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Colour or Color – Which One is Right?! British English vs. American English
- Posted By Randall Chew
- 07/05/2022
Hey everyone! I’m Ms Azmeera, a teacher at Lil’ but Mighty. Join me today and see if you can recognize – or is it recognise (Hmm…) – the difference between British English (BrE) and American English (AmE)! In today’s post, I will be focusing on the spelling differences between these two variations of the language.
Most of the spelling differences between these two varieties of English have to do with the endings of certain types of words. I have listed these differences below:
Another thing to take note of is that in British spelling, if a verb ends with a vowel and the consonant ‘l’, the ‘l’ is doubled when we add endings. However, this is not the case for American spelling:
I have also included a list of common words that are spelt differently in British and American English so do take note of them too:
I hope you have spotted those that you are familiar with and discovered new ones! If you know of others that are not mentioned in the list, do share with us in the comments section below.
A word of caution before I end the post: do remember that here in Singapore, we are taught by our English language teachers to speak and write English with British spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary. So, do remember to use British English especially when it comes to components such as Editing and Continuous Writing! 🙂
Ms. Azmeera
As a tutor, Ms Azmeera has acquired insight and experience in teaching primary level English. With her years of experience in the private education sector, she wishes to motivate and inspire her students to fall in love with the English language.
Let’s explore and discover new things together at Lil’ but Mighty!
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