British English & American English: SPELLING DIFFERENCES

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have

a lesson on spellings and how they can be

different between American spellings and British/UK

spellings. Okay. So, we have a few examples.

This is just the first part of the lesson

on the board. We will have some more partway

through, so do stay with us. So, okay. So, the first three example types are certain

types of spelling where they are different. So, on the left-hand side we have the UK or

British/English spelling, and on the right-hand

side we have the American spelling. Okay.

So, they're in three categories here. So,

the first category is quite a well-known one

already. O-U-R, words ending O-U-R in American

spelling are just O-R with no U in it. So,

we have the word "colour" and "color". There's

no difference to the pronunciation apart from

the fact that American speakers tend to sound

the R, whereas British speakers don't. So,

"colour" at the end, but probably "colour", "colour", so you would hear more R sound,

but that's nothing to do with the different

spelling. It's just to do with the different

American pronunciation of the letter R. So, more or less it's the same sound,

but the spelling is different. So, we have "colour", "honour", "humour", and "labour".

They're just four examples. There are more,

but these are just some examples to show you

how it works. Okay? So, that's O-U-R to O-R. And then another group of spellings

are words like "licence", which in the UK is

spelt with a C. Well, this is if it's a noun,

that is. This is a bit confusing, but "licence",

the actual licence... I have a television

licence. I would spell it like this as a noun,

but in American spelling it's spelt with an S.

The confusing thing is that the verb "to

licence" something in the UK can actually...

Is actually spelt with an S, so this is where

some confusion comes up because the noun

in the UK is spelt with a C, but the verb in the UK is spelt with an S.

So, it's the same with the word like "practice".

If I do my piano practice, that's a noun and it

would be a C. But if someone says to me,

"Are you going to practice the piano today?",

that's a verb and it would be spelt with an S instead of a C. So, there is a little bit

of confusion with some words like "licence" and

"practice", which we don't have written up here.

So, this is from E-N-C-E to E-N-S-E there. So,

we have "licence", "defence". Again, it's a noun.

So, in the American, I think there's a government

department of defence, and they spell it with an

S, but in UK spelling, it's with a C. And then

"offence", "to cause an offence" or "a crime"

can be described as "an offence". That is an

offence, to throw rubbish on the pavement is an

offence. So, in the UK, that's spelt with a C. In America, it's spelt with an S. Okay?

And then the third final section in this part

of the lesson is where we have a double L

in the UK spelling, so "travelling", and in the American spelling, there's just one L.

Again, there's no difference in pronunciation.

"Travelling", "travelling". You can also have

"travelled" the past form, just like here we

have E-D. "Travelled" would also be with one L

in the American spelling, two Ls in the UK

spelling. "Cancelled", "cancelled". And similarly,

"cancelling" would be double L, and "cancelling",

one L. Okay. And then "modelling", "modelling".

"Modelled", "modelled" would be the same, double

L, one L. And then this word "marvellous",

two Ls in UK spelling, one L in the American spelling.

Okay, so in this second part of the lesson, we

have some more examples of different spellings.

So, again, we've got UK on this side, and

American on this side. So this section is where

instead of an S in the spelling at the end

of the word, we have a Z or a Z as Americans

call it. We'll come to that at the end. But...

So, "apologise", if you say sorry about something,

you apologise with an S in the UK, but with a

Z in America. "Organise", S and Z. "Recognise",

again, S and Z. So those are I-S-E to I-Z-E,

and then there are some words which are Y-S-E

to Y-Z-E, so we've got "analyse" in the UK spelling, and "analyse", American spelling.

Again, there's no change in pronunciation at all. And then "paralyse" with an S,

"paralyse" with a Z. Okay. And then the next section,

in the UK, a word like "archaeology", we have

an A-E together, but in the American spelling,

it's just an E. So, "archaeology" is just

"archaeology". But again, there's not any real

difference in pronunciation of that. Okay. And then "pediatric", which is to do with

medical terms, the treatment of children in hospital or by doctors. So, "pediatric",

A-E in UK spelling, and just one E, "pediatric"

in American spelling, but no different

pronunciation. And then this one, this is a

French word, and there are two differences with

this one. There's the O-E, so we have O-E to E,

as well as A-E to E. "Manoeuvre", "manoeuvre"

when you move something around. Or in the army,

soldiers go on "manoeuvres" where they're sort

of training and practicing doing things, so they're moving around and doing stuff.

So, that's a French word. So, in French, it would

be pronounced "manoeuvre", but we change the

pronunciation to sound more English, "manoeuvre",

"manoeuvre". So, that has an O-E, and it ends

with an R-E because that's the French spelling.

But in the American spelling, we just have an E

rather than O-E, and then the R-E changes to

E-R, "manoeuvre", "manoeuvre", but it doesn't

sound much different apart from perhaps the final R in American, "manoeuvre",

so you would hear more of an R from an American speaker.

Okay. And then finally, this final section

here is words that end O-G-U-E, in UK spelling,

can be just O-G. It's a bit variable. You can

have exactly the same spelling in American.

I think some people spell it just O-G, other people in America spell it O-G-U-E.

I think, you know, there are two possible

spellings there. But in the UK, we definitely

spell these O-G-U-E. So, "analogue", "analogue",

pronunciation is the same. "Catalogue", "catalogue".

"Dialogue", "dialogue". Okay. But as I say, it's variable, so you could have U-E

spelling in the American version as well. It

depends. Different people spell different ways.

Okay. And then finally, as I said up here, the

letter Z, which we pronounce like "zed" in the UK,

is pronounced "zee" in America. So, A to Z

rather... We say A to Z, the alphabet goes from A

to Z. But in America, the alphabet goes from A

to Z. Okay. So, I hope that's been a useful look

at some differences in spelling. And there's

a quiz on this for you to do. So, if you go to

the website www.engvid.com and have a go at the

quiz, see if you can get full marks recognizing

the different spellings. And I'll see you again

soon. Okay. Thanks for watching. Bye for now.