Line vs Queue: British and American English

Hello. This is Jack from tofluency.com, and in this English lesson, we're going to look

at the difference and talk about 'line' vs 'queue'.

Now, I used both of these words in one of my videos. So, let's take a look at that video now...

"And then I went to get on the next flight to Boston, and there was a huge line, a huge

queue to get on."

In the video, I said, "There was a huge line" or "there was a huge queue."

So, the first thing I want to mention is that we use 'line' in American English and 'queue'

in British English. And these two words basically mean, "A number of people waiting for something."

Okay, so you can be in the line or in the queue and this is where you're waiting for

something.

And here is actually a picture of a line or a queue in case you didn't completely understand.

And I want to share some more examples that give you some of the phrases you can use with

these two words.

The first one, in British English, "Let's get in the queue." "Let's get in the queue."

So, this is saying, let's do this, let's wait for something. The American version, "Let's

wait in line." "Let's wait in line."

And then I just want to give you one more example: "There's a long line or a long queue."

Now, in the video I said, "huge" but it's actually more common to say 'long'. Okay,

so when you see a lot of people waiting for something, you can say, "There's a long line"

or "there's a long queue."

Now, I have a question for you. "Are you patient when there's a long queue or line." "Are you

patient when there's a long queue or line." So what I want you to do is to leave you answers

below this video and use your favorite version of this word.

So, thank you for watching this video, and I"ll see you next time.