Peninha Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 What are the main differences between the written English from the US and from the UK? I thought that this was mainly at a verbal level, but are there words or sentences that are written differently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizbeth19hph Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 American English idiomatic expressions are fairly different from British English expressions. There are also words as well which have the same meaning in both American and British but of different spellings. Examples: colors-colours, organize-organise, etc. British spelling of some words use "s" instead of the usual "z" in American. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baburra Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 As already previously stated, the most prominent difference would probably be the use of "OU" in place of "O". Also, another one that stands out in my memory is their variation and pronunciation of the word "programme" (pronounced pro-grum) in place of "program". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firelily99 Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 I have nothing to add to what the others have said. Its all English but the idiomatic differences and some spelling can make them seem like totally different languages at times. I do enjoy the UK way, I find it quite charming. Its been the way it is for a very long time and I suspect it won't change. The Aussies have also come up with a few English language quirks that are delightful as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosa Posted February 6, 2014 Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 The only difference that I know of with regards to UK vs US written English is that of the spelling. Some other words that I am familiar with are words that end with re in UK ends with er in the US, for example, metre and centre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senji Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 This is a bit colloquial, but I found this quite funny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daimashin Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 From what I know, they are different in terms of a number spelling for certain words like realize/realise, honour/honor, and so on. US and UK also have different terms for the same things like hood/bonnet, trunk/boot, and etc. There are plenty of other things too but it's going to take a very long time to explain everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Hard Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 It wouldn't be OK to re-post what has been posted in another thread. There's a kind of detailed explanation here if you'd care to take a look:http://linguaholic.com/english-lounge-conversations-in-english-only/english-practice/15/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lodismel Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 It's mostly culturally based things that are different between UK English and US English. There's not a lot of difference structurally. Some words are spelled very slightly different. Inflection is also a bit different between the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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