder, nicer) forms. One consequence is the British distinction of meter for a measuring instrument from metre for the unit of measurement. However, while poetic metre is often -re, pentameter, hexameter, etc are always -er. Exceptions. Many other words have -er in British English These include Germanic words like anger, mother, timber, water,[30] and Romance words like danger, quarter, river. Some -er words, like many -re words, have a cognate in Modern French spelled with -re: among these are chapter, December, diameter, disaster, enter, letter, member, minister, monster, number, oyster, powder, proper, sober, tender, filter, parameter. Theater is the prevailing

American spelling used to refer to both the dramatic arts and buildings where stage performances and screenings of movies take place (i.e, "movie theaters"); for example, a national newspaper such as The New York Times uses theater throughout its "Theater", "Movies", and "Arts & Leisure" sections. In contrast, the spelling Theatre or theatre appears in the names of many New York City theaters on Broadway (cf. Broadway theatre) (and elsewhere in the United States) and in listings and reviews in "The Theatre" section of The New Yorker. In 2003 the proposal of the American National Theatre (ANT), eventually to be founded and inaugurated in the fall of 2007, was referred to by the New York Times as the "American National Theater"; but the organization actually uses "re" in the spelling of its name.[31][32] The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C, or The Kennedy Center, features the more

common American spelling theater in its references to The Eisenhower Theater, part of The Kennedy Center.[33] 32 In rare instances, places in the United States have Centre in their names (e.g, Newton Centre, Massachusetts and Rockville Centre, New York), named both before and after spelling reform, and there are also a few cases of the use of Center in the UK (e.g, Valley Centertainment in Sheffield), although this is in fact a portmanteau of the cent- of centre and -ertainment of entertainment. For British accoutre(ment), US practice varies: Merriam-Webster prefers the -re spelling,[34] American Heritage the -er spelling.[35] More recent French loanwords retain an -re spelling in American English. These are not exceptions when a French-style pronunciation is used (/ɹ(ə)/ rather than /ɚ/), as with double-entendre, genre, or oeuvre; however, the unstressed /ɚ/ pronunciation of an -er ending is used more or less frequently with some words, including cadre, macabre, maître d,

Notre Dame, piastre, and timbre. Commonwealth usage.[36] The -re endings are standard throughout the Commonwealth The -er spellings are recognized, as minor variants, only in Canada. -ce, -se Nouns ending in -ce with -se verb forms: American English and British English both retain the noun/verb distinction in advice / advise and device / devise, but American English has abandoned the distinction with licence / license and practice / practise (where the two words in each pair are homophones) that British spelling retains. American English uses practice and license for both meanings. Also, American English has kept the Anglo-French spelling for defense and offense, which are usually defence and offence in British English; similarly there are the American pretense and British pretence; but derivatives such as defensive, offensive, and pretension are always thus spelled in both systems. -xion, -ction The spellings connexion, inflexion, deflexion, reflexion, genuflexion are now somewhat

rare in everyday British usage, but are not used at all in the US: the more common connection, inflection, deflection, reflection, genuflection have almost become the standard internationally. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the older spellings are more etymologically conservative, since these four words actually derive from Latin forms in -xio-. The US usage derives from Webster who discarded -xion in favour of ction for analogy with such verbs as connect[37] Connexion has found preference again amongst recent British government initiatives such as Connexions (the national careers and training scheme for school early leavers). Until the early 1980s, The Times of London also used connexion as part of its house style.[38] It is still used in legal texts and British Methodism retains the eighteenth century spelling connexion to describe its national organization, for historical reasons. 33 In both forms, complexion (which comes from the stem complex) is standard and

complection is not.[39] However, the adjective complected (as in "dark-complected"), although sometimes objected to, can be used as an alternative to complexioned in the US,[40] but is quite unknown in this sense in the UK, although there is an extremely rare usage to mean complicated (OED). Note, however, that crucifiction is an error in either form of English; crucifixion is the correct spelling. Greek spellings -ise, -ize American spelling accepts only -ize endings in most cases, such as organize, recognize, and realize. British usage accepts both -ize and the more French-looking -ise (organise, recognise, realise). The -ize spelling is preferred by some authoritative British sources including the Oxford English Dictionary which, until recently, did not list the -ise form of many words, even as an alternative and Fowlers Modern English Usage. The OED firmly deprecates usage of "-ise", stating, "[T]he suffix, whatever the element to which it is added, is

in its origin the Gr[eek] -ιζειν, L[atin] -izāre; and, as the pronunciation is also with z, there is no reason why in English the special French spelling in -iser should be followed, in opposition to that which is at once etymological and phonetic."[41] Noah Webster rejected -ise for the same reasons[42] Despite these denouncements, however, the -ize spelling is now rarely used in the UK in the mass media and newspapers, and is often incorrectly regarded as an Americanism.[43] The ratio between -ise and -ize stands at 3:2 in the British National Corpus.[44] The OED spelling (which can be indicated by the registered IANA language tag en-GB-oed), and thus -ize, is used in many British-based academic publications, such as Nature, the Biochemical Journal and The Times Literary Supplement. In Australia and New Zealand -ise spellings strongly prevail; the Australian Macquarie Dictionary, among other sources, gives the -ise spelling first. The -ise form is preferred in Australian

English at a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Macquarie Dictionary. Conversely, Canadian usage is essentially like American.[45] Worldwide, -ize endings prevail in scientific writing and are commonly used by many international organizations. The same pattern applies to derivatives and inflections such as colonisation/colonization. Some verbs ending in -ize or -ise do not derive from Greek -ιζειν, and their endings are therefore not interchangeable; some verbs take the -z- form exclusively, for instance capsize, seize (except in the legal phrase to be seised of/to stand seised to), size and prize (only in the "appraise" sense), whereas others take only -s-: advertise, advise, apprise, arise, chastise, circumcise, incise, excise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, exercise, franchise, improvise, merchandise, revise, supervise, surmise, surprise, and televise. Finally, the verb prise (meaning to force or lever) is spelled prize in the US[46] and

prise everywhere else,[47] including Canada,[48] although in North American English pry (a back-formation from or alteration of prise) is often used in its place.[49] 34 -yse, -yze The distribution of -yse and -yze endings, as in analyse / analyze, is different: the former is British, the latter American. Thus, UK analyse, catalyse, hydrolyse, paralyse; US analyze, catalyze, hydrolyze, paralyze. However, analyse was commonly spelled analyze from the firstthe spelling preferred by Samuel Johnson; the word, which came probably from French analyser, on Greek analogy would have been analysize, from French analysiser, from which analyser was formed by haplology.[50] In Canada, -yze prevails; in Australia, -yse stands alone. Unlike -ise/-ize, neither of the endings has any resemblance to the Greek original ending. The Greek verb from which the word λύσις (lysis) (and thus all its compound words) derives, is λύειν (lyein). -ogue, -og Some words of Greek origin, a few of which

derive from Greek λόγος or αγωγός, can end either in -ogue or in -og: analog(ue), catalog(ue), dialog(ue), demagog(ue), pedagog(ue), monolog(ue), homolog(ue), synagog(ue) etc. In the UK (and generally in the Commonwealth), the -ogue endings are the standard. In the US, catalog has a slight edge over catalogue[51] (note the inflected forms, catalogued and cataloging v catalogued and cataloguing); analog is standard for the adjective[citation needed], but both analogue and analog are current for the noun; in all other cases the -gue endings strongly prevail,[52] except for such expressions as dialog box in computing, which are also used in the UK. Finally, in Canada, New Zealand and Australia as well as the US analog has currency as a technical term[53] (e.g in electronics, as in "analog computer" and many video game consoles might have an analog stick). Simplification of ae (æ) and oe (œ) Many words are written with ae or oe in British English, but a single e in

American English. The sound in question is /i/ or /ɛ/ (or unstressed /ə/) Examples (with nonAmerican letter in bold): anaemia, anaesthesia, caesium, diarrhoea, gynaecology, haemophilia, leukaemia, oesophagus, oestrogen, orthopaedic, paediatric. Words where British usage varies include encyclopaedia, foetus (though the British medical community deems this variant unacceptable for the purposes of journal articles and the like, since the Latin spelling is actually fetus), homoeopathy, mediaeval. In American usage, aesthetics and archaeology prevail over esthetics and archeology,[54] while oenology is a minor variant of enology. The Ancient Greek diphthongs <αι> and <οι> were transliterated into Latin as <ae> and <oe>. The ligatures æ and œ were introduced when the sounds became monophthongs, and later applied to words not of Greek origin, in both Latin (for example, cœli) and French (for example, œuvre). In English, which has imported words from all three

languages, it is now usual to replace Æ/æ with Ae/ae and Œ/œ with Oe/oe. In many cases, the digraph has been reduced to a single e in all varieties of English: for example, oeconomics, praemium, and aenigma.[55] In others, it is retained in all varieties: for example, phoenix, and usually subpoena.[56] This is especially true of names: Caesar, 35 Oedipus, Phoebe, etc. There is no reduction of Latin -ae plurals (eg larvae); nor where the digraph <ae>/<oe> does not result from the Greek-style ligature: for example, maelstrom, toe. British aeroplane is an instance (compare other aero- words such as aerosol). The now chiefly North American airplane is not a respelling but a recoining, modelled on airship and aircraft. Airplane dates from 1907,[57] at which time aero- was trisyllabic, often written aëro-. Commonwealth usage. In Canada, e is usually preferred over oe and often over ae as well; in Australia and elsewhere, British usage prevails, but the spellings with

just e are increasingly used.[58] Manoeuvre is the only spelling in Australia and the most common one in Canada, where maneuver and manoeuver are also sometimes found.[59] In Canada, oe and ae are used occasionally in the academic and science communities. Internationally, the American spelling is closer to the usage in a number of other languages using the Latin alphabet; for instance, almost all Romance languages (which tend to have more phonemic spelling) lack the ae and oe spellings (a notable exception is French), as do Swedish, Polish, and others, while Dutch uses them ("ae" is rare and "oe" is the normal representation of the sound IPA: [u], while written "u" represents either the sound y or ʏ in IPA). Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and some other languages retain the original ligatures. German, through umlauts, retains its equivalent of the ligature, for when written without the umlaut, words resemble the British usage (i.e ä becomes ae and ö

becomes oe). Similarly, Hungarian uses "é" as a replacement for "ae" (although it becomes "e" sometimes), and the special character "ő" (sometimes "ö") for "oe". Compounds and hyphens British English often prefers hyphenated compounds, such as counter-attack, whereas American English discourages the use of hyphens in compounds where there is no compelling reason, so counterattack is much more common. Many dictionaries do not point out such differences. Canadian and Australian usage is mixed, although Commonwealth writers generally hyphenate compounds of the form noun plus phrase (such as editor-in-chief).[60] • • • any more or anymore: In sense "any longer", the single-word form is usual in North America and Australia but unusual in the UK, at least in formal writing.[61] Other senses always have the two-word form; thus Americans distinguish "I couldnt love you anymore [so I left you]" from

"I couldnt love you any more [than I already do]". for ever or forever: Traditional British usage makes a distinction between for ever, meaning for eternity (or a very long time), as in "I have been waiting for you for ever"; and forever, meaning continually, always, as in "They are forever arguing".[62] In contemporary British usage, however, forever prevails in the "for eternity" sense as well,[63] in spite of several style guides maintaining the distinction.[64] American writers usually use forever in all senses near by or nearby: Some British writers make the distinction between the adverbial near by, which is written as two words, as in, "No one was near by"; 36 and the adjectival nearby, which is written as one, as in, "The nearby house".[65] In American English the one-word spelling is standard for both forms. Doubled consonants Doubled in British English The final consonant of an English word is sometimes doubled

when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel. Generally this occurs only when the words final syllable ends with a single vowel followed by a single consonant, and the syllable is stressed; but in British English, a final -l is often doubled even when the final syllable is unstressed.[66] This exception is no longer usual in American English, apparently because of Noah Webster.[67] The -ll- spellings are nonetheless still regarded as acceptable variants by both Merriam-Webster Collegiate and American Heritage dictionaries. • • • • • • • • The British English doubling is required for all inflections (-ed, -ing, -er, -est) and for noun suffixes -er, -or. Therefore, British counsellor, cruellest, modelling, quarrelled, signalling, traveller; American usually counselor, cruelest, modeling, quarreled, signaling, traveler. o parallel keeps a single -l- in British English, as in American English (paralleling, unparalleled), to avoid a cluster -llell-. o Words with two

vowels before l are covered where the first either acts as a consonant (Br equalling, initialled; US usually equaling, initialed) or belongs to a separate syllable (Br fu•el•ling, di•alled; US usually fu•el•ing di•aled)  The distinction applies to victualler/victualer in spite of the irregular pronunciation IPA: /ˈvɪtlə(ɹ)/  British woollen is a further exception (US woolen); also, wooly is accepted in America though woolly dominates in both.[68] Endings -ize/-ise, -ism, -ist, -ish usually do not double the l in British English: normalise, dualism, novelist, devilish o Exceptions: tranquillise; duellist, medallist, panellist, sometimes triallist For -ous, British English has a single l in scandalous and perilous, but two in marvellous and libellous. For -ee, British English has libellee. For -age British English has pupillage but vassalage. American English has unstressed -ll-, as in the UK, in some words where the root has -l. These are cases where the alteration

occurs in the source language, often Latin. (Examples: bimetallism, cancellation, chancellor, crystallize, excellent, tonsillitis) But both dialects have compelled, excelling, propelled, rebelling (notice the stress difference); revealing, fooling (double vowel before the l); hurling (consonant before the l). Canadian and Australian English largely follow British usage.[66] 37 Among consonants other than l, practice varies for some words, such as where the final syllable has secondary stress or an unreduced vowel. In the US, the spellings kidnaped and worshiped, introduced by the Chicago Tribune in the 1920s,[69] are common alongside kidnapped and worshipped, the only standard British spellings. Miscellaneous: • • British calliper or caliper; American caliper. British jewellery; American jewelry. The standard pronunciations (UK IPA: /ˈdʒuː(ə)lri/, US IPA: /ˈdʒu(ə)lri/)[70] do not reflect this difference. According to Fowler, jewelry used to be the "rhetorical and

poetic" spelling in the UK. Canada has both, but jewellery is most used. Likewise, Commonwealth (including Canada) has jeweller and US has jeweler for a jewel(le)ry retailer. Doubled in American English Conversely, there are words where British writers prefer a single l and Americans usually use a double l. These include wil(l)ful, skil(l)ful, thral(l)dom, appal(l), fulfil(l), fulfil(l)ment, enrol(l)ment, instal(l)ment. In the UK ll is used occasionally in distil(l), instil(l), enrol(l) and enthral(l)ment, and often in enthral(l). Former spellings instal, fulness, and dulness are now rare.[71] The Scottish tolbooth is cognate with toll booth, but has a specific distinct sense. The preceding words have monosyllabic cognates always written with -ll: will, skill, thrall, pall, fill, roll, stall, still. Comparable cases where a single l occurs in American English include fulluseful, handful; allalmighty, altogether; nullannul, annulment; tilluntil; wellwelfare, welcome;

chillchilblain; and others where the connection is less transparent. Note that British fulfil and American fulfill are never fullfill or fullfil Dr Johnson wavered on this issue; his dictionary of 1755 lemmatizes distil and instill, downhil and uphill.[72] Dropped e British English sometimes keeps silent e when adding suffixes where American English does not. • British prefers ageing,[73] American usually aging (compare raging, ageism). UK often routeing;[74] US usually routing (for route; rout makes routing everywhere). Both systems retain the silent e in dyeing, singeing, swingeing, to distinguish from dying, singing, swinging. In contrast, bathe and the British bath both form bathing. UK often whingeing, US less so; whinge is chiefly British Both systems vary for tinge and twinge; both prefer cringing, hinging, lunging, syringing. 38 • • • Before -able, UK prefers likeable, liveable, rateable, saleable, sizeable, unshakeable,[75] where US prefers to drop the -e; but

UK as US prefers breathable, curable, datable, lovable, movable, notable, provable, quotable, scalable, solvable, usable,[75] and those where the root is polysyllabic, like believable or decidable. Both systems retain the silent e when necessary to preserve a soft c, ch, or g, as in traceable, cacheable, changeable; both retain e after -dge, as in knowledgeable, unbridgeable. Both abridgment and the more regular abridgement are current in the US, only the latter in the UK.[76] Similarly for lodg(e)ment Both judgment and judgement can be found everywhere, although the former strongly prevails in the US and the latter prevails in the UK[77] except in law, where judgment is standard. Similarly for abridgment. Both prefer fledgling to fledgeling, but ridgeling to ridgling The informal Briticisms moreish (causing a desire for more of something) and blokeish[78] usually retain e; more established words like slavish and bluish usually do not. Different spellings, different connotations •

• • • • artefact or artifact: In British usage, artefact is the main spelling and artifact a minor variant.[79] In American English, artifact is the usual spelling Canadians prefer artifact and Australians artefact, according to their respective dictionaries.[80] dependant or dependent: British dictionaries distinguish between dependent (adjective) and dependant (noun). In the US, dependent is usual for both noun and adjective, notwithstanding that dependant is also an acceptable variant for the noun form in the US.[81] disc or disk: Traditionally, disc used to be British and disk American. Both spellings are etymologically sound (Greek diskos, Latin discus), although disk is earlier. In computing, disc is used for optical discs (eg a CD, Compact Disc; DVD, Digital Versatile/Video Disc) while disk is used for products using magnetic storage (e.g floppy disk and hard disk; short for diskette)[82] For this limited application, these spellings are used in both the US and the

Commonwealth. enquiry or inquiry:[83] According to Fowler, inquiry should be used in relation to a formal inquest, and enquiry to the act of questioning. Many (though not all) British writers maintain this distinction; the OED, on the other hand, lists inquiry and enquiry as equal alternatives, in that order. Some British dictionaries, such as Chambers 21st Century Dictionary [4], present the two spellings as interchangeable variants in the general sense, but prefer inquiry for the "formal inquest" sense. In the US, only inquiry is commonly used In Australia, inquiry and enquiry are often interchangeable, but inquiry prevails in writing. Both are current in Canada, where enquiry is often associated with scholarly or intellectual research. ensure or insure: In the UK (and Australia), the word ensure (to make sure, to make certain) has a distinct meaning from the word insure (often followed by against – to guarantee or protect against, typically by means of an "insurance

39 • • • • policy"). The distinction is only about a century old,[84] and this helps explain why in (North) America ensure is just a variant of insure, more often than not. According to Merriam-Websters usage notes, ensure and insure "are interchangeable in many contexts where they indicate the making certain or [making] inevitable of an outcome, but ensure may imply a virtual guarantee <the government has ensured the safety of the refugees>, while insure sometimes stresses the taking of necessary measures beforehand <careful planning should insure the success of the party>[85] matt or matte: In the UK, matt refers to a non-glossy surface, and matte to the motion-picture technique; in the US, matte covers both.[86] programme or program: The British programme is a 19th-century French version of program. Program first appeared in Scotland in the 17th century and is the only spelling found in the US. The OED entry, written around 1908 and listing both

spellings, said program was preferable, since it conformed to the usual representation of the Greek as in anagram, diagram, telegram etc. In British English, program is the common spelling for computer programs, but for other meanings programme is used. In Australia, program has been endorsed by government style for all senses since the 1960s,[87] although programme is also common; distinction between it and programme; many Canadian government documents use programme in all senses of the word also to match the spelling of the French equivalent.[87] tonne or ton: in the UK, the spelling tonne refers to 1000 kg, the unit of mass usually known as the metric ton in the US; the short ton and the long ton are always thus spelled; unqualified ton usually refers to the long ton in the UK and to the short ton in the US. Compare also meter/metre, for which an older English written distinction between etymologically related forms with different meanings once existed, but was obviated in the

regularization of American spellings. Acronyms and abbreviations Proper names formed as proper acronyms are often rendered in title case by Commonwealth writers, but usually as upper case by Americans: for example, Nasa / NASA or Unicef / UNICEF.[88] This does not apply to most initialisms, such as USA or HTML; though it is occasionally done for some, such as Pc (Police Constable).[89] Contractions, where the final letter is present, are often written in British English without stops/periods (Mr, Mrs, Dr, St). Abbreviations where the final letter is not present generally do take stops/periods (such as vol., etc, ed); British English shares this convention with French: Mlle, Mme, Dr, Ste, but M. for Monsieur In American and Canadian English, abbreviations like St., Mr, Mrs, and Dr always require stops/periods 40 Miscellaneous spelling differences UK adze annexe US adze, adz annex Remarks To annex is the verb in both British and American usage; however, when speaking of an

annex(e) – the noun referring to an extension of a main building, not military conquest, which would be annexation – , it is usually spelled with an -e at the end in the UK, but in the US it is not. axe ax, axe Both noun and verb. The two-letter form is more etymologically conservative (the word comes from Old English æx). camomile, chamomile, In the UK, according to the OED, "the spelling cha- is chiefly chamomile camomile in pharmacy, after Latin; that with ca- is literary and popular". In the US chamomile dominates in all senses. cheque check In banking. Hence pay cheque and paycheck Accordingly, the North American term for what is elsewhere known as a current account or cheque account is spelled chequing account in Canada and checking account in the US. Some US financial institutions, notably American Express, prefer cheque. chequer checker As in chequerboard/checkerboard, chequered/checkered flag, etc. Canada as US[90] While "checker" is more common in the

US, "exchequer" is commonly used. cosy cozy In all senses (adjective, noun, verb). cipher, cipher cypher doughnut doughnut, In the US, both are used with donut indicated as a variant of donut doughnut.[91] In the UK, donut is indicated as a US variant for doughnut.[92] draught draft The UK usually uses draft for all senses as a verb;[93] for a preliminary version of a document; for an order of payment (bank draft), and for military conscription (although this last meaning is not as common as in American English). It uses draught for drink from a cask (draught beer); for animals used for pulling heavy loads (draught horse); for a current of air; for a ships minimum depth of water to float; and for the game draughts, known as checkers in the US. It uses either draught or draft for a plan or sketch (but almost always draughtsman in this sense; a draftsman drafts legal documents). The US uses draft in all these cases (although in regard to drinks, draught is sometimes found).

Canada uses both systems; in Australia, draft is used for technical drawings, is accepted for the "current of air" meaning, and is preferred by professionals in the nautical sense.[94] The pronunciation is always the same for 41 gauntlet gauntlet, gantlet all meanings within a dialect (RP /drɑ:ft/, General American /dræft/). The spelling draught is older; draft appeared first in the late 16th century.[95] When meaning "ordeal", in the phrase running the ga(u)ntlet, some American style guides favor gantlet.[96] This spelling is unused in Britain[97] and less usual in America than gauntlet. The word is an alteration of earlier gantlope by folk etymology with gauntlet ("armored glove"), always spelled thus. grey glycerin, glycerine gray jail, gaol jail kerb curb liquorice licorice mollusc mollusk, mollusc The related adjective is normally molluscan in both. mould mold In all senses of the word. In Canada both have wide currency.[102]

moult neurone, neuron omelette molt phoney phony pyjamas pajamas per cent plough percent plow glycerine Scientists use the term glycerol. Grey became the established British spelling in the 20th century, pace Dr. Johnson and others,[98] and is but a minor variant in American English, according to dictionaries. Canadians tend to prefer grey. Non-cognate greyhound is never grayhound. Both Grey and Gray are found in proper names everywhere. In the UK, gaol and gaoler are used, apart from literary usage, chiefly to describe a Medieval building and guard. For the noun designating the edge of a roadway (or the edge of a [UK] pavement/[US] sidewalk/[Australia] footpath). Curb is the older spelling, and in the UK as in the US is still the proper spelling for the verb meaning restrain.[99] Canada as US Licorice prevails in Canada and is common in Australia, but is rarely found in the UK; liquorice, which has a folk etymology cognate with liquor,[100] is all but nonexistent in the US.

("chiefly British", according to dictionaries).[101] neuron omelet, omelette Omelette prevails in Canada and Australia. The shorter spelling is older, despite the etymology (French omelette).[103] Originally an Americanism, this word made its appearance in Britain during the Phoney War.[104] Pronounced /-dʒɑːməz/ in the UK, /-dʒɑməz/ or /-dʒæməz/ in the US. Canada has both[105] Both date back to Middle English; the OED records several dozen variants. In the UK, plough has been the standard spelling for about three centuries.[106] Although plow was 42 Websters pick, plough continued to have currency in the US, as the entry in Websters Third (1961) implies; newer dictionaries label plough "chiefly British". The word snowplough/snowplow, originally an Americanism, predates Websters reform and was first recorded as snow plough. Canada has both plough and plow,[107] although snowplough is much rarer than snowplow. rack and wrack and Several words

"rack" and "wrack" have been conflated, with ruin ruin both spellings thus accepted as variants for senses connected to torture (orig. rack) and ruin (orig wrack, cf wreck)[108] In "(w)rack and ruin", the W-less variant is now prevalent in the UK but not the US.[109] sceptic (-al, skeptic (-al, The American spelling, akin to Greek, preferred by Fowler, -ism) -ism) and used by many Canadians, is the earlier form.[110] Sceptic also pre-dates the settlement of the US and follows the French sceptique and Latin scepticus. In the mid-18th century Dr Johnsons dictionary listed skeptic without comment or alternative but this form has never been popular in the UK;[111] sceptic, an equal variant in Websters Third (1961), has now become "chiefly British". Australians generally follow British usage. All are pronounced with a hard "c" though in French the letter is silent and is pronounced like septique. storey story Level of a building. Note also

the differing plural, storeys vs stories respectively. sulphur sulphur, Sulfur is the international standard in the sciences (IUPAC), sulfur and is supported by the UKs RSC.[112] Sulphur was preferred by Johnson, is still used by British and Irish scientists and is still actively taught in British and Irish schools, prevails in Canada and Australia, and is also found in some American place names (e.g, Sulphur Springs, Texas and Sulphur, Louisiana). AmE usage guides suggest sulfur for technical usage, and both sulphur and sulfur in common usage.[113][114] tyre tire The outer lining of a wheel, which contacts the road or rail and may be metal or rubber. Canada as US Tire is the older spelling, but both were used in the 15th and 16th centuries (for a metal tire); tire became the settled spelling in the 17th century but tyre was revived in the UK in the 19th century for pneumatic tyres, possibly because it was used in some patent documents,[115] though many continued to use tire for the

iron variety. The Times newspaper was still using tire as late as 1905. vice vise The two-jaw tool. Americans (and Canadians) retain a medieval distinction between vise (the tool) and vice (the sin and the Latin prefix meaning "deputy"), both of which are vice in the UK (and Australia).[116] 43 yoghurt, yogurt yogurt Yoghurt is an also-ran in the US, as yoghourt is in the UK. Although Oxford Dictionaries have always preferred yogurt, in current British usage yoghurt seems to be preferred. In Canada yogurt prevails, despite the Canadian Oxford preferring yogourt, which has the advantage of being bilingual, English and French.[117] Australia as the UK Whatever the spelling, the word has different pronunciations in the UK /jɒ-/ (or /jəʊ-/) and the US. /joʊ-/ Australia as US with regard to pronunciation. The word comes from the Turkish yoğurt;[118] the voiced velar fricative represented by ğ in the modern Turkish (Latin) alphabet was traditionally written gh in

romanizations of the Ottoman Turkish (Arabic) alphabet used before 1928. Punctuation • • • • Full stops/Periods in abbreviations: Americans tend to write Mr., Mrs, St, Dr, while British will most often write Mr, Mrs, St, Dr, following the rule that a full stop is used only when the last letter of the abbreviation is not the last letter of the complete word; this kind of abbreviation is known as a contraction in the UK. Many British writers would tend to write other abbreviations without a full stop, such as Prof, etc, eg, and so forth (as recommended by OED). The American usage of periods after most abbreviations can also be found in the UK although publications generally tend to eschew the extreme use of punctuation found in US publications. Unit symbols such as kg and Hz are never punctuated It is sometimes believed[citation needed] that BrE does not hyphenate multiple-word adjectives (e.g "a first class ticket") The most common form is as in AmE ("a

first-class ticket"), but some British writers omit the hyphen when no ambiguity would arise. Quoting: Americans start with double quotation marks (") and use single quotation marks () for quotations within quotations. In BrE usage varies, with some authoritative sources such as The Economist recommending the same usage as in the U.S,[46] while the opposite is often used in more formal circumstances such as book publishing. In journals and newspapers, quotation mark double/single use depends on the individual publications house style. Contents of quotations: Americans are taught to put commas and periods inside quotation marks (except for question marks and exclamation points that apply to a sentence as a whole), whereas British people will put the punctuation inside if it belongs to the quotation and outside otherwise. With narration of direct speech, both styles retain punctuation inside the quotation marks, with a full stop changing into a comma if followed by explanatory

text, also known as a dialogue tag. o Carefree means "free from care or anxiety." (American style) o Carefree means "free from care or anxiety". (British style) 44 o "Hello, world," I said. (Both styles) The American style was established for typographical reasons, a historical holdover from the days of the handset printing press. It also eliminates the need to decide whether a period or comma belongs to the quotation.[citation needed] However, many people find the usage counterintuitive. Harts Rules and the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors call the British style "new" or "logical" quoting; it is similar to the use of quotation marks in many other languages (including Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Catalan, Dutch, and German). For this reason, the more "logical" British style is increasingly used in America, although formal writing still generally calls for the "American" style. In fact, the

British style is often the de facto standard among Americans for whom formal or professional writing is not a part of their daily life; many are in fact unaware that the normative American usage is to place commas and periods within the quotation marks.[citation needed] (This rule of placing all punctuation inside quotation if and only if it belongs to the quotation is expressly prescribed by some American professional organizations such as the American Chemical Society; see ACS Style Guide.) According to the Jargon File, American hackers have switched to using "logical" British quotation system, because including extraneous punctuation in a quotation can sometimes change the fundamental meaning of the quotation. More generally, it is difficult for computer manuals, online instructions, and other textual media to accurately quote exactly what a computer user should see or type on their computer if they follow American punctuation conventions. In both countries, the

"British" style is used for quotation around parentheses, so in both nations one would write: "I am going to the store. (I hope it is still open)" But: "I am going to the store (if it is still open)." • Letter-writing: American students in some areas have been taught to write a colon after the greeting in business letters ("Dear Sir:") while British people usually write a comma ("Dear Sir,") or make use of the so-called open punctuation ("Dear Sir"). However, this practice is not consistent throughout the United States[citation needed], and it would be regarded as a highly formal usage by most Americans. Titles and headlines Use of capitalization varies. Sometimes, the words in titles of publications, newspaper headlines, as well as chapter and section headings are capitalized in the same manner as in normal sentences (sentence 45 case). That is, only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, along with

proper nouns, etc. However, publishers sometimes require additional words in titles and headlines to have the initial capital, for added emphasis, as it is often perceived as appearing more professional. In AmE, this is common in titles, but less so in newspaper headlines The exact rules differ between publishers and are often ambiguous; a typical approach is to capitalize all words other than short articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. This should probably be regarded as a common stylistic difference, rather than a linguistic difference, as neither form would be considered incorrect or unusual in either the UK or the US. Many British tabloid newspapers (such as The Sun, The Daily Sport, News of the World) use fully capitalized headlines for impact, as opposed to readability (for example, BERLIN WALL FALLS or BIRD FLU PANIC). On the other hand, the broadsheets (such as The Guardian, The Times, and The Independent) usually follow the sentence style of having only the first letter of

the first word capitalized. Dates Dates are usually written differently in the short (numerical) form. Christmas Day 2000, for example, is 25/12/00 or 25.1200 (dashes are occasionally used) in the UK and 12/25/00 in the US, although the formats 25/12/2000, 25.122000, and 12/25/2000 now have more currency than they had before the Year 2000 problem. Occasionally other formats are encountered, such as the ISO 8601 2000-12-25, popular among programmers, scientists, and others seeking to avoid ambiguity, and to make alphanumerical order coincide with chronological order. The difference in short-form date order can lead to misunderstanding. For example, 06/04/05 could mean either June 4, 2005 (if read as US format), 6 April 2005 (if seen as in UK format), or even 5 April 2006 if taken to be an older ISO 8601-style format where 2-digit years were allowed. A consequence of the different short-form of dates is that in the UK many people would be reluctant to refer to "9/11", although

its meaning would be instantly understood. On the BBC, "September the 11th" is generally used in preference to 9/11. However, 9/11 is commonplace in the British press to refer specifically to the events of September 11, 2001. Phrases such as the following are common in Britain and Ireland but are generally unknown in the U.S: "A week today", "a week tomorrow", "a week on Tuesday", "a week Tuesday", "Tuesday week" (this is found in central Texas), "Friday fortnight", "a fortnight on Friday" and "a fortnight Friday" (these latter referring to two weeks after "next Friday"). In the US the standard construction is "a week from today", "a week from tomorrow" etc. BrE speakers may also say "Thursday last" or "Thursday gone" instead of "last Thursday". 46 Times The 24-hour clock (18:00 or 1800), which, in the UK, is considered normal in

many applications (for example, air/rail/bus timetables), is largely unused in the US outside of military, police, or medical applications. pronunciation differences: Differences in pronunciation between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) can be divided into: • • differences in accent (i.e phoneme inventory and realisation) Accents vary widely within AmE and within BrE, so the features considered here are mainly differences between General American (GAm) and British Received Pronunciation (RP); for information about other accents see regional accents of English speakers. differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the lexicon (i.e phoneme distribution). In this article, transcriptions use RP to represent BrE and GAm and to represent AmE. In the following discussion • • superscript A2 after a word indicates the BrE pronunciation of the word is a common variant in AmE superscript B2 after a word indicates the AmE pronunciation of the word is a

common variant in BrE Accent. • GAm is rhotic while RP is non-rhotic; that is, the letter r is only pronounced in RP when it is immediately followed by a vowel sound (unless its silent). Where GAm has /r/ before a consonant, RP either has nothing (if the preceding vowel is /ɔː/ or /ɑː/, as in bore and bar) or has a schwa instead (the resulting sequences are diphthongs or triphthongs). Similarly, where GAm has r-coloured vowels (/ɚ/ or /ɝ/, as in cupboard or bird), RP has plain vowels /ə/ or /ɜː/. However many British accents, especially in Scotland and the West Country, are rhotic, and some American accents, such as the traditional Boston accent, are non-rhotic. • The "intrusive R" of many RP speakers (in such sequences as "the idea-rof it") is absent in GAm; this is a consequence of the rhotic/non-rhotic distinction. 47 • • • GAm has fewer vowel distinctions before intervocalic /r/ than RP; for many GAm speakers, unlike RP, merry,

marry and Mary are homophones; mirror rhymes with nearer, and furry rhymes with hurry. However, some eastern American accents, such as the Boston accent, have the same distinctions as in RP. For some RP speakers (upper class), unlike in GAm, some or all of tire, tower, and tar are homophones; this reflects the merger of the relevant vowels; similarly the pour-poor merger is common in RP but not in GAm. RP has three open back vowels, where GAm has only two or even one. Most GAm speakers use the same vowel for RP "short O" /ɒ/ as for RP "broad A" /ɑː/ (the father-bother merger); many also use the same vowel for these as for RP /ɔː/ (the cot-caught merger). • For Americans without the cot-caught merger, the lot-cloth split results in /ɔː/ in some words which now have /ɒ/ in RP; as reflected in the eye dialect spelling "dawg" for dog. • The trap-bath split has resulted in RP having "broad A" /ɑː/ where GAm has "short A"

/æ/, in most words where A is followed by either /n/ followed by another consonant, or /s/, /f/, or /θ/ (e.g plant, pass, laugh, path) However, many British accents, such as most Northern English accents, agree with GAm in having short A in these words, although it is usually phonetically [a] rather than • [æ]. RP has a marked degree of contrast of length between "short" and "long" vowels (The long vowels being the diphthongs, and /iː/, /uː/, /ɜː/, /ɔː/, /ɑː/). In GAm this contrast is much less evident, and the IPA length symbol (ː) is often omitted. • The "long O" vowel (as in boat) is realised differently: GAm pure [oː] or diphthongized [oʊ]; RP central first element[əʊ]. However there is considerable variation in this vowel on both sides of the Atlantic. • The distinction between unstressed /ɪ/ and /ə/ (e.g roses vs Rosas) is often lost in GAm. In RP it is retained, in part because it helps avoid nonrhotic homophones; e.g

batted vs battered as /bætɪd/ vs /bætəd/ It is, however, lost in Australian English (which is also non-rhotic) meaning both words are pronounced the same, unlike American or British English. • Where GAm has /iː/ in an unstressed syllable at the end of a morpheme, conservative RP has /ɪ/, not having undergone happY tensing. This distinction is retained in inflected forms (e.g candied and candid are homophones in RP, but not in GAm). 48 • In GAm, flapping is common: when either a /t/ or a /d/ occurs between a sonorant phoneme and an unstressed vowel phoneme, it is realized as an alveolar-flap allophone [ɾ]. This sounds like a /d/ to RP speakers, although many GAm speakers distinguish the two phonemes by aspirating /t/ in this environment, especially after /ɪ/ or /eɪ/ (thus bitter and rated are distinguishable from bidder and raided), or by lengthening the vowel preceding an underlying /d/. [ɾ] is an allophone of /r/ in conservative RP, which is hence caricatured in

America as a "veddy British" accent. • Yod-dropping occurs in GAm after all alveolar consonants, including /t/, /d/, /θ/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/; i.e historic /juː/ (from spellings u, ue, eu, ew), is pronounced /uː/ in a stressed syllable. In contrast, RP speakers: o always retain /j/ after /n/: e.g new is RP /njuː/, GAm /nuː/; o retain or coalesce it after /t/, /d/: e.g due is RP /djuː/ or /dʒuː/, GAm /duː/; o retain or drop it after /θ/, /l/: e.g allude is RP /əljuːd/ or (as GAm) /əluːd/. o retain, coalesce or drop it after /s/, /z/: e.g assume is RP /əsjuːm/ or /əʃuːm/, or (as GAm) /əsuːm/;  In some words where /j/ has been coalesced in GAm, it may be retained in RP: e.g issue is RP /ɪsjuː/ or (as GAm) /ɪʃuː/ Stress French stress For many loanwords from French where AmE has final-syllable stress, BrE stresses an earlier syllable. Such words include: • BrE first-syllable stress: adultA2,B2, balletA2, baton, beret, bidet, blasé,

brevetA2, brochureB2, buffet, caféA2, canardB2, chagrin, chaletA2, chauffeurA2,B2, chiffon, clichéB2, coupé, croissant, debrisB2, debut, décor, detailA2, détenteB2, flambé, frappé, garageB2, gateau, gourmetA2, lamé, montageA2, parquet, pastel, pastille, pâté, précis, sachet, salon, soupçon, vaccine; matinée, négligée, nonchalant, nondescript; also some French names, including BernardB2, Calais, Degas, Dijon, Dumas, Francoise, ManetA2, Maurice, MonetA2, Pauline, Renault, RenéB2, Renoir, Rimbaud, DelacroixB2. 49 • BrE second-syllable stress: attaché, consommé, décolleté, déclassé, De Beauvoir, Debussy, démodé, denouement, distingué, Dubonnet, escargot, fiancé(e), retroussé A few French words have other stress differences: • • • AmE first-syllable, BrE last-syllable: addressA2 (postal), m(o)ustacheA2; cigaretteA2, limousineB2, magazineB2, AmE first-syllable, BrE second-syllable: exposéB2, liaisonA2, macramé, Renaissance AmE second-syllable, BrE

last-syllable: New Orleans -ate and -atory Most 2-syllable verbs ending -ate have first-syllable stress in AmE and second-syllable stress in BrE. This includes castrate, dictateA2, donateA2, locateA2, mandateB2, migrate, placate, prostrate, pulsate, rotate, serrateB2, spectate, striated, translateA2, vacate, vibrate; in the case of cremate, narrate, placate, the first vowel is in addition reduced to /ə/ in BrE. Examples where AmE and BrE match include create, debate, equate, elate, negate, orate, relate with second-syllable stress; and mandate and probate with firstsyllable stress. Derived nouns in -ator may retain the distinction, but those in -ation do not. Also, migratoryA2 and vibratory retain the distinction Most longer -ate verbs are pronounced the same in AmE and BrE, but a few have firstsyllable stress in BrE and second-syllable stress in AmE: elongate, infiltrateA2, remonstrate, tergiversate. However, some derived adjectives ending -atory have a difference, as stress

shifting to -at- can occur in BrE. Among these cases are regulatoryB2, celebratoryA2, participatoryB2, where AmE stresses the same syllable as the corresponding -ate verb; and compensatory, where AmE stresses the second syllable. A further -atory difference is laboratory: AmE /læbrɪˌtɔri/ and BrE /ləbɒrət(ə)riː/. Miscellaneous stress There are a number of cases where same-spelled noun, verb and/or adjective have uniform stress in one dialect but distinct stress in the other (e.g alternate, prospect): see initial-stress-derived noun. The following table lists words where the only difference between AmE and BrE is in stress (possibly with a consequent reduction of the unstressed vowel). Words with other points of difference are listed in a later table. BrE AmE words with relevant syllable stressed in each dialect 1st 2nd caffeine, cannotA2, casein, Kathleen, SuezA2, communal, escalopeB2, harass, 50 omega, paprikaB2, patina, subaltern, stalactite, stalagmite,

ThanksgivingB2, transference, aristocratA2,B2, kilometerB2 2nd 1st defense (sport), guffawA2, ice creamA2,B2, guru, mama, papa, pretense, princessA2,B2, weekendB2, Canton, anginaA2, Augustine, Bushido, Ghanaian, LofotenB2, marshmallow, patronal, spread-eagle, controversy, formidableB2, hospitableB2, miscellany, predicative, saxophonistB2, submariner, ancillary, capillary, catenary, corollary, fritillary, medullary 1st 3rd ParmesanB2, partisan, premature, opportune, carburet(t)or 3rd 1st margarine, PyreneesB2, cockatoo 2nd 3rd advertisement 3rd arytenoidA2, oregano, obscurantist 2nd Affixes -ary -ery -ory -bury, -berry, -mony Where the syllable preceding -ary,-ery or -ory is stressed, AmE and BrE alike pronounce all these endings /əri(ː)/. Where the preceding syllable is unstressed, however, AmE has a full vowel rather than schwa: /ɛri/ for -ary and -ery and /ɔri/ for -ory. BrE retains the reduced vowel /əriː/, or even elides it completely to /riː/. (The elision is

avoided in carefully enunciated speech, especially with endings -rary,-rery,-rory.) So military is AmE /mɪlɪtɛriː/ and BrE /mɪlɪtəriː/ or /mɪlɪtriː/. Note that stress differences occur with ending -atory (explained above) and a few others like capillary (included above). A few words have the full vowel in AmE in the ending even though the preceding syllable is stressed: library, primaryA2, rosemary. Pronouncing library as /laɪbɛri/ rather than /laɪbrɛri/ is highly stigmatized in AmE, whereas in BrE, /laɪbriː/ is common in rapid or casual speech. Formerly the BrE-AmE distinction for adjectives carried over to corresponding adverbs ending -arily, -erily or -orily. However, nowadays most BrE speakers adopt the AmE practice of shifting the stress to the antepenultimate syllable: militarily is thus /ˌmɪlɪtɛrɪliː/ rather than /mɪlɪtrɪliː/. 51 The placename component -bury (e.g Canterbury) has a similar difference after a stressed syllable: AmE /bɛri/ and BrE

/brɪː/ or /bərɪː/. The ending -mony after a stressed syllable is AmE /moʊni/ but BrE /mənɪː/. The word -berry in compounds has a slightly different distinction: in BrE, it is reduced (/bəriː/ or /briː/) after a stressed syllable, and may be full /bɛriː/ after an unstressed syllable; in AmE it is usually full in all cases. Thus, strawberry is BrE /strɔːbəriː/ but AmE /strɔbɛri/, while whortleberry is BrE /wɔːtlbɛriː/ and similarly AmE /wɔrtlbɛri/. -ile Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending -ilis are mostly pronounced with a full vowel (/aɪl/) in BrE but a reduced vowel /ɪl/ or syllabic /l/ in AmE (e.g fertile rhymes with fur tile in BrE but with turtle in AmE) This difference applies: • • • • generally to agile, docile, facile, fertile, fissile, fragile, futile, infertile, missile, nubile, octile, puerile, rutile, servile, stabile, sterile, tactile, tensile, virile, volatile; usually to ductile, hostile, (im)mobile

(adjective), projectile, textile, utile, versatile; not usually to decile, domicile, infantile, juvenile, labile, mercantile, pensile, reptile, senile; not to crocodile, exile, gentile, percentile, reconcile; nor to compounds of monosyllables (e.g turnstile from stile) Related endings -ility, -ilize, -iliary are pronounced the same in AmE as BrE. The name Savile is pronounced with (/ɪl/) in both BrE and AmE. Mobile (sculpture), camomile and febrile are sometimes pronounced with /il/ in AmE and /aɪl/) in BrE. Imbecile has /aɪl/ or /iːl/ in BrE and often /ɪl/ in AmE. -ine The suffix -ine, when unstressed, is pronounced sometimes /aɪn/ (e.g feline), sometimes /i(ː)n/ (e.g morphine) and sometimes /ɪn/ (eg medicine) Some words have variable pronunciation within BrE, or within AmE, or between BrE and AmE. Generally, AmE is more likely to favour /in/ or /ɪn/, and BrE to favour /aɪn/: e.g adamantineA2, carbine, crystallineA2, labyrinthine, philistine, serpentineA2, turbineA2.

However, sometimes AmE has /aɪn/ where BrE has /iːn/; e.g iodineB2, strychnineA2 52 Weak forms Some function words have a weak form in AmE, with a reduced vowel used when the word is unstressed, but always use the full vowel in RP. These include: or [ɚ]; you [jə]; your [jɚ]. On the other hand, the titles Saint and Sir before a persons name have "weak forms" in BrE but not AmE: before vowels, [snt] and [sər]; before consonants, [sn] and [sə]. Miscellaneous pronunciation differences These tables list words pronounced differently but spelled the same. Single differences Words with multiple points of difference of pronunciation are in the table after this one. Accent-based differences are ignored. For example, Moscow is RP /mɒskəʊ/ and GAm /mɑskaʊ/, but only the /əʊ/-/aʊ/ difference is highlighted here, since the /ɒ/-/ɑ/ difference is predictable from the accent. Also, tiara is listed with AmE /æ/; the marrymerry-Mary merger changes this vowel for many

Americans Some AmE types are listed as /ɒ/ where GAm merges to /ɑ/. BrE AmE /æ/ /ɑ/ /iː/ /ɛ/ /ɒ/ /oʊ/ Words annato, Bangladesh , Caracas, chiantiA2, Galapagos, GdańskA2, grappaA2, gulagA2, HanoiA2, JanA2 (male name, e.g Jan Palach), KantA2, kebab, Las (placenames, e.g Las Vegas), Mafia, mishmashA2, MombasaA2, Natasha, Nissan, Pablo, pasta, PicassoA2, ralentando, SanA2 (names outside USA; e.g San Juan), SlovakA2, Sri LankaA2, Vivaldi, wigwamA2, YasserA2 (and A in many other foreign names and loanwords) aesthete, anaesthetize, breveA2, catenaryA2, Daedalus, devolutionA2,B2, ecumenicalB2, epochA2, evolutionA2,B2, febrileA2, Hephaestus, KenyaB2, leverA2, methane, OedipusA2, (o)estrus, penalizeA2, predecessorA2, pyrethrinA2, senileA2, hygienic Aeroflot, compost, homosexualB2, Interpol, Lod, pogrom, polkaB2, produce (noun), Rosh Hashanah, sconeA2,B2, shone, sojourn, trollB2, yoghurt A2 53 /ɑː/ /ɚ/ (Excluding trap-bath split words) banana, javaA2, khakiA2, morale,

NevadaA2, scenarioA2, sopranoA2, tiaraA2, Pakistani CecilA2,B2, crematoriumA2, cretin, depot, inherentA2,B2, leisureA2, medievalA2, reconnoitreA2, zebraB2, zenithA2,B2 compatriot, patriotB2, patronise, phalanx, plait, repatriate, Sabine, satrapA2, satyrA2, basilA2 (plant) dynasty, housewifery, idyll, livelongA2, long-livedA2, privacyB2, simultaneous, vitamin. Also the suffix -ization AussieA2, blouse, complaisantA2, crescent, erase, GlasgowA2, parse, valise, trans-A2,B2 (in some words) amenA2, charadeB2, cicada, galaA2, promenadeA2, pro rata, tomato, stratum codify, goffer, ogleA2, phonetician, processor, progress (noun), slothA2,B2, wont A2, wroth accomplice, accomplish, colanderB2, constableB2, Lombardy, monetaryA2, -mongerA2 hovelA2,B2, hover. Also the strong forms of these function words: anybodyA2 (likewise every-, some-, and no-), becauseA2,B2 (and clipping cos/cause), ofA2, fromA2, wasA2, whatA2 chthonic, herbA2 (plant), KnossosB2, phthisicB2, salve, solder Berkeley, Berkshire,

clerk, Derby, Hertford. (The only AmE word /aɪ/ /i/ eitherA2,B2, neitherA2,B2, Pleiades. /iː/ /aɪ/ /ə/ /ɒ/ albino, migraineB2. Also the prefixes anti-A2, multi-A2, semi-A2 in loose compounds (e.g in anti-establishment, but not in antibody) hexagon, octagon, paragon, pentagon, phenomenon. /iː/ /eɪ/ eta, beta, quayA2, theta, zeta /aɪ/ /ɪ/ butylB2, diverge, minorityA2,B2, primer (schoolbook). /ɛ/ /eɪ/ ateB2 ("et" is nonstandard in America), mêlée, chaise longue /ɜːz/ /us/ Betelgeuse, chanteuse, chartreuseA2, masseuse /eɪ/ /æ/ apricotA2, dahlia, digitalis, patentA2,B2, comrade (silent) /ɒ/ (sounded) medicineB2. Amos, condom, Enoch /ə/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ AsiaB2, PersiaB2, versionB2 /ə/ /oʊ/ borough, thorough /ɑː/ /æ/ /ɛ/ /i/ /æ/ /eɪ/ /ɪ/ /aɪ/ /z/ /s/ /ɑː/ /eɪ/ /əʊ/ /ɒ/ /ʌ/ /ɒ/ /ɒ/ /ʌ/ (sounded) (silent) with <er> = [ɑr] is sergeant). 54 /ɪr/ /ɚ/ chirrupA2, stirrupA2, sirupA2, squirrel

/siː/ /ʃ/ cassia, CassiusA2, hessian /tiː/ /ʃ/ consortium /uː/ /ju/ couponA2, fuchsine, HoustonB2 /uː/ /ʊ/ boulevard, snooker, woofA2 (weaving) /ɜː(r)/ /ʊr/ connoisseurA2, entrepreneurA2 /ɜː/ /oʊ/ föhnB2, MöbiusB2 /ə/ /eɪ/ DraconianA2, hurricaneB2 /eɪ/ /i/ deityA2,B2, Helene /juː/ /w/ jaguar, Nicaragua /ɔː/ /ɑ/ launch, saltB2 /ɔː(r)/ /ɚ/ record (noun), stridorA2,B2 /ziː/ /ʒ/ Frasier, Parisian, Malaysia /æ/ /ɒ/ twatB2 /ɒ/ /æ/ wrath /ɑː/ /ət/ nougat /ɑː/ /ɔ/ Utah /ɑː/ /ɔr/ quarkA2,B2 /æ/ /ɛ/ femme fataleA2 /aɪ/ /eɪ/ Isaiah /aʊ/ /u/ nousA2 /ð/ /θ/ booth /diː/ /dʒi/ cordiality /dʒ/ /gdʒ/ suggestA2 /eɪ/ /ə/ template /eɪ/ /ət/ tourniquet /ə(r)/ /ɑr/ MadagascarA2 55 /ə(r)/ /jɚ/ figureA2 for the verb /ɛ/ /ɑ/ envelopeA2,B2 /ɛ/ /ə/ Kentucky /ə/ /æ/ trapeze /ɜː(r)/ /ɛr/ errA2 /əʊ/ /ɒt/ Huguenot /əʊ/ /aʊ/ MoscowA2 /əʊ/

/u/ broochA2 /ɪ/ /i/ pi(t)taB2 /iː/ /ɪ/ beenB2 /iːʃ/ /ɪtʃ/ nicheA2,B2 /jɜː/ /ju/ milieu /juː/ /u/ barracuda /ɔː/ /æ/ falconA2 /s/ /z/ asthma /ʃ/ /sk/ scheduleB2 /t/ /θ/ AnthonyA2,B2 /ts/ /z/ piazzaA2 /ʊ/ /ɪ/ kümmel /ʊ/ /ʌ/ brusque /uː/ /aʊ/ routeA2 /uː/ /oʊ/ cantaloup(e) /ʌ/ /oʊ/ covertA2,B2 /z/ /ʃ/ Dionysius /ziː/ /ʃ/ transientA2, nausea 56 Multiple differences The slashes normally used to enclose IPA phonemic transcriptions have been omitted from the following table to improve legibility. Spelling BrE IPA AmE IPA Notes barrage ˈbær.ɑːʒ (1) bəˈrɑʒ (2) ˈbær.ɪdʒ The AmE pronunciations are for distinct senses (1) "sustained weapon-fire" vs (2) "dam, barrier" (Compare garage below.) boehmite (1) ˈbɜːmaɪt (1) ˈbeɪmaɪt The first pronunciations (2) ˈbəʊmaɪt (2) ˈboʊmaɪt buːkeɪ (1) boʊˈkeɪ bouquet approximate German [ø] (spelled <ö>

or <oe>) ; the second ones are anglicized. (2) buˈkeɪ boyar (1) ˈbɔɪ.ɑː (2) bəʊˈjɑː (1) boʊˈjɑr (2) ˈbɔɪ.jɚ buoy ˈbɔɪ ˈbu.i cadre (1) ˈkæd.ə(r) (1) ˈkæd.ri (2) ˈkæd.rə (2) ˈkɑd.ri (3) ˈkæd.reɪ (4) ˈkɑd.reɪ The U.S pronunciation would be unrecognised in the UK. The British pronunciation occurs in America, more commonly for the verb than the noun, still more in derivatives buoyant, buoyancy. 57 canton kænˈtuːn (1) kænˈtɑn (2) kænˈtoʊn dilettante dɪləˈtænti (1) ˈdɪləˌtɑnt (2) ˌdɪləˈtɑnt enquiry/inquiry ɪŋˈkwaɪ.(ə)ri (1) ˈɪŋ.kwəri febrile (1) ˈfɛb.ril fiːb.raɪl ˈfrækɑː BrE reflects the words Italian origin; AmE approximates more to French. BrE uses two spellings and one pronunciation. In AmE the word is (2) ɪŋˈkwaɪ.(ə)ri usually spelled inquiry (2) ˈfɛb.rəl fracas difference is only in military sense "to quarter soldiers" (1) freɪkəs (2) ˈfrækəs

garage (1) ˈgærɪdʒ (2) ˈgærɑːʒ gəˈrɑ(d)ʒ glacier (1) ˈglæsiə ˈgleɪʃɚ The BrE pronunciation occurs in AmE The BrE plural is French fracas /ˈfrækɑːz/; the AmE plural is anglicized fracases The AmE reflects French stress difference. The two BrE pronunciations may represent distinct meanings for some speakers; for example, "a subterranean garage for a car" (1) vs "a petrol garage" (2). (Compare barrage above.) (2) ˈgleɪsiə jalousie (1) ʒælʊˈziː (2) ˈʒælʊziː ˈdʒæləsi lapsang souchong ˈlæpsæŋ suːʃɒŋ ˌlɑpsɑŋ ˈsuʃɑŋ lasso ləˈsuː ˈlæsoʊ The BrE pronunciation is common in AmE lieutenant (1) lɛfˈtɛnənt luˈtɛnənt The 2nd British pronunciation is restricted to the Royal Navy. Standard Canadian pronunciation is the same as the British. ˈlitʃi Spelling litchi has pronunciation (2) ləˈtɛnənt lychee ˌlaɪˈtʃiː 58 /ˈlɪtʃi(ː)/ Molière ˈmɒl.iɛə moʊlˈjɛr oblique

əbˈliːk əbˈlaɪk AmE is as BrE except in military sense "advance at an angle" penchant pãˈʃã ˈpɛntʃənt The AmE pronunciation is anglicized; the BrE is French. penult pɛˈnʌlt (1) ˈpinʌlt (2) pɪˈnʌlt premier première (1) ˈprɛmjə (1) ˈprimɪr (2) ˈprɛmɪə (2) prɪmˈɪr ˈprɛmɪɛə (1) prɪmˈɪr (2) prɪmˈjɛr provost ˈprɒvəst (1) ˈproʊvoʊst (2) ˈproʊvəst quinine ˈkwɪniːn The BrE pronunciation also occurs in AmE (1) ˈkwaɪnaɪn (2) ˈkwɪnaɪn resource (1) rɪˈzɔːs ˈrisɔrs (2) rɪˈsɔːs respite ˈrɛspaɪt (1) ˈrɛspət (2) rɪˈspaɪt reveille rɪˈvæliː ˈrɛvəli slough slaʊ slu sense "bog"; in metaphorical sense "gloom", the BrE pronunciation is common in AmE. Homograph "cast off skin" is /slʌf/ everywhere. Tunisia tjuːˈnɪziə (1) tuˈniʒə (2) tuˈniʃə 59 untoward ˌʌn.tʊˈwɔːd[1] (1) ʌnˈtɔrd (2) ˌʌn.təˈwɔrd vase vɑːz

(1) veɪs (2) veɪz z (the letter) zɛd The BrE pronunciation also occurs in AmE The spelling of this letter as a word corresponds to the pronunciation: thus Commonwealth (including, usually, Canada) zed and U.S (and, occasionally, Canada) zee. ziː 60