Some Specific Features of American English

The pronunciation of American English and the pronunciation of British English are similar. The general impression of American English pronunciation is as follows:

· American English intonation does not rise or fall as much as that of British English, it sounds more monotonous.

· American voices usually have a higher pitch. That is why American English often seems too emphatic and American voices seem louder than those of British speakers.

· American pronunciation is more nasalized.

· There are certain differences in the pronunciation of vowels and consonants.

Though British and American spelling is the same in most cases, it differs in a few details, which sometimes leads an unexperienced student to failures in his attempts to find some unknown words in the dictionary.

If a student looks for the word “reflexion” in a small dictionary, he may be unable to identify the word, unless he recollects that there may be some differences in spelling, and that the American “exion” looks “ection” in the British usage.

The changes introduced into the American variety of English are to be found in grammar and structure as well, but they are especially evident in the vocabulary. Some English words have developed new meanings, and many of these are traceable to the development of American institutions and American ways of life. Yet the striking feature of American English innovations is their close correspondence to characteristics of the temperament and the ways of life of the people who developed them.

British English American English

minister secretary

car automobile

secondary school high school

biscuits cookies

flat apartment

form (school) grade

lift elevator

post mail

pavement sidewalk

lorry truck

tram street-car

petrol gasoline (gas)

wash up do the dishes

wash your hands wash up

There are many lists of equivalent British and American words, but they must not be taken too seriously. On the American side of the page will be many words and phrases perfectly well understood, many of them in use, in Britain. Thus, most of them would not cause any serious confusion on either side.

Americans do not usually say “first floor” for “second floor”, they do not call a “trillion” a “billion”. But most educated Americans are quite aware of the British equivalents. Valid differences in the use of words are not really very numerous or very significant.

13. Look through the day descriptions by an American and a British girl, spot all the differences in the language used.