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British English versus American English + worksheet exercises
Jun 8, 2025
A short video that presents the three main differences between British and American English: vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. It provides a short presentation of each area with practice exercises and answers. WORKSHEET DOWNLOAD: https://academic-englishuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/American-English-Video-Lesson-AEUK.docx WEBSITE LINK: https://academic-englishuk.com/british-vs-american-english BUY LESSON:https://academic-englishuk.com/downloads/british-vs-american-english-lesson/
View Video Transcript
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[Music]
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Hello and welcome to this short video on
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the differences between British and
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American
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English. There's a worksheet that
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accompanies this video. So before I
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begin, pause the slide and download it
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from the link
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below. So what are the differences
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between these two types of Englishes?
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There's lots of differences, but
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generally British and American English
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differ in three main
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ways. The first one is
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vocabulary. Words like autumn in British
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English versus fall in American English
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and holiday in British English versus
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vacation in American
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English. The second difference is
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spelling. Color in British English has a
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U, but color in American English is
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without. And the word organize has an S
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in British English, but in American
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English it has a
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zed. The third difference is
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pronunciation.
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For example, stress changes such as in
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the word advertisement in British
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English compared to advertisement in
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American English or vowel sound changes
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like in privacy in British English has a
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I sound compared to privacy having an I
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sound in American English. Privacy.
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Privacy. Okay. So let's look into more
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depth and start with the differences in
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vocabulary. There are many words in
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British English that are different in
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American English. As we have already
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discussed, autumn and fall, holiday and
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vacation. Other examples are biscuit
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versus cookies and football versus
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soccer and garden versus
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backyard. Okay, here is your first task.
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There are 12 British vocabulary words in
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this table that are all different in
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American English. Pause the slide and
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see if you can fill in the
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table. Okay, here come the answers.
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Pause and check.
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Some words are interchangeable in
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British and American English, meaning
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that these words are used in our British
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society. Examples are biscuits versus
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cookies. Other words are lift versus
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elevator, lorry versus truck, cinema
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versus movies.
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Let's now look back at the 12 words and
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highlight the words that you think are
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not
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interchangeable. For example, if you
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think that we don't use the word trash
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or rubbish in the UK, highlight it in
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yellow like
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this. Okay, pause the slide and do the
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activity. Here are the answers. Pause
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and check.
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Yes, sorry. It's all of them that are
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not commonly used in the UK. Please note
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that we do use the word subway, but not
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for underground trains, but for a
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walkway under a road. So, it's used for
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a slightly different
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meaning. Okay. Now on to spelling
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differences in British and American
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English. There are many words in British
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English that are spelled differently in
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American English as we discussed before
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with color and
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organize. Other examples are maths
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versus math, jewelry, and
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gray. Right, it's your turn. Look at
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these 12 words in British English which
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are all spelled differently in American
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English. Pause the slide and see if you
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can write the American
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spelling. Here are the answers. Pause
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and
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check. This slide is a summary of the
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spelling rules. Pause the slide and look
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through the seven common spelling rules
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and match them to your
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answers. Here are the answers. Pause and
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check. Okay, now on to pronunciation.
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There are many words in British English
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that are pronounced differently in
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American English. Let's use the example
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aluminium. British English aluminium.
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But in American English, it's pronounced
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aluminum. There are many differences
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taking place here. Firstly, the stress
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has changed places. In British English,
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it's on the third syllable.
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But on American pronunciation, it's on
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the second syllable.
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Aluminum. Also, in British English, we
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have an extra
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syllable. And there's also a change in
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vowel sounds in British English as you
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can see
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here. Okay, here is your next task.
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There are 12 words here, all pronounced
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differently.
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The slide includes the phonetic script
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for accurate pronunciation, but you may
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need to use a dictionary to help you. Go
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down the list and say each pair of words
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aloud. Pause and do the
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exercise. Okay, here are the answers.
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We'll go through them together. Please
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be aware I'm a British English native
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speaker, so my American pronunciation
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may not be completely accurate, but I'll
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try my best.
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So
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advertisement,
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advertisement, privacy, privacy,
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laboratory,
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laboratory,
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tomato,
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tomato, vitamin,
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vitamin, patent,
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patent, semi,
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semi,
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schedule, schedule,
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Data
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data
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project
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controversy
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controversy oregano
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oregano. Okay, there are three common
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pronunciation rules. So, pause the slide
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and have a look at these.
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Now look at the words again and decide
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which rule applies to the American
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pronunciation change of each word. Rules
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one, two, or three. I've done the first
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one for you, which is rule three, which
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has a syllable
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change. Pause and have a
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go. Here are the answers. Pause and
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check.
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So, that's the end of the video today,
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and I hope it was helpful. You now have
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some knowledge on the differences
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between American and British English. If
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you'd like the full lesson with lots
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more practice of British to American
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English examples, then please go here.
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Like always, until next time, thank you
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for watching. Goodbye.
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[Music]