BrE vs AmE - Grammar
This article looks at major grammatical differences between British English and American English. For a list of vovabulary differences between the two varieties of English, see Varieties of English Vocabulary.
Contents |
Present Perfect vs Past Simple
BrE sometimes uses the present perfect whilst AmE uses the past simple.
| BrE: | Have you eaten all those biscuits? |
| AmE: | Did you eat all those cookies? |
| BrE: | Have you ever seen the film, Casablanca? |
| AmE: | Did you ever see the movie, Casablanca? |
While vs Have
| BrE: | Have you got new training shoes? |
| AmE: | Do you have new sneakers? |
| BrE: | I've got some Wellington boots you can borrow. |
| AmE: | I have some galoshes you can borrow . |
| BrE: | I haven't got time for a holiday this year. |
| AmE: | I don't have time for a vacation this year. |
Irregular Verbs
There are some differences in irregular verbs between AmE and BrE. Two major differences are:
| BrE: | dive - dived - dived | Last night she dived into the pool. |
| AmE: | dive - dove - dived | Last night she dove into the pool. |
| BrE: | get - got - got | The baby has got a lot bigger. |
| AmE: | get - got -gotten | The baby has gotten a lot bigger. |
to/till/until vs through
BrE uses from...to/till/until while AmE uses from...through:
| BrE: | The optician is open from eight till four. |
| AmE: | The optometrist is open from eight through four. |
Prepositions
There are also a number of other differences in BrE and AmE prepositions, e.g. different to/than, at/on the weekend, ten past/after midnight.
Shall vs Should
BrE can use shall for offers and suggestions while AmE uses should:
| BrE: | Shall I call a taxi? |
| AmE: | Should I call cab? |
Question Tags
BrE uses a lot ofquestion tags. AmE does not; instead it uses words like right and ok:
| BrE: | I'll park on the verge, shall I? |
| AmE: | I'll park on the shoulder, right? |
Collective Nouns
BrE can use a singular or plural verb for collective nouns while AmE uses only a singular verb:
| BrE: | The team are playing badly. |
| AmE: | The team is playing badly. |
Adverbs
In informal speech, AmE sometimes useadverbs without the -ly ending:
| BrE: | Autumn was really cold this year. |
| AmE: | Fall was real cold this year. |
Double Imperatives
With double imperatives beginning with go, AmE sometimes drops the joining and:
| BrE: | Go and open the door. |
| AmE: | Go open the door. |
