Grammar differences

Introduction

Speakers of American English generally use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less than speakers of British English. In spoken American English it is very common to use the simple past tense as an alternative in situations where the present perfect would usually have been used in British English. The two situations where this is especially likely are:

(i) In sentences which talk about an action in the past that has an effect in the present:

American English / British English 

• Jenny feels ill. She ate too much. 

• Jenny feels ill. She's eaten too much. 

• I can't find my keys. Did you see them anywhere?

• I can't find my keys. Have you seen them anywhere?

(ii) In sentences which contain the words already, just or yet:

American English / British English 

• A: Are they going to the show tonight?

• B: No. They already saw it.

• A: Are they going to the show tonight?

• B: No. They've already seen it.

• A: Is Samantha here?

• B: No, she just left.

• A: Is Samantha here?

• B: No, she's just left.

• A: Can I borrow your book?

• B: No, I didn't read it yet.

• A: Can I borrow your book?

• B: No, I haven't read it yet. 

a. Verb agreement with collective nouns

In British English collective nouns, (i.e. nouns referring to particular groups of people or things), (e.g. staff , government, class, team) can be followed by a singular or plural verb depending on whether the group is thought of as one idea, or as many individuals, e.g.:

My team is winning.

The other team are all sitting down.

In American English collective nouns are always followed by a singular verb, so an American would usually say:

Which team is losing?

whereas in British English both plural and singular forms of the verb are possible, as in:

Which team is/are losing?

b. Use of delexical verbs have and take

In British English, the verb have frequently functions as what is technically referred to as a delexical verb, i.e. it is used in contexts where it has very little meaning in itself but occurs with an object noun which describes an action, e.g.:

I'd like to have a bath.

Have is frequently used in this way with nouns referring to common activities such as washing or resting, e.g.:

She's having a little nap.

I'll just have a quick shower before we go out. In American English, the verb take, rather than have, is used in these contexts, e.g.:

Joe's taking a shower.

I'd like to take a bath.

Let's take a short vacation.

Why don't you take a rest now?

c. Use of auxiliaries and modals

In British English, the auxiliary do is often used as a substitute for a verb when replying to a question, e.g.:

• A: Are you coming with us?

• B: I might do.

In American English, do is not used in this way, e.g.:

• A: Are you coming with us?

• B: I might.

In British English needn't is often used instead of don't need to, e.g.:

They needn't come to school today.

They don't need to come to school today.

In American English needn't is very unusual and the usual form is don't need to, i.e.:

They don't need to come to school today.

In British English, shall is sometimes used as an alternative to will to talk about the future, e.g.:

I shall/will be there later.

In American English, shall is unusual and will is normally used.

In British English shall I / we is often used to ask for advice or an opinion, e.g.:

Shall we ask him to come with us?

In American English should is often used instead of shall, i.e.:

Should we ask him to come with us?

d. Use of prepositions

In British English, at is used with many time expressions, e.g.:

at Christmas/five 'o' clock

at the weekend

In American English, on is always used when talking about the weekend, not at, e.g.:

Will they still be there on the weekend?

She'll be coming home on weekends. 

In British English, at is often used when talking about universities or other institutions, e.g.:

She studied chemistry at university.

In American English, in is often used, e.g.:

She studied French in high school.

In British English, to and from are used with the adjective different, e.g.:

This place is different from/to anything I've seen before.

In American English from and than are used with different, e.g.:

This place is different from/than anything I've seen before.

In British English to is always used after the verb write, e.g.:

I promised to write to her every day.

In American English, to can be omitted after write, i.e.:

I promised to write her every day.

e. Past tense forms

Below is a table showing verbs which have different simple past and past participle forms in American and British English. Note that the irregular past forms burnt, dreamt and spoilt are possible in American English, but less common than the forms ending in -ed.

Infinitive	Simple past (Br)	Simple past (Am)	Past participle (Br)	Past participle (Am)
burn	burned/ burnt	burned/ burnt	burned/ burnt	burned/ burnt
bust	bust	Busted	bust	busted
dive	dived	dove/ dived	dived	dived
dream	dreamed/ dreamt	dreamed/ dreamt	dreamed/ dreamt	dreamed/ dreamt
get	got	Got	got	gotten
lean	leaned/ leant	Leaned	leaned/ leant	leaned
learn	learned/ learnt	Learned	learned/ learnt	learned
plead	pleaded	pleaded/ pled	pleaded	pleaded/ pled
prove	proved	Proved	proved	proved/ proven
saw	sawed	Sawed	sawn	sawn/ sawed
smell	smelled/ smelt	smelled	smelled/ smelt	smelled
spill	spilled/ spilt	spilled	spilled/ spilt	spilled

.

Letters "L", "U", "Z" usage

The spelling differences between American English and British English are likely to be among the most common noticed in every day life. The good news about these differences is that more often than not they follow a recognisable pattern, if not in fact a strict rule. A lot of these patterns are centred around four particular letters in the alphabet: l, s, u and z. The differences in these instances of course are also likely to be but a minor irritation at worst and almost never actually lead to a misunderstanding of the meaning of any particular word.

The Letter L

The differences employed with regard to the letter l are simply that in a lot of American spellings, the letter will appear only once, whereas in British English a double l will be employed. Common examples of this can be seen below.

American English	British English
traveling	travelling
canceled	cancelled

Color TV - or colour TV?

The Letter U

The differences with respect to the letter u are again fairly straightforward. They relate most commonly to where this letter is made to follow the letter o in the spelling of many words in British English but is eliminated altogether in American English. Once again, some common examples of these discrepancies can be seen in the table below.

American English	British English
color	colour
humor	humour
flavor	flavour

The word quiz is the same in both American and British English but a quiz in relation to the usage of the letter Z could produce some very varied answers...

The Letters S and Z

The letter z is used far more commonly in American English than it is in British English. There are many words which are pronounced on both sides of the Atlantic as though they contain this letter but in British English the words will instead be spelled using the letter s. There are more exceptions to this rule than there are in the previous two examples and considerable confusion can often arise as to which letter should in fact be used, particularly for native British English speakers attempting to use American spellings.

American English	British English
realize	realise
sympathize	sympathise
optimization	optimisation

The letter z is also pronounced differently in American English and British English. In American English the letter is pronounced zee, while in British English it is zed.

The differences between American English and British English can make a huge difference to SEO - in both directions...

Source: The Top Free SEO Tools

American English vs British English - Impact on SEO

The final example in the table above, optimization/optimisation, hints at a whole new relevance to the differences between American English and British English which has come to the fore in recent years. Usage of the Internet is to a very large extent governed by search engines, whether that be for people searching for information or those looking to provide it. The difference between the spelling of certain words and particularly where the words differ altogether can have a major impact forBritish Internet content producers writing for the much larger American market. This is generally realised by regular British online writers and many use American spellings and words, either some or all of the time, for this simple reason.

Americans go on vacation - British people go on holiday

It is not always apparent that the opposite may well apply and that American writers may be required to use British English. One example of this would be where an American travel writer is trying to encourage British people to visit the United States. It would be very desirable for them to use British spelling to be found on the UK search engines but it would be of vital importance for them to know that British people take holidays and not vacations...

American English	British English
cilantro	coriander
cookie	biscuit
eggplant	aubergine
ground beef	minced beef
heavy cream	double cream
scallions	spring onions
zucchini	courgette

Chips in British English are similar to large French fries in American English - chips in American English are crisps in British English

American English vs British English - Food and Cooking

There are many differences between the names for both raw ingredients and for completed recipes between American English and British English. Some common examples are featured to the right but it is worth looking in greater detail at one in particular and that is the herb/spice,Coriandrum sativum. In British English, the leaves of this plant are known as coriander, while the seeds are called simply coriander seeds. In American English, the leaves of the plant are referred to as cilantro (which is actually the Spanish translation of the word, coriander) while the seeds are referred to as coriander. As the tastes of the leaves and seeds are very different, this is important for all trans-Atlantic recipe followers to remember.

The American and British imperial measurement systems have several differences but probably the most notable is intrinsically linked with food and cooking. Although one American fluid ounce is very similar in quantity to a British one, an American pint has sixteen of them while a British one has twenty. The implications here when following a recipe could potentially be disastrous.

A car's trunk in American English is a car boot in British English

A car's hood in American English is a car bonnet in British English

American English vs British English - Cars and Motoring

It is not only many of the parts of a car which have different names in American English and British English. While trunk/boot, hood/bonnet and gas pedal/accelerator can cause confusion, there are many more differences which will be encountered by anyone venturing across the pond and actually heading out driving.

It is fairly common knowledge that while Americans drive on the right, British people drive on the left but confusion can arise in many other ways. A gas station in American English is a petrol station in British English, a parking lot is a car park. a freeway is a motorway and all British roads are toll free.. Differences of this type could lead to particular problems in many instances and the discrepancies are worth investigating in full by anyone driving in these unfamiliar surrounds.

The different ways in which the floor numbers are described between American and British English can be confusing

American English vs British English - Building References

There are a number of ways in which the inside of buildings and their fittings and furnishings can cause confusion between American English and British English. One is the way in which floor levels are numbered. In American English, the first floor will be that which is at ground level, whereas in British English this will be the ground floor and the first floor is the first above ground level. This difference is progressive, with an American third floor being a British second floor and so on.

American English	British English
apartment	flat
elevator	lift
faucet	tap
closet	cupboard