American and British English Differences -- Page 3

9. Some other spelling differences are as follows:

British American British American British American British American
cheque check plough plow storey story behove behoove
 

10. The use of articles is different in the two languages. The American rules for the use of the articles "a," "an" and "the" and British English is somewhat different and allows the following "The man went to hospital to see nurse." American English would require the following "The man went to a/the hospital to see a/the nurse." The choice of "a" and "the" would depend on whether he wanted to see a particular nurse at a particular hospital or any nurse at any hospital.

 

11. Many British words ending in "ize" also appear as ending as "ise."
Both are accepted as correct in British English while the "ize" is only acceptable in American English.
A small representative sample is shown below.

apologize atomize authorize barbarize bastardize brutalize cannibalize canonize
capitalize carbonize categorize cauterize centralize characterize civilize collectivize
colonize conceptualize containerize emphasize demilitarized epitomize equalize familiarize
finalize formalize fossilize galvanize paralyze idolyze neutralize
 

12. Some British English words require double "l" while American English is spelled with a single "l". Some examples are ahown below

British American British American British American British American
panelling paneling travelling traveling quarlling quarling

On to Page 4        Back to Page 2      Back to Clear English Choices    Back to Home Page