Questions tagged [british-english]
This tag is for questions related to English as used in Great Britain, and sometimes Ireland.
442
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Is there a reason the British omit the article when they "go to hospital"?
Why do British speakers omit the article in constructions like "go to hospital" or "go on holiday"? Pretty much all American speakers would rephrase those as "go to the ...
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Are the endings "-zation" and "-sation" interchangeable?
What is with words that have forms that end both in -zation and -sation, such as localization and localisation?
Many spell checkers recommend -zation.
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"have" vs."have got" in American and British English
I have looked through several questions and answers on EL&U, and often there is an indication that American English prefers "have" while British English prefers "have got". In addition, there are ...
29
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5
answers
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What is the pronunciation of "the"?
I read that the definite article is pronounced differently depending on the word that follows it.
Which is the exact pronunciation of the?
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answers
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Using contracted forms ("don't", "let's") in a formal text
How compelled should I feel to use non-contracted forms (do not rather than don't and so on) when writing in a rather formal text, say an academic paper? In one case I am afraid to seem too stilted, ...
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6
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"Oriented" vs. "orientated"
What are the origins of the word orientated?
As far as I know, the correct spelling is oriented and orientated is not an alternative spelling but an error that is in common use.
Is it for example ...
- 1,291
22
votes
6
answers
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When will "Present Perfect vs. Past Tense" cases be affected by culture?
Regarding actions taken in the past, besides the differences those two tenses have semantically, my teacher shared that it could be a British vs American English case.
When talking about past action,...
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5
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ON an American street, but IN a British one. Do the twain ever meet?
In the United States, we say that someone lives on a street, whereas I've noticed that British people say in. For instance:
Bubba lives on Washington Street.
Colin lives in Cavendish Avenue.
I ...
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9
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Could "them" mean "those"?
Background
Nowadays, I see "them" used to mean "those" a lot. I don't know if it was as common in the past.
For example, take "one of them people".
On researching about ...
- 63.4k
12
votes
2
answers
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"s" vs. "z" in BE vs. AE
I have trouble understanding why some words change "s"-es to "z"-s from BE to AE and some not. For example:
analyse -> analyze
characterise -> characterize
hypnotise -> hypnotize
But:
compromise -> ...
- 1,007
53
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"Speak to" vs. "Speak with"
What are the differences between these two phrasal verbs and what are the best situations to use each?
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Is there an American English equivalent of the British idiom "carrying coals to Newcastle"?
I'm an American living in the Netherlands who is learning Dutch. There's an idiom in Dutch that describes performing a needless/futile activity, "water naar de zee dragen," which literally translates ...
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9
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How do American English and British English use the definite article differently?
I decided to make sure that I know this important difference between American and British English, so I wrote what I have found out so far and I would be grateful to anyone who reads this and tells me ...
- 1,320
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4
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How and when did American spelling supersede British spelling in the US?
Considering that Webster published his first dictionary in 1806, is there a recognised tipping point (year, decade, etc.) that marked the move from traditional British spelling to Webster's American? ...
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Does modifying a collective noun with a number make the subject plural?
The word dozen is a collective noun, i.e., singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole. So we might say:
Talking about eggs: "A ...
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