Эти две разновидности английского отличаются лишь незначительно, так, что большинство говорящих на американском и британском английском не испытывают трудностей в понимании друг друга. Тем не менее, существуют некоторые различия между американским и британским английским в грамматике, словоупотреблении, словарном составе, правописании и произношении. В последующих разделах будут описаны основные отличия между американским английским (AmE – American English) и британским английским (BrE – British English).
| Тема | AmE | BrE |
| Present Perfect | He’s just gone home. | He’s just gone home. |
| He just went home. |
| have | take a bath / shower / look etc. | have a bath / shower / look etc. |
| will/shall | I will be there. | I will be there or I shall be there. |
| Where should we go?* | Where shall we go? |
| Perfect Infinitive | She must not have come. | She can’t have come. |
| needn’t | You don’t need to hurry. | You needn’t hurry. |
| You don’t need to hurry. |
| Reply Questions | I can drive. ~You can? | I can drive. ~Can you? |
| Subjunctive | It is important that she be told. | It is important that she should be told. |
| as if/like | He looks like he’s had a fight. | He looks as if or like he’s had a fight. |
| Adverbs | They talked real strange.* | They talked really strangely. |
| have/have got | I got a lot of friends.* | I’ve got a lot of friends. |
| can** | I see or I can see something. | I can see something. |
| Infinitive Clause | We’d like for you to stay. | We’d like you to stay. |
| We’d like you to stay. |
| Adverb Position | He probably has left. | He has probably left. |
| He has probably left. |
| come/go | Let’s go see the house.* | Let’s go and see the house. |
| this/that | Hello, is this Kevin? | Hello, is that Kevin? |
| Plural*** | The team is winning. | The team are or is winning. |
| may/might | Are you coming? ~I may. | Are you coming? ~I may do. |
* разг. вариант; ** гл. see, hear, smell, feel, taste; *** собир. сущ. family, team, firm, club и т.п.
Глаголы
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
| AmE | BrE | AmE | BrE |
| burn | burned | burned or burnt | burned | burned or burnt |
| dive | dived or dove | dived | dived |
| dream | dreamed | dreamed or dreamt | dreamed | dreamed or dreamt |
| fit | fit or fitted | fitted | fit or fitted | fitted |
| get | got | got or gotten | got |
| lean | leaned | leaned or leant | leaned | leaned or leant |
| learn | learned | learned or learnt | learned | learned or learnt |
| plead | pled or pleaded | pleaded | pled or pleaded | pleaded |
| prove | proved | proved or proven | proved |
| quit | quit | quitted | quit | quitted |
| saw | sawed | sawed or sawn | sawn |
| smell | smelled | smelled or smelt | smelled | smelled or smelt |
| sneak | snuck or sneaked | sneaked | snuck or sneaked | sneaked |
| spell | spelled | spelled or spelt | spelled | spelled or spelt |
| spill | spilled | spilled or spilt | spilled | spilled or spilt |
| spit | spit or spat | spat | spit or spat | spat |
| spoil | spoiled | spoiled or spoilt | spoiled | spoiled or spoilt |
| wake | woke or waked | woke | woken or waked | woken |
| wet | wet | wetted | wet | wetted |
Предлоги и частицы
| AmE | BrE |
| different from or different than | different from or different to |
| do over or do again | do again |
| write smb. or write to smb. | write to smb. |
| on the street | in the street |
| on the weekend | at the weekend |
| in high school | at university |
| on a team | in a team |
| in a course | on a course |
| turn around | turn round or turn around |
| talk with smb. or talk to smb. | talk to smb. |
| 9:10 — ten past / after nine | ten past nine |
| 8:50 — ten to / of / before / till nine | ten to nine |
| Monday through / to Friday | Monday to Friday |
| affiliate with | affiliate with or affiliate to |
| fill out | fill in |
| the opportunity to do | the opportunity to do or of doing |
| check smth. out | check smth. |
Даты и числа
| AmE | BrE |
| January 18, 2005 or 01/18/2005 | 18 January 2005 or 18/01/2005 |
| 305 — three hundred five | three hundred and five
|