WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN IS NOT REALLY A CORRECTION OF YOUR ENGLISH, WHICH IS EXCELLENT, BUT ARE ADDITIONS WHICH I THINK MAKE IT CLEARER! I FEEL OTHERWISE IT SOUNDS BIASED TOWARDS AMERICAN ENGLISH. THIS BEING SAID, I WOULD ADVISE MOST LEARNERS OF ENGLISH TO LEARN AMERICAN ENGLISH AS IT IS SPOKEN BY THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE AND WIDELY UNDERSTOOD ELSEWHERE.
British English (BE) vs American English(AE)
What follows are brief examples of the major areas of difference between the two languages;
1.Spelling differences
American English has A more economical and phonetic spelling.Unnecessary letters are left out and words are spelled how they sound.An obvious example is the omission in AE of the letter u in words such as color, neighbor,honor etc. OFTEN, BUT NOT ALWAYS, BRITISH ENGLISH USES AN OLDER FORM, OR THE SPELLING REFLECTS THE ORIGINS OF THE WORD IN SOME WAY.
2.Pronunciation differences
There are of course great regional differences in pronunciation within both countries.The difference lies either in using different vowel sounds or by stressing the word in a different place. HOWEVER USUALLY PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT AREAS CAN UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, ALTHOUGH EVEN IN BRITAIN SOME DIALECTS/REGIONAL PRONUNCIATIONS ARE DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE FOR SPEAKERS OF ONLY STANDARD ENGLISH TO UNDERSTAND.
3.Vocabulary differences
There are many words that are used almost exclusively by Americans which are understood by most Britons, and vice versa. But there are others which can cause difficulty.Americans know that what they call their yard is called a garden in Britain and that trucks are lorries,but common British English words like plimsolls or oflicence may mean nothing to them. THE COMMON TREND IS FOR AMERICAN WORDS TO BECOME "NATURALIZED" IN BRITISH ENGLISH, SO THAT WHAT WAS AN AMERICANISM TWENTY YEARS AGO IS NOW COMMONLY UNDERSTOOD AND OFTEN USED IN BRITISH ENGLISH.
4.Grammar
British English and American English grammar are mostly in agreement; there are however some interesting variations.For example there are differences in certain verb forms.In AE the past tense of fit is fit; in BE it is fitted. Americans say I've gotten to know her well; Britons I've got to know her well.
Americans are much more likely to be technically correct in the agreement of collective noun and verb form than Britons. So in standard AE it would be: The team is playing well this season whereas in BE it is common and acceptable to say The team are playing well. Similar differences can be seen in the use of words like government,committee etc.: The government is .. (AE), The government are .. (BE). USUALLY BRITISH ENGLISH HAS AN EXPLANATION FOR SUCH DIFFERENCES FOR EXAMPLE "THE TEAM ARE GOING TO WIN THEIR NEXT MATCH" IS TAKEN TO MEAN THAT THE INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS ARE GOING TO WORK HARD SO THAT THE TEAM WIN(S)! GRAMMAR IS MEANT TO REPRESENT THE WAY THE LANGUAGE IS ACTUALLY USED, SO SOMETIMES GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTIONS ARE JUST OUT OF DATE! MOST GRAMMARS I HAVE SEEN ACCEPT SUCH DIFFERENCES.
5.Usage
There are countless other small and interesting differences between AE and BE,which come under the heading of usage. E.g:The exhibition is showing March through June.The equivalent expression in BE is from March to June, but this is ambiguous.Does the exhibition close at the end of May or the end of June? To avoid any misunderstanding, it is necessary to say something like The exhibition is showing from March to the end of June.
As another example:for Americans the number billion has 9 zeros (a thousand million); for most Britons it has 12 zeros (a million million).Zero itself is a much more common word in AE than in BE, where nought is more widespread. Americans are likely to say the number 453 as four hundred fifty three,whereas in Britain they say four hundred and fifty three.And so on! THE LAST DIFFERENCE STILL EXISTS. NOW, BUT I THINK YOU WILL FIND MOST BRITISH SPEAKERS USE 1 000 000 000 AS A BILLION, ALTHOUGH IT CAN STILL CAUSE CONFUSION. ALSO YOU TEND TO HEAR "ZERO" MORE OFTEN THAN "NOUGHT"
