BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH
A R E Y O U F A M I L I A R W I T H T H E D I F F E R E N C E S ? B y G a r e t h S i u
It is well known that there are many differences between British and American English , but what are they and do they matter ? I have become much more aware of these differences since I left Britain and started to work overseas , where I have encountered more American English . It seems that many students can find this a difficult terrain to traverse and may even use both American and British words in the same sentence ! Some have a preference in terms of which one they would like to develop and practice , others do not . It seems that this is particularly an issue in Hong Kong due to the mixture of colonial history and the modern cultural dominance of the United States .
In the author ’ s opinion , although blending these two into a speech or text can seem strange to native speakers , if the grammar and pronunciation are correct , then that is the main thing . Though of course , the more formal the situation is the more important it is to be consistent . So it is important to consider the situation and the audience . Otherwise there could be embarrassing results . Remember , in Britain we wear our pants on the inside while the Americans wear their pants on the outside ! In terms of the historical reasons for these differences , there are many cases where American English has tried to match the spelling to the American pronunciation of the words , while British English maintains a closer
Americans say eggplant .
relationship to French . For example , the British and French use the word aubergine while
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