http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?

docid=152820
Recognising Grammatical Differences between
American and British English
by
Kerry G. Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield

Lexical variations such as nappy vs. diaper and spelling variants like centre vs. center or colour vs.
color are instantly recognisable as indicators of the language varieties of American and British
English. More subtle are those few variations which, rather than being immediately obvious in
vocabulary and spelling, are revealed in the different ways in which the two varieties choose
grammatical forms. In this article we will explain some of these differences and explore what
implications there are for teaching. There are also some activities for teachers to use with their
students on American and British English, as well as activities which explore varieties of language.

Contents
The differences: Use of present perfect tense and simple past | Verb agreement with collective nouns | Use of delexical verbs have and
take | Use of auxiliaries and modals | Use of prepositions | Past tense forms
Implications for teaching
Activities
Varieties of English
Do you speak Englishes? (online activity)
Comments from users

1. Use of present perfect tense and simple past tense

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/American English

Jenny feels ill. She ate too Jenny feels ill. She's eaten too much.
much.
I can't find my keys. Did you I can't find my keys. Have you
see them anywhere? seen them anywhere?

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

American English British/American English

A: Are they going to the show
A: Are they going to the show tonight?
tonight?
B: No. They've already seen it.
B: No. They already saw it.
 A: Is Samantha here? A: Is Samantha here?
B: No, she just left. B: No, she's just left.

A: Can I borrow your book? A: Can I borrow your book?

B: No, I didn't read it yet. B: No, I haven't read it yet.

2. 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?
3. 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?
4. 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?

4. 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.

5. 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.

past participle
infinitive simple past (Br) simple past (Am) past participle (Br)
(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
spell spelled/spelt spelled spelled/spelt spelled
spill spilled/spilt spilled spilled/spilt spilled
spit spat spat/spit spat spat/spit
spoil spoiled/spoilt spoiled/spoilt spoiled/spoilt spoiled/spoilt
stink stank stank/stunk stunk stunk
wake woke woke/waked woken woken

Note that have got is possible in American English, but is used with the meaning 'have', gotten is the
usual past participle of get, e.g.:

American English British English

You've got two brothers. You've got two brothers.
(= you have two brothers)
You've gotten taller this You've got taller this year
year

Implications for Teaching

1. The two major varieties of English

The two varieties of English most widely found in print and taught around the world are British and
American - it is therefore important for teachers to be aware of the major differences between the
two. And while lexical differences are the easiest ones to notice, a knowledge of grammatical and
phonological differences can be useful not only for teachers to be aware of, but also to be able to
deal with should they come up in class.

2. Which is better?
An important point to make is that different doesn’t mean wrong. Comments such as “American
English is inferior to British English”, or “American English is better than British English” have no solid
basis other than the speaker’s opinion. The truth is that no language or regional variety of language
is inherently better or worse than another. They are just different. Students will often have very firm
beliefs on which English they think is better/easier to understand/clearer etc. While it may be true for
that particular individual, there is no evidence to suggest that one variety is easier to learn or
understand than the other.

3. Materials and Varieties

If you are an American English speaker teaching with a British coursebook or vice versa, what do you
say when the book is different from your English? The answer here is to point out the difference. The
differences are not so numerous as to overload the students and often can be easily dealt with. For
example, if you are an American English speaker using a lesson that has just included “at the
weekend” it takes very little time to point out that in American English people say “on the weekend”.
Accept either from your students then. If you decide to go along with the book and say “at the
weekend” yourself, you’ll probably sound unnatural, and “on the weekend” might slip out anyway!

4. Exams and essay writing

In most international exams, both varieties of English are accepted. However, while writing for an
international exam (or writing in English generally) students should try to remain consistent. That
means if they favour (or favor) American spelling and grammar, they should stick to that convention
for the whole piece of writing.

5. What role do other varieties of English have in the classroom?

Although British and American varieties are the most documented, there are of course many other
varieties of English. Scotland, Ireland, South Asia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, West Africa, the
Caribbean, South Africa all have their own regional variations of English. The decision whether or not
to highlight aspects of these Englishes would depend on two factors:
 if the students are going to live, or are already living, in one of these places - in which case
the need to understand specific aspects of that English is clear; or
  if the teacher is from one of those places and therefore speaks a regional variation of English.
In this case it could be useful to occasionally point out differences between your English and
that of your coursebook (see point 3 above about using your own variety).
Activities

Which is which?
Activities in published EFL/ESL materials often present lists of words which students must classify as
either American or British. These will tend to focus on lexis and spelling. To take account of
grammatical differences, and present a more comprehensive activity, teachers could compare larger
pieces of text and decide where they came from. Look at this sample exercise:
Scotland Yard police are looking for a famous American bank robber
called Dirty Dan. Dirty Dan robbed a bank in London last Friday night.
They are interviewing three different people. All three have British
accents, but the police know that Dirty Dan can imitate a British accent.
Read parts of each of the transcript. Can you identify Dirty Dan from the
language he uses?

Suspect 1: I already said this. I didn’t do anything special on the

weekend. Friday night I took a shower in my apartment and then went
out to see a movie. It was a movie I had already seen, Matrix
Revolutions. I really like action movies. I went with my girlfriend
Samantha.

Suspect 2: I wasn’t in town at the weekend, and I certainly wasn’t

anywhere near the bank on Friday night. I was at a hotel in Paris with a
special friend of mine. Shall I give you the hotel phone number? You
needn’t bother asking me any more questions. You’ve got the wrong man.

Suspect 3: I’ve already said this. On Friday night I went to see a film at
the cinema. It was Matrix Revolutions. I don’t really like action films, but
my friends really wanted to see it. It was rather boring. After that I went
home and had a nice hot bath. I went to bed around midnight.
Answer: Suspect 1 is Dirty Dan. The American words and expressions are: already said this (British
would use present perfect); on the weekend (British - at the weekend); took a shower (British - had a
shower); movie (British - film).

Varieties and standard

When looking at varieties of English, it might be useful to discuss different varieties of the students’
own language. Here are some questions you could set for discussion which raise different issues
about varieties and Standard language.
 What is your native language? Where do people speak this language? What other countries
use the same language that you do?
 When the same language exists in more than one part of the world, there are often some
differences between the two languages. These are called varieties of the language. Are there
any varieties of your native language?
 What differences in language are there in your own country? For example, do people in the
capital city speak a different kind of language than people in the country?
 What do you think of the different varieties of your own language?
 Is there one standard variety of your own language? Is there one variety of your own
language that people in your country dislike?
 If I wanted to learn your native language, would it matter what variety I learn?
Do you speak Englishes?
Test your knowledge of English around the world with this online quiz about different kinds of English.
Varieties of English quiz
Comments from users:
Very helpful! Fully accords with my experience as an AmE speaker/teacher in
Europe.
One small AmE suggestion for Dirty Dan Suspect 1 - first line: I already told you. (or As I already
told you: ....). "Said" seems less idiomatic to me here.
I also found "I didn't read it yet" unusual in AmE, but that may be from years of working with
British speakers.
http://www.onestopenglish.com/english_grammar/british_american.htm