About the differences between American and English

[Luke_Student]

Dear mr. ,
I have studied english for 8 years . But sometimes I still mistake American for Englsh. Can you help me solving that trouble?
Thank you a lot .
Luke

[Torsten]

Hi Luke,

Welcome to english-test.net and many thanks for your question. What exactly do you mean by 'mistake American for English'? There is no such language as 'American'. People in the US speak American English while people in the UK speak UK English. Both versions of English are very similar and there are only a few minor differences. As a matter of fact, the difference between Scottish English and Southern UK English might be bigger than the difference between Standard North American English and standard British English.

Please let tell me what exactly you would like to know. By the way, no matter what matter what variant of English you prefer, you should put a full stop (period) immediately after the last word of your sentence rather than putting a space between the word and the period. Also, both in UK as well as US English "Mr" is always capitalized.

Best regards,
Torsten
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[PhilBurk]

I'm a speaker of American English and I can understand any other native speaker of English as well as most ESL speakers.

[Joao Fonseca]

hi dear friend, his is Joao Fonseca, like my Brazilian Poruguese different from Portuguese in Lisbon there are many differeneces as American to Engish. beyong de accent if you do want to understand you have to read and specially live or work with them as I do i.e, I work with americans, I´ve had a chance sometimes o talk to English people, and slowly you learn, they are kind people and feel ok to help you. Just keep listening the audios over the net and you will learn much faster.
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Joao Mª H. Fonseca
Your last mistake is your best teacher.

[PhilBurk]

I am an American who lived in England for awhile. There is generally no problem understanding each other. But here are a few word differences that can trip you up.

British word / American word
football / soccer
American football / football
crisps / chips
chips / French fries
lift / elevator
plimsolls / tennis shoes (gym shoes worn at school)
lorry / truck
queue / line (for example at a bank)

[Prezbucky]

Here are a couple more:

biscuit/cookie
flat/apartment

What is the British word for the American "biscuit"?
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[Alan]

Hi Tom,

Don't quite follow. We say 'biscuit', you say 'cookie'.

Alan
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[NinaZara]

I thought it was weird when I heard Red Forman from That 70s show refers to the buns as biscuits. I was totally confused but now I've learned that biscuits are buns in the US.

Tom, do you know what buns are?

I love buns with butter and biscuits with tea!

[Stew.t.]

Hi Ninazara

Worthy of note is that colloquially bun can mean a bun of bread used for a burger in British English.
It is also referred to as a bap.
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[NinaZara]

Hi Stew,

I googled its image and I saw this big (bigger than the ordinary size I am used to) bread for burger. And I think I've had bap with tuna and egg last two weeks. I noticed that the bread was softer than usual.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning it!

[Prezbucky]

Alan

Right -- the English biscuit is the American cookie.

Do you guys have a term for American biscuits?
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

If we do, I don't know it.

Alan
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[Prezbucky]

It's probably just "American biscuit". hehe
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Luke_Student]

Thank you for your explanation, Mr Torsten.
Now I can learn English without thinking about the
differences in grammar !!!
Luke

[PhilBurk]

A "biscuit" in America is a soft crumbly roll. Dinner biscuits are sometimes served with gravy, particularly in the South or Midwest. I think many Americans associate biscuits with the Bisquick product.

http://oldrecipebook.com/bisquick-biscuits.shtml

Americans and British both have "scones" but they vary a lot. The British have "crumpets" but Americans rarely use that word. Note that the British sometimes refer to a cute woman as "a bit of crumpet".