Nowadays we have two styles of English language in use; they are the British English and the American English. Many people think that there is no difference between the two styles of English, but there is a lot of difference in the use of these two styles of English language. As a beginner one cannot find the difference between the two styles. But a well-experienced person in any of these styles of language can easily identify the difference between them.
The differences between these two styles of English language are, the first thing is the vocabulary used in these styles of languages. The vocabulary used in the British language is different from the vocabulary used in the American English style. In the British English style they use the word petrol where as in the American style of English they use gasoline. The British people use to say that they drive lorry whereas the American people use to say that they drive truck. This makes the wide difference in the vocabulary used in the British and American style of English. The beginner who would like to learn English gets a lot of confusion with this vocabulary. He may misunderstand the words used in these different styles.
One of the major differences one can find in the British style of English and American style of English is the pronunciation of the words in these two different styles. Generally in the British style of English every letter of the word is pronounced, where as in the American style of English they keep some words silent that is they don’t pronounce some letters in the words. For example, if a word ends with the letter “r” then in the British style they pronounce the sound of “r” but where as in the American style they don’t pronounce the sound of the letter “r”. In words like ‘brother’, ‘weather’, etc… they keep the sound of the letter ‘r’ silent. And also some words are pronounced differently as they appear. For example, the Americans pronounce the word “start” as “star”, keeping the sound of the letter “t” silent, here both the words are valid and this makes the wrong meaning for the listener.
The stress made in the pronunciation of the words is also different in the two styles of the English language. One style stresses in the first syllable of the word and another style stresses in the second syllable of the same word. For example, consider the word “princess” the stress is made on the second syllable in the British style where as the stress is made on the first syllable in the American style.
In American style of English they don’t make use of double ‘l’. For example, in British style the spelling of the word “traveller” is written as “traveler” in American style. The British use the –ouge at the end of some words like dialogue and catalouge, but the Americans use –og that is the spell as dialog and catalog respectively. The American use the word “center” for the word “centre” which is a word of British style.
The spellings of the words in American style are simplified, as well as there are complicated spellings in American style as well.
Look at the examples:
(British) Piece of chalk / (America) Chalk piece.
(British) Let’s go and have a drink/ (America) let’s go and drink.
Be sure that which style of English are you using. You have to use the appropriate style according to your environment.