Why can't Americans Spell........(like Brits)?

25,607 views ・ 2018-07-06

Eat Sleep Dream English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Guys, why can't Americans spell the same as Brits? It's total madness. We speak the same
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language but we spell completely differently. So we are going to look at six differences
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between British English spelling and American English spelling. Let's get into this madness.
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Hello and welcome to Eat Sleep Dream English, if you haven't met me before my name is Tom
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and I teach fresh modern British English so that you can take your English to the next
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level and achieve your life goals. Now before we get started I was only joking about Americans
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not being able to spell, it was a joke. But it does raise the issue of the differences
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in spelling between British and American English. So for those of you that write a lot in English,
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this is really important to know. If you are writing a business email or you are a journalist
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or you are writing an essay for your university getting the spelling correct is really important
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and that will depend on whether you speak British English or American English. Take
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the word apologise, in American English it ends with -ze but in British English it's
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-se. So apologize is -ze and apologise -se. Another example is criticise. -ze in American
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English, -se in British English. Difference number two is -or and -our. So take the word
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colour, in British English we write -our in American English it's just -or. Another example
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favourite. In British English favourite and in American English favorite. So the -our
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and the -or. Another example neighbour. So in British English neighbour, in American
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English neighbor. Difference number three is the endings of -re and -er so take the
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word theatre. In British English we end it with -re in American English it's -er. Another
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example centre. So -re in British English -er in American English. This next one is
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a classic difference. Now take the word practise. In American English it's with -se at the end.
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Now in British English we have -ce but we also have -se. So in British English the noun
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will be -ce practice with a -ce so Doctor's Practice is -ce but the verb is -se. So I'm
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going to practise the guitar is with an -se. So for the noun it's -ce with the verb it's
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-se. Whereas in American English it's the same for both. Makes it a lot easier, right?
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Same with the word license. So license is -se in American English, the noun in British
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English is -ce and the verb to license something is -se so there's a bit of a difference there.
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The next difference is with the Ls. The Ls can be slightly different depending on whether
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it's British or American English. For example skilful. In American English it's skillful
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whereas in British English it's just one l so skilful. To continue that idea on take
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the word travel. Now travel is spelled the same in British and American English but when
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you add a vowel on to to it so for example if you want to put it into the past tense
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travelled then in British English you add an L so travelled with two Ls but in American
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English you stay with one L. Same with travelling, two Ls in British English, one L in American
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English. Ok, let's look at some other words that are commonly spelled differently. So
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donut in American English, doughnut in British English. Same pronunciation but different
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spelling. Aeroplane or airplane. Airplane in American English and aeroplane in British
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English. Pronunciation aeroplane, airplane, it's more or less the same when it comes down
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to it I'd say aeroplane airplane. I don't know what I say, it's so interchangeable these
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days. I wouldn't be too worried what you are saying. And in fact do you know what I probably
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write airplane instead of aeroplane. So I use the American English spelling just because
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it is simpler in my head. I don't think it matters too much. The word Mum is also spelled
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differently. So in British English we spell it Mum. In American English Mom. Maybe that
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comes with the pronunciation, it's slightly different but Mum is spelled differently.
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Jewellery is another one. So in British English you've got two Ls and in American English
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there's one L. Pyjamas, in Britain we throw a Y in there so pyjamas whereas in American
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English it's just pa. And finally the colour grey. In British English it's grey and in
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American English gray. Guys, what did you think? Did you enjoy that vlog? Did you find
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it useful? Did you know the differences between British English and American English spelling?
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Let me know in the comments below. If you can think of any other examples of differences
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in spelling then let me know in the comments below. If you don't know already guys I'm
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on Instagram and I've got daily English content that I put on there so that you can keep updated
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with your English. I've also got a Facebook page so go and check them both out. If you've
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been here before you'll know that I put new videos out every Tuesday and every Friday
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to help you take your English to the next level. Thanks so much for hanging out with
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me guys. I've really enjoyed it, alright guys thank you so much for hanging out with me
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this is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.
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