1. BRITISH: - Endings -ize/-ise, -ism, -ist, -ish usually do not double the 'l' in British English For example, normalise, dualism, novelist, and devilish. Exceptions: tranquillise; duellist, medallist, panellist, and sometimes triallist in British English. - For -ous, has a single 'l' in scandalous and perilous, but the "ll" in marvellous and libellous. - For -ee, has libellee. - For -age, has pupillage but vassalage.
2. British English
2.1. It is the form of English used in United Kingdom.
2.2. British English sometimes keeps silent e when adding suffixes.
2.3. It includes all English dialects used within United Kingdom.
2.4. It has developed into a borrowing language of flexibility with a huge vocabulary.
2.5. In British English there can be a noun (e.g. pilot) after appear,feel,look, seem and sound.
2.6. P: British English is the form of English used in United Kingdom.
2.7. E: It includes all the English dialects used within United Kingdom and it has developed into a borrowing language of flexibility with a huge vocabulary.
2.8. E: For example, in the British English, there can be a noun after the words like appear, feel, look, seem, sound. But not in American English.
2.9. L: Thus, British English is interesting and has a wider range of vocabulary to learn from.
2.10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English
3. Differences between American and British English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences
3.1. Spelling and pronunciation
3.1.1. British: aeroplane American: airplane
3.1.2. British: fillet American: fillet, filet
3.1.3. British: mum(my) American: mom(my)
3.2. same meaning, different word
3.2.1. British: starters American: appetizers
3.2.2. British: autumn American: fall
3.2.3. British: lift American: elevator
3.3. Spelling
3.3.1. -our, -or
3.3.1.1. British: Flavour American: Flavor
3.3.1.2. British: Colour American: Color
3.3.2. -ce, -se
3.3.2.1. British: defence American: defense
3.3.2.2. British: Pretence American: Pretense
3.3.2.3. British: practice American: practise
3.3.3. -re, -er
3.3.3.1. British: centre American: center
3.3.3.2. British: litre American: liter
3.3.4. -ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)
3.3.4.1. British: organize / organise American: organize
3.3.4.2. British: realize / realise American: realize
3.3.5. -yse, -yze
3.3.5.1. British: analyse American: analyze
3.3.5.2. British: paralyse American: paralyze
3.3.6. -ogue, -og
3.3.6.1. British: Catalog American: catalogue
3.3.6.2. British: dialog American: dialogue
3.4. Spelling
3.4.1. British: Grey American: Gray
3.4.2. British: Kerb American: Curb
3.4.3. British: mould American: mold
3.4.4. British: rack and ruin American: wrack and ruin
3.4.5. British: vice American: vise, vice
3.4.6. British: Sulphur American: Sulphur, Sulfur
3.5. Compounds and hyphens
3.5.1. British: counter-attack American: counterattack
3.5.2. British: near by American: nearby
3.6. Doubled consonants
3.6.1. AMERICAN: sometimes has an unstressed -ll-, as in the UK, in some words where the root has -l. These are cases where the alteration occurs in the source language, which was often Latin. Examples: bimetallism, cancellation, chancellor, crystallize, excellent, tonsillitis, and raillery.
3.6.2. British: calliper or caliper American: caliper.
3.6.3. British: jewellery American: jewelry
3.7. Dropped e
3.7.1. British English sometimes keeps silent e when adding suffixes where American English does not
3.7.2. British prefers ageing, American usually aging For the noun or verb "route", British English often uses routeing, but in America routing is used
3.7.3. Before -able British English prefers likeable, liveable, rateable, saleable, sizeable, unshakeable,where American practice prefers to drop the -e
3.7.4. Both forms of the language retain the silent e when it is necessary to preserve a soft c, ch, or g, such as in traceable, cacheable, changeable; both usually retain the "e" after -dge, as in knowledgeable, unbridgeable, and unabridgeable.
3.8. Different spellings, different connotations
3.8.1. dependant or dependent: British dictionaries distinguish between dependent (adjective) and dependant (noun). In the US, dependent is usual for both noun and adjective, notwithstanding that dependant is also an acceptable variant for the noun form in the US.
3.8.2. ensure or insure: In the UK (and Australia), the word ensure (to make sure, to make certain) has a distinct meaning from the word insure (to guarantee or protect against). The distinction is only about a century old, and this helps explain why in (North) America ensure is just a variant of insure, more often than not.
3.9. Acronyms and abbreviations
3.9.1. Americans: for example, Nasa / NASA or Unicef / UNICEF. However, it is occasionally done for some in the UK, such as Pc (Police Constable).
3.9.2. BRITISH: Contractions, where the final letter is present, are often written without full stops/periods (Mr, Mrs, Dr, St, Ave).
3.9.3. BRITISH: Abbreviations where the final letter is not present generally do take full stops/periods (such as vol., etc., i.e., ed.)
3.9.4. American and Canadian English: abbreviations like St., Ave., Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., and Jr., always require periods.
4. P.E.E.L
4.1. P: We will be able to learn the differences between the British English and American English
4.2. E: Learning the differences, we would be able to know our English better. As some English spelling is not allowed, we would know the reason behind it.
4.3. E: This will allow us to also write in the proper English during our O-level, as the paper would not be mark in Singapore, so those mixed English that we usually used would not be accepted.
4.4. L: thus, learning the differences in both British English and American English would not only help us in speaking good English, but also in oue writting.
5. American English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English
5.1. A type of English that is commonly used in United States.
5.2. Though the U.S. federal government has no official language, English is the common language use by the federal government and it is also considered as the de facto language of the United States due to its widespread use.
5.3. The widespread use of English in United States is due to British colonization.
5.4. It has been influenced by the languages of Native American population, European and non-European colonists, immigrants and neighbours, and the languages of the slaves from Africa.
5.5. American English has the tendency to use nouns as verbs.
5.5.1. examples: interview, advocate, vacuum, pressure, feature, profile
5.6. North America has given the English lexicon many thousands of words, meanings and phrases.
5.6.1. The process of coining lexical items started as soon as the colonists began borrowing names of unfamiliar flora, fauna and topography from the Native American languages.
5.6.1.1. examples: opossum, raccoon, squash, moose; (from Algonquian)
5.6.1.2. examples: cookie, cruller, stoop; (from Dutch)
5.6.1.3. examples: levee, portage; (from French)
5.6.1.4. examples: barbecue, stevedore, rodeo; (from Spanish)
5.7. Many compound nouns have the form verb plus the preposition.
5.7.1. examples: add-on, lineup, stopover, tryout, spin-off
5.8. North American English is more homogenous, compared to the English spoken in England.
5.9. English words that survived in the United States and not Britain.
5.9.1. examples: fall (autumn), faucet, candy, diaper, skillet, eyeglasses and obligate; they are often regarded as Americanisms