Differences between the usage of British and American English

speaking between British and American English.

variants

places:
BE – AE; BE – AE:
Passage – hall;

cross-roads – intersection;
pillar box - mail-box; the cinema - the movies;
studio - bed-sitter; one-room – apartment;
pavement – sidewalk; tube – underground, subway;
surgery - doctor’s office; lift – elevator;

BE – AE:
biro – ballpoint; rubber – eraser;
parcel

– package; carrier bag - shopping bag;
reel of cotton - spool of thread

– AE:
tin – can; sweets – candies;
chips -

french fries;
minced meat - ground beef.
If we speak about cars there are also some differences:
BE –AE; BE – AE:
Boot – trunk; bumpers – fenders;
a car - an auto; to hire a car - to rent a car.

words ending in «our», e.g. honor, favor;
the deletion

of the second consonant in words with double consonants, e.g. traveler, wagon;
the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin, e.g. theater, center;
the deletion of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin, e.g. catalog, program;
the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin, e.g. defense, offense;
deletion of unpronounced endings in native words, e.g. tho, thro.

of the stress:
BE – AE; BE – AE:
add`ress

– `address, la`boratory -`laboratory;
re`cess -`recess, re`search - `research;
in`quiry - `inquiry, ex`cess - `excess.
Some words in BE and AE have different pronunciation:
BE – AE; BE – AE:
[`fju:tail] – [`fju:tl], [`dousail] - [dosl];
[`fig] – [figyer]; [shedju:l] – [skedju:l].

vowels:
shortening of long vowels, especially at the end

of the word and before voiceless consonants, e.g. see, keep;
lengthening of short vowels before voiced consonants, e.g. big, good, come, jam etc.
In the words consisting of three or more syllables there is a tendency to have two main stresses, e.g. [`nes `seri], [`int`restiη].
The diphthong [ou] is pronounced [u], e.g. home – [hum], go – [gu].
The diphthong [uə] is pronounced [o:], e.g. sure [∫o:].
Vowels can also change under the influence of consonants:
After fricatives and consonants [n] and [m], [ju:] is pronounced as [u:], e.g. resume, music, news, enthusiasm.
Before fricatives and combinations of fricatives with consonants [a:] is pronounced as [æ], e.g. dance, answer, class, fast.

After a vowel [r] is pronounced, e.g. [ka:r], [ha:rt].

There appears an intrusive [r] in the combinations where after the final vowel [ə] there is a vowel at the beginning of the next word, e.g. the idea of, Asia and Europe (on the analogy with word combinations there is, there are).
[s] is used instead of [∫] before [i] in the structure of suffixes, e.g. social [‘sousil], negotiate [ni`gousi,eit];
Combinations of sounds [dj], [tj], [sj] in such words as duke, tube, issue have two variants of pronunciation: [d3u:k] and [dju:k], [t∫u:b] and [tju:b], [`i∫u:] and [`isju:];
Pronunciation approaching spelling is being developed, e.g. often [`oftn], forehead [fo:`hed] etc;
[t] and [d] at the end of words are not pronounced, e.g. «half past five’ [`ha:f `pa:s`faiv], «old man» [`oul `mæn].

are different while denoting the same notions;
differences in names of

places;
some names of useful objects;
some words connected with food;
some words denoting personal items;
some words denoting people;
differences when we speak about cars.

ending in «our»;
the deletion of the second consonant in

words with double consonants;
the replacement of «re» by «er» in words of French origin;
the deletion of unpronounced endings in words of Romanic origin;
the replacement of «ce» by «se» in words of Romanic origin;
deletion of unpronounced endings in native words.

articulated vowels;
the position of the stress;
Changes in pronunciation:
changes in pronouncing

vowels;
vowels can also change under the influence of consonants;
pronunciation of some consonants is also changed;
But these differences do not prevent Englishmen and American from communicating with each other easily and cannot serve as a proof that British and American are different languages.