When speaking about lexico-semantic differences one should pay attention to structural variants of words in be and ae. They differ in affixes while lexical meaning remains the same: e.G.,

	BE	AE	Word Meaning
1)	acclimatize	Acclimate	акклиматизировать
2)	centre	Center	центр
3)	metre	Meter	метр
4)	up to the time	on time	вовремя
5)	anticlockwise	counterclockwise	против часовой стрелки

Certain words and set expressions do not have equivalents both in British and American variants: e.g.,

	BE		AE		Word Meaning
	- // -		junior high school		неполная средняя школа, включающая 7-й и 8-й или 8-й и 9-й классы
	chemist’s		drugstore		аптека, магазин, где наряду с патентованными медицинскими средствами продаются бутерброды, прохладительные напитки
American Set Expressions
		- // -		be from Missouri		Быть скептиком
		- // -		do a land-office business		Иметь много клиентов
		- // -		feel like two cents		Плохо себя чувствовать
		- // -		Johnny-on-the-spot		Мальчик на побегушках
		- // -		Live high off the hog		Жить в роскоши

Differences in pronunciation: There are clear distinctions in how Americans and Britons, as they may be generally categorized, use their language. So there exist two established forms of the English pronunciation: Standard American English (SAE) and Received Pronunciation (RP).

Standard American English in the simplest terms is said to be “the English language as used in the U.S.” Received Pronunciation is difficult to define, but in his book Ian Morris-Wilson defines RP as “the standard pronunciation of the educated Englishman”.

The most notable differences in pronunciation between SAE and RP include differences in both word stress patterns and the articulation of single phonemes within words. For example, words with different stress pattern in SAE and RP:

RP SAE

ciga’rette ‘cigarette

a’ddress ‘address,

mous’tache ‘mustache

‘garage ga’rage

brochure bro’chure

‘harassment ha’rassment

One characteristic of SAE which clearly deviates from RP is the rhotacism of some vowels to make a post-vocalic [r].E.g.,

RP SAE

Card [ka:d] [ka:rd]

Normal [no:ml] [no:rml]

Another characteristic very common in SAE is nasalization, which Morris-Wilson explains as a nasal quality given to vowel sounds preceding a nasal consonant. This is often referred to as ‘nasal twang’, which is “one of the features of American English which many English people find disagreeable: they consider it to be indicative of laziness, untidiness, slovenliness, etc.”, e.g., can’t, dance.

AE has more allophones for [t, d] than RP. One of these often occurs in SAE when a single alveolar stop becomes a voiced tap of the tongue-tip between two vowels, of which the second vowel is unstressed.

RP SAE

Better [‘beta] [‘bera]

City [‘siti] [‘siri]

Ladder [’laeda] [’laela]

One characteristic of RP which differs from SAE is the tendency to lose or completely omit the schwa vowel in certain suffixes, i.e. to ‘clip’ the ends, while SAE may give such words two stresses and omit nothing. E.g., dictionary, cemetery, category and ceremony.

There are also differences between RP and SAE in the use of [j]. The speakers of SAE may use the [j] glide or may not in certain words. RP generally does use it, which can be seen in the following examples:

RP SAE

tune [tju:n] [tju:n, tu:n]

new [nju:] [nju:, nu:]

It is next to im­possible to dwell here upon all divergences of both variants in pho­netics - sounds, stress, accent, intonation. Examples are numer­ous, here are only some more, to illustrate the fact: clerk is pronounced in BE as [kla:k], and in AE as [kle:rk]; advertisement in BE is [aed've:tisment], and in AE – [,aedve:r'taizment]. We may also mention the difference in pronouncing such words as grass, path, task, etc. (RP - [a:], SAE – semi-long front [ae]). Those differences mentioned above are the most evident ones and perhaps those which can be considered the most important as well.

Differences in grammar: One of the grammar aspects that should be paid attention to is singular and plural forms of nouns. In BE, singular nouns that describe multiple people are often treated as plural. The singular form is usually used in AE. For example, BE the team are worried; AE the team is worried. Americans use the plural when the individual membership is clear, for example, the team take their seats (not the team takes its seat(s)), although it is often rephrased to avoid the singular/plural decision, as in the team members take their seats. The difference occurs in proper nouns as well: BE New England are the champions. AE New England is the champion. But both The Patriots are the champions.

Another aspect is the use of tenses. BE 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 Past Simple (to express a fact) or the Present Perfect (to imply an expectation), e.g., I've just got home. / I just got home. - I've already eaten. / I already ate.

The subjunctive mood is more common in AE in expressions such as: They suggested that he apply for the job. BE would have They suggested that he should apply for the job or even “They suggested that he applied for the job.

One can notice differences in verb morphology as well, e.g. verb past tenses with -ed: Americans tend to use dreamed, leaped, learned, spelled; Commonwealth more commonly uses dreamt, leapt, learnt, spelt.

Intransitive verbs often become transitive in AE, e.g., BE: The workers protested against the decision. AE: The workers protested the decision.

There are numerous cases of different phrases with verb-ad­verb combinations, e.g., AE look out the window – BE look out of the window; AE to fill out a blank – BE to fill in a form; AE to be filled up (about a hotel) – BE to be full up; AE wash up – BE wash your hands, as well as of divergences in phrase structures, e.g., AE go get it – BE go and get it.

Another example is the use of prepositions before days. 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: I'll be here December. Besides there are many more differences connected with the use of prepositions in different contexts.

AE could more easily than BE form noun ending with -ette (-et) with the diminutive meaning, e.g., luncheonette, dinette, dinerette - небольшое кафе, or to show gender, such as conductorette. Simi­larly, AE more extensively uses the suffix - wise in the meaning of ‘with regard to’ or ‘in terms of’, e.g., instruction wise, tax wise, and price wise, weather-wise. Also popular among Americanisms is the prefix su­per-, e.g., superhighway, superfilm, superweapon, to supersize and also the verb suf­fix -ize-, e.g., organize.

Equally registered tendency of AE is to use the morphological forms of the type get-got- gotten. Worth of mentioning is the usage of expressive compound words: trigger-happy – агрессивно нaстроенный, mastermind - гений, gangland - преступный мир, tinny-tiny - крошечный, saggy-baggy – мешковатый as well as forming verbs from nouns: to politic - вести кампанию, to deed - передавать по акту, or forming nouns with the help of verbs followed by adverbs: walk-up - дом без лифта, shut-out - победа с сухим счетом. Such examples are numerous, they are widely used in BE and other variants of English, which meets the needs of communication.

Spelling: AE spelling differs from BE spelling largely because of one man, American lexicographer Noah Webster. In addition to his well-known “An American Dictionary of the English Language” (1828), Webster published “The American Spelling Book” (1783), with many subsequent editions, which became most widely used schoolbooks in American history. Webster’s books sought to standardize spelling in the U.S. by promoting the use of the American language intentionally different from BE. The development of a specifically American variety of English mirrored the new country’s separate political development.

Webster’s most successful changes were spellings with -or instead of -our (honor, labor for the BE honour, labour); with -er instead of -re (center, theater for the British centre, theatre); with an -s instead of a -c (defense, license for the British defence, licence); with a final -ck instead of -que (check, mask for the British cheque, masque); and without a final -k (traffic, public, now also used in BE, for the older traffick, publick). Later spelling reform created a few other differences, such as program for British programme.