Although English is the official language of both Britain and the United States, British English and American English have many differences. Most of the differences between UK English (BrE) and North American English (AmE) are differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling. There are some differences in the usage of grammar. Much of the difference is in the writing.

What is the difference between BrE and AmE?

Some grammatical differences

The main difference between British English and American English is in pronunciation. Some words also differ in each type of English and there are also some differences in grammar. Here are some of the most common grammatical differences between British and American English.

Present perfect and past simple

In British English, people use the present perfect to talk about a past action that they think is related to the present.

The present perfect can be used in a similar way in American English but people usually use the past simple when they consider the action to be over. This is especially common with the adverbs "already", "just" and "yet".

Eg:

BrE: “Have you done your homework yet?”

AmE: “Did you do your homework yet?”

BrE: “He isn't hungry. He has already had lunch.”

AmE: “He isn't hungry. He already had lunch.”

Come to English central with foreigners, you will be better explained about this.

“Got” and “gotten”

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

In American English, people say "gotten".

** Note, "have got" is often used in both British and American English to talk about possession or necessity, they don't use the word "have gotten".

For example, both BrE and AmE say “Have you got any money?” and do not say “Have you gotten any money?”

Vocabulary difference

Americans and British also have some different words. Some everyday objects have different names, depending on the form of English you are using.

BrE -> AmE

pants -> pants

flat -> apartment

bonnet (the front of the car) -> hood

boot (the back of the car) -> trunk

lorry -> truck

university -> college

holiday -> vacation

…

Different pronunciations

All in all, one of the first and biggest differences you'll likely notice is pronunciation.

Take for example the word “Water”. In the American pronunciation of "Water", the "t" sounds more like a "d", while the "r" in the British pronunciation is almost silent, or "not letterform", as used by linguists.

American pronunciation:

Water

  / Wa dɚ /

(wa-der)

British pronunciation:

water

/ wɑː tə /

(woh - tuh)

Besides the difference in pronunciation between BrE and AmE, there are also many dialects and variations of different accents in the United Kingdom and North America, such as in Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and South America. America.

While there may be certain differences between British English and American English, the bottom line is that the two have more similarities. Accidentally using one instead of the other will not cause the information to be misleading. Americans and British can usually communicate with each other comfortably so don't be too hard on yourself if you can't memorize the nuances of both languages. Find yourself an effective English center to study English with native speakers and have a suitable learning method.

Other dialects of English

With more than 1.5 billion people learning and speaking English in the world and an estimated 160 dialects, there is no standard dialect of English.

If you want to explore these and other dialects, check out the International English Dialect Archive (IDEA), where you can find over 1,500 recordings of English speakers around the world. from 120 different countries. It's an effective way to expose your ears to different accents and pronunciations and to listen to English speakers from other cultures.

Listening to many different voices is also a method for effective TOEFL exam preparation.