Differences between British and US English

English Writing WorkshopBIOFORSK, Ås09 June 2009

Agro Lingua Karl Kerner - Måltrostvn 1A - 3142 Vestskogen - karl@agroling.no

What’s different?

Pronunciation Stress Grammar Vocabulary Spelling Weights & measures

BrE – AmE: Pronunciation

Pronounce the following in Br & Am English Hardly, sturdy (r – sound) Grass, dance (a – sound) Fertile, missile (ile – sound)

Stress Laboratory – laboratory Aluminium – aluminum

BrE – AmE: Grammar

Some (irregular) verb forms ”The” – In hospital / In the hospital Prepositions: at/in school, in/on a team, fill

in/out a form, etc...

Usually, this is not the main thing to worry about!

BrE – AmE: Vocabulary

Autumn – fall Boot – trunk (car) Dustbin – garbage can Flat – appartment Maize – corn Petrol – gas And many more – see online lists, e.g.

”American and british vocabulary”

BrE – AmE: Spelling

British American

-our/-or: colour - color -re/-er: centre - center -ce/-se: defence - defense -ise/-ize: organise - organize -yse/-yze: analyse - analyze -ogue/-og: catalogue - catalog

BrE – AmE: More Spelling

British American -mme/-m: programme – program hyphens: non-profit – nonprofit -ll-/-l-: levelling – leveling dropped e: ageing–aging; likeable-likable oe(ae)/e: caesium – cesium And more, of course!

Who could say it better?

We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.

—Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost

Conclusions

Check with journal style guidelines Be consistent!!! Use spellchecker Dictionaries: Either BrE (eg Oxford) or AmE (eg

Webster’s). Be aware of what you are using! Focus mainly on communicating clearly Don’t worry too much, ”Majority English” is taking

over anyway...