Uncle Sam, Big Ben and Mr. Joshi were on a road trip. Uncle Sam was driving. Suddenly he stopped.
Uncle Sam: We need to fill gas. Let's stop at a gas station.
Big Ben: Gas station? Oh, you mean a petrol pump?!
Uncle Sam rolls his eyes.
After some time,
Uncle Sam: Do you want to try this cookie? It's delicious!
Big Ben: No, I would rather eat my biscuit.
Mr. Joshi looks at both of them with exasperation.
Mr. Joshi: Don't petrol pump and gas station mean the same? And this cookie and biscuit don't look very different from each other. So why all the fuss?
Mr. Joshi is absolutely right, by the way! I have been teaching English close to two decades now and one of the most common requests students have made over the years is, “Ma’am, please teach us American English!” And I always end up telling them, speaking correctly and intelligibly is more important than what variety of English they speak.
English, the most popularly used language, especially in business, has numerous varieties depending on the geographical location of its speakers. The most common varieties are: American English (AmE), British English (BrE), Indian English and Australian English. Though all of them are unique in their ways, there are some obvious differences in the way they employ Grammar, Pronunciation and Vocabulary.
Today let us look at two of the most prominent varieties of English: AmE and BrE.
The three areas where differences between AmE and BrE are the most noticeable are: Pronunciation, Grammar and Vocabulary.
Pronunciation: It is common for even native speakers of English to not understand all accents in which it is spoken. So, if you need to use subtitles while watching a Hollywood film or a Netflix series, don't feel bad about it. I too found them quite useful as they help me understand even better.
Remember that even within AmE or BrE, there are differences between various accents. It would be impossible to talk about every single accent, so let us look at some of the most noticeable differences:
a. Pronunciation of the letter ‘r’: This is the first difference that people notice between AmE and BrE. If there is ‘r’ at the end of a word, it's usually pronounced in AmE. But in most dialects of BrE, it isn't. For instance, the word ‘computer’. Americans would say it as ‘computerr’, with an emphasis on ‘r’, whereas the Brits will say ‘computeh’ with the ‘r’ missing. However, remember that this is only for ‘r’ at the end of the word. Almost all dialects pronounce ‘r’ in the beginning (like in the word ‘right’) or in the middle (like in the word ‘parent’).
b. Pronunciation of the letter ‘t’: One of the most common characteristics of AmE is that the letter ‘t’, whether single or two ‘t’s sound like ‘d’. In BrE, this is less common and the ‘t’s are usually clearly pronounced. Let us look at the word ‘computer’ once again. An American saying it would almost sound like ‘compuderr’. This becomes even clearer with words which have ‘tt’, like the white ‘bitter’ or ‘butter’, which sound like ‘bidder’ and ‘budder’ respectively. The meaning, of course, does not change.
Another common difference with the pronunciation of the letter ‘t’ is that Americans often don't pronounce some ‘t’s like the ‘t’ at the end of words. For instance, the word ‘what’ said by an American sounds like ‘wuh’, whereas the British pronunciation in most parts of Britain, would be closer to the Indian way of saying ‘what’. Let's look at the words ‘interview’ or ‘international’. An American would pronounce them as ‘innerview’ and ‘innernational’. No, he is not taking about anything ‘inner’! It's just that the letter ‘t’ which is in the middle of both these words is not pronounced at all. However, remember if Americans are speaking to a varied audience, especially in a formal gathering, they may pronounce the ‘t’ more clearly. After all, they need to be understood, don't they?!
c. Vowel Differences: Generally, many vowel sounds are also different in AmE and BrE, but the most common is the sound of the letter ‘a’. Americans pronounce the vowel ‘a’, whether in the beginning of the middle of the word like the phonetic sound /ae/, which is basically ‘a’ and ‘e’ combined. For instance, the words ‘dance’, ‘after’ or ‘mathematics’ sound very different in BrE and AmE. The British pronunciation is closer to the Indian pronunciation. But am American would slant the ‘a’ sound and add a nasal zing to it. You could check out the videos on YouTube for the pronunciation.
Grammar: There are very few Grammar differences between AmE and BrE and definitely not noticeable to a non-native speaker.
However, there are some differences you would notice if you are frequently exposed to native users of English. Let's look at some of the most common ones:
a. have - have got - got: BrE uses the please ‘have got’ but Americans would simply use ‘have’, for eg.
BrE: I have got a son.
AmE: I have a son. (That is what we Indians say too!)
While making questions, there would be a difference too:
BrE: Have you got a son?
AmE: Do you have a son?
b. got - gotten: In BrE, the past participle (V3) form of the verb ‘get’ is’got’ (get - got - got). But in AmE, it is ‘gotten’ (get - got - gotten). Let's look at an example:
BrE: A: Hey, have you got that mail yet?
B: Yes, I have already got it.
AmE:. A: Hey, have you got that mail yet?
B: Yes, I have already gotten it.
Similarly, with the verb ‘forget’, in BrE it would be ‘forget - forgot - forgot’ but in AmE it would be ‘forget - forgot - forgotten’.
c. Past tense forms of verbs: We all know that we can form the simple past and past participle forms of regular verbs by simply adding ‘-ed’ at the end of the word. For instance: look - looked, push - pushed, pull - pulled. This is generally true for both BrE and AmE. But look at these regular verbs where the past tense is made by adding ‘t’ instead of ‘-ed’ in
BrE: burn - burnt (BrE) / burned (AmE)
learn - learnt (BrE) / learned (AmE)
dream - dreamt (BrE) / dreamed (AmE)
Note that in BrE both, ‘t’ and ‘-ed’ forms can be used. But in AmE, only ‘-ed’ form is used.
d. Prepositions: I know that prepositions by themselves can be quite challenging and of them ‘in’, ‘on’ and ‘at’ are the most confusing ones. So, one can imagine how difficult it is to decide what to use when you hear some saying ‘different from’, while others saying ‘different to’. Don't worry, they are just Americans (different from) and British (different to) saying the same thing.
Let's look at some more examples:
at the weekend (BrE) / on the weekend (AmE)
wait on line (BrE) / wait in line (AmE)
Monday to Saturday (BrE) / Monday through Saturday (AmE)
Spelling: Spelling differences can be easily spotted but can be confusing, as the spellcheck on our computers often gives ‘red lines’ for words we have been spelling a certain way all our lives. That is because the computers are usually set to the American way of spelling.
Let's look at the most common differences:
a. -our (BrE) / -or (AmE)
Words like ‘colour’, ‘flavour’, ‘neighbour’ are spelt as ‘color’, ‘flavor’ and ‘neighbor’ in AmE.
b. -ise (BrE) / -ize (AmE)
Verbs like ‘organise’, ‘realise’ etc. are spelt ‘organize’, ‘realize’ in AmE.
c. Single v/s double consonants: In BrE, some words have two consonants in a row, whereas in AmE, there is only one. The most common consonant to fall in this category is ‘l’. For example:
Travelled (BrE) / traveled (AmE)
Cancelling (BrE) / canceling (AmE)
Modelling (BrE) / modeling (AmE)
Vocabulary Differences: There are numerous words that are different between BrE and AmE. This is also the most confusing area of difference. It is difficult mentioning all of them here. Moreover, you can find numerous lists online. Let me give you some most common ones. Remember, Indian English merrily borrows from both, British and American English or we end up preferring one variety over the other.
1. Aeroplane (BrE) / airplane (AmE)
2. Biscuit (BrE) / cookie or cracker (AmE)
3. Chemist (BrE) / pharmacy or drugstore (AmE)
4. Dustbin (BrE) / trashcan or garbage can (AmE)
5. Film (BrE) / movie (AmE)
6. Holiday (BrE) / vacation (AmE)
7. Lift (BrE) / elevator (AmE)
8. Mobile phone (BrE) / cellphone (AmE)
9. Trousers (BrE) / pants (AmE)
10. Pavement (BrE) / Sidewalk (AmE)
11. Post (BrE) /Mail (AmE)
12. Queue (BrE) / line (AmE)
13. To ring (BrE) / to call (AmE)
14. Sweets (BrE) / candy (AmE)
15. Toilet (BrE) / restroom or bathroom (AmE)
16. Wardrobe (BrE) / closet (AmE)
17. Zed (BrE) /see (AmE) (The last letter of the alphabet)
I hope I have been able to talk about the most common differences between British English (BrE) and American English (AmE) but as the title of the article goes, it doesn't really make much of a difference which variety you use. What is more important is that you speak with a neutral accent and grammatically correctly.
My personal experience of living in the US for a couple of years has taught me that native speakers are generally quite generous towards non-native speakers of English (like you and me) and can understand us if we are not caught in ‘Indianisms’ and do not have a strong ‘Mother Tongue Influence’ (MTI). More about these two in my next article. Till then, happy learning!
- Anagha Natekar
Visiting faculty in English and German