Skype English School

American Vs British

When a Briton and an American meet, even though they are far from mutually unintelligible, each is soon aware of differences in the speech of the other.

First, the accent is different: pronunciation, tempo, intonation are distinctive. Next, differences in vocabulary, idiom and syntax occur, as they would in a foreign language: individual words are misunderstood or not understood at all, metaphorical expressions sound bizarre, subtle irregularities become apparent in the way words are arranged, or in the position of words in a sentence, or in the addition or omission of words.

It is estimated that some 4,000 words and expressions in common use in Britain today either do not exist or are used differently in the US. These differences are reflected in the way British and American English are written, so that variations in spelling and punctuation also emerge.

Finally, there are immense cultural divergences, ranging from different trademarks for everyday products to different institutions and forms of government. Little wonder, then, that even in this age of global communications, we are still able to misunderstand each other. Before examining each of these major dissimilarities in detail, it may be useful to consider how they have arisen.