British English and American English

Oleg Borisovich Pak, 1st year student of the Chair of Management

Scientific adviser Svetlana Petrovna Permyakova, senior teacher of the
Chair of Foreign Languages
British English versus American English.
British English, American English, lexica, grammar, phonetics.
Introduction
There are several varieties of English in the world. The most popular options
in today's world- are British English and American English. Today I want to tell
you about the two main versions. Usually in school or university we are taught
British English. But if you think about it, the number of people speaking American
English in the world is much larger than the people speaking British English, so,
the probability of doing business with the Americans is much higher. In fact, the
difference between British and American English is not so great as you can
imagine.
The question: how to form American English?
In XVII -XVIII centuries the crowds of people rushed to America from
different countries. Among them there were people from France, Spain, Germany,
Holland, Norway and even Russia. But most of them were from England (the
British Isles as a whole, and from Scotland, and Wales), where everybody spoke
English. Even then, English was not the same for all parts of the population: in the
speech of aristocrats, bourgeoisie and peasants there were a lot of differences. New
population of America just had to talk to each other, the choice of the language fell
on the one spoken by the majority. It was English. Thus, in the Middle Ages there
appeared two main versions if English:. American English and British English
I would also like to remind that Americans are keen on simplifying their
language.. Therefore, American English -is a sort of simplified version of British
English. For example, the designation of a simple future tense (Future Simple) in
the first person the word shall (I shall) have virtually disappeared from American
English, but in a formal British English is still used. Or in American English, as
opposed to British English, irregular verbs are conjugated often as regular verbs.
They add at the end of closure -ed verb. For example to give gived or, to take taked.
Now I want to tell you about the specific differences between American
English and British English.
Lexica
These differences are due to numerous borrowings in the American version
of the language from the Indian languages and from Spanish . Here are some

examples of the differences in the lexica of the language (source - Evdokimov

MS, Shleev GM Quick Reference US-British Matches).
American

British
variant

variant
1st Floor

ground floor
2st Floor

1st floor
Administration

government
Apartment

flat
Appetizer

starter
Assignment

homework
Auditorium

assembly hall
Baggage

luggage
Basement

cellar
Bill

banknote
Billion

milliard
Blue

sad
Spelling differences
Spelling rules most clearly reflect the idea that American English is the most
simple form of British English. In the book Dictionary of the English Language
by, Noah Webster the author noted that:
In the Americans often write
or instead of -our
-er instead of re
-se instead of ce
-z- instead of -s-l- instead of -ll-me, -ue at the end there is no
There are hundreds of words, which in British and American versions are
written in different ways. Here are some of them:
- color (.) colour (.) (*)
- meter (.) metre (.) (**)
- practise (.) practie (.)
- organization (.) organisation (.)
- traveled (.) travelled (.)
- kilogram (.) kilogramme (.)
Differences in grammar
One of the main reasons why the British believe Americans are negligent in
relation to the language is that in American English Perfect aspect is not
practically used, but instead they use Past Simple.

British English
American English
Have you heard the news?
Did you hear the news?
He's
just
gone
out. He
just
went
out.
I've
got
a
sister. I
have
a
sister.
She
hasn't
got
a
car. She
doesn't
have
a
car.
I've
got
a
pen. I've
gotten
a
pen.
I suggest he should see the doctor. I suggest (that) he see a doctor.
He
did
not
eat
at
all. He
did
not
eat
any.
at
the
weekend on
the
weekend
Monday
to
Friday Monday
through
Friday
different
from/to different
from/than
stay
at
home stay
home
write to somebody
write somebody

I
can still add, that In the American version people never use shall in the future tense
form. It is replaced by gonna (abbr. From going to).
Also, we can say that The American language hardly used the word
slowly and really - they are replaced by slow and real
Many British English irregular verbs in the American version have
become regular: ( burn - burned, dream - dreamed, lean - leaned, learn - learned,
smell - smelled, spell - spelled, spill - spilled, spoil - spoiled).
In the American version there are more verbal nouns (to research - to
investigate, a research - research) than in the British version.
Of course, there are other differences between British English and
American English, which are aimed at simplifying the language, but as a rule, they
are used in everyday speech.
Phonetics
Phonetic rules have undergone a lot of changes for various reasons in
British English and in American English:
The fact that in America there are a lot of immigrants from all over the world
influences the pronunciation.
Here are some examples of the differences:
ask [a: sk] in Britain and [sk] - in America, dance [da: ns] in England and
[dns] in the United States.
We can observe both:
When the letter "r" is in the initial position of a word or in the middle of a
word there is not a huge difference between the way Americans or British people
pronounce it.
1. Rain [ren]- [ren]
2. Drain [dren]- [dren]
3. Spring [ spr ]- [ spr ]
Now when the letter "r" is in the middle position in a monosyllabic word and
after a vowel in British English we tend to drop it.

We also drop the letter "r" at the end of words in British English whereas in
American English there is no difference.
1. Birth [ b ]- [ br ]
2. Turn [ tn ]- [ trn ]
3. Learn [ ln ]- [ lrn ]
4. Other [ ]- [ r ]
5. Clever [ klev]- [ klevr ]
Right then, let's move on to the letter "t". In standard British English, the
letter " t" is always pronounced as a \t\. Whether it is at the beginning of a word,in
the middle of a word or at the end of a word, whether it is a stressed syllable or
unstressed syllable. (table, attain, what, cut)
However in American English they tend to drop the "t" in the final position.
Now, in American English, when the letter "t" is in the middle position in a
word, it sometimes changes to a soft (d). This happens either when it is between
two vowels or when it is between an "r" and vowel.
1. Saturday [ stde ]- [ s(d)de ]
2. Waiter [ wet]- [ we(d)r ]
3. Matter [ mt]- [ m(d)r]
4. Party [ pti ]- [ p(d)ir ]
And finally, in American English, the letter "t" is sometimes dropped after an
"n"
1. Centre [ sent]- [ sen]
2. Interview [ ntvju ]- [ nvju ]
3. Internet [ ntnet ]- [ nnet ]
onclusion
In conclusion, I want to say that The English, which appeared a lot of
centuries ago, almost has not been preserved in its original form. It has changed
both in Great Britain and in the United States of America.. Which version of the
English people use depends largely on their occupation, their hobbies, and perhaps
even age. The language will never stops changing and developing due to the
development of the technologies and immigration of the population.

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