Differences Between European English And American English

The reason for varied differences between the European English and American is attributed to Noah Webster who had brought Webster’s Dictionary. English language was first introduced to the Americans by the British a long back in 1607 and this language spread to other parts of America as well as on global within a short time. Noah Webster brought wholesome changes in the American dictionary and language by advocating a strict spelling reform which made the words appear slightly different from its European English counterparts.

There is wide range of difference between the American and British English on different scales and terms. One good example can be related to the consideration of ‘singular’ and ‘plural’ noun in similar circumstances. An American English speaker happens to consider group of people as a singular noun. Therefore they would say “The audience was rising to their feet”. But British English considers audience as plural noun and says “The audiences were rising to their feet”.

Extreme Differences In Vocabulary

There is huge difference between the vocabulary shared by American and British native speakers which can easily be seen in the use of writing and speaking. The difference doesn’t mean that the word used as synonym or antonym or for regular is wrong in any context. It simply translates that people from these different continent speaks and thinks about same thing with different names which kind of act as synonym in reality. For example Amercan native speakers term football as ‘soccer’ while British counterpart adheres to ‘football’ word usage for defining that sport.

The List of Vocabulary Based Differences Are As Follows:

British	American
Anticlockwise	Counterclockwise
Bin	Trash Can
Bin Liner	Trash Bag
Biscuit	Cookie
Bonnet	Hood
Boot	Trunk
Braces	Suspenders
Called	Named
Chemist	Pharmacist
Cooker	Stove
Dear	Expensive
Estate Agent	Realtor
Fag	Cigarette
Football	Soccer
Garden	Yard
Hire	Rent
Holiday	Vacation
Marks	Grades
Nappies	Diapers
Mobile Phone	Cell Phone
Pavement	Sidewalk, Footpath
Petrol	Gasoline, Gas
Post	Mail
Rob	Steal
Roster	Schedule
Solicitor	Lawyer, Attorney
Spanner	Wrench
Tap	Faucet
Taste	Flavour
Toilet	Restroom, Bathroom
Torch	Flashlight
Windscreen	Windshield
Trolley	Cart

Spelling Differences Between British And American English

It is widely known that the both the kinds of English phonetically different from each other on a lesser level but there are also widespread spelling differences. The spelling differences also leads to the pronounciation differences to a great extent.

Some of the differently spelled words are as follows:

British English	American English
Aeroplane	Airplane
Aluminium	Aluminum
Checque	Check
Gramme	Gram
Jewellery	Jewelry
Kerb	Curb
Learnt	Learned
Manoeuvre	Maneuver
Mould	Mold
Moustache	Mustache
Skeptical	Sceptical
Storey	Story
Sulpher	Sulfer
Pyjamas	Pajamas
Routeing	Routing
Tyre	Tire

There s also an obvious differences in the use suffixes of words throughout the English and American English. Suffixes used in English language such as –ise in words like supervise, minimize etc. are written with –ize suffixes in American English though the meaning remains the same. Some other examples are:

English	American	Example
-ise	-ize	Minimise, Minimize
-our	-or	Behaviour, Behavior
-re	-er	Centre, Center
-ce	-se	Defence, defense

Another difference which can be seen is how some words are spelled with “ae” in the English vocabulary but in American is substituted with a simple ‘e’. Some of the words like Anaesthesia, Archaelogy, Encyclopaepedia and paedophile are written as anesthesia, archeology, encyclopedia and pedophile.

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