American and British English differences

Grammar

• In British English, singular nouns that describe multiple people are often used with plural verb and complement, particularly where one is concerned with the people constituting the team, rather than with the team as an entity. The singular form is used in most cases in American. For example, British "the team are worried"; American "the team is worried". But, as in British English, the plural form can be used when the individual membership is clear, for example, "the team take their seats" (not "the team takes its seat(s)"), although it is often rephrased to avoid the singular/plural decision, as in "the team members take their seats". The difference occurs for collective nouns (such as team and company) and for singular proper nouns (for example, where a placename is used to refer to a sports team). Proper nouns which have plural form may take plural verb in America as in Britain. Examples:
• British English: "The Clash are a well-known band." American English: "The Clash is a well-known band." But "The Beatles are a well-known band" is in both.
• British English: "New England are the champions." American English: "New England is the champion." But "The Patriots are the champions" in both.
• Differences in which nouns are the same in both their plural and singular forms, such as the word sheep. In American English, shrimp is such a word, but in British English the plural of shrimp is shrimps. (Shrimps is occasionally heard in the southern U.S., but is otherwise rare, apart from its colloquial use as a pejorative term for small people). An unusual example is innings, which is both singular and plural in British English, but for which a separate singular form (inning) exists in American English.
• In names of American rivers, the word river usually comes after the name (for example, Colorado River), whereas for British rivers it comes before (as in River Thames). One exception present in British English is the Fleet River, which is rarely called the River Fleet by Londoners outside of official documentation.
• Use of prepositions before days denoted by a single word. Where Britons would say "She resigned on Thursday", Americans often say "She resigned Thursday", but both forms are common in American usage. Occasionally, the preposition is also absent when referring to months: "I'll be here December" (although this usage is generally limited to colloquial speech). Intransitive verbs in American English often become transitive; for example, Britons say "I'll write to you" where Americans commonly say "I'll write you"; British English: "The workers protested against the decision." American English: "The workers protested the decision."
• The present perfect tense is more common in British dialects than in American, where the preterite is sometimes used instead. For example, I've gone in British English; I went in American. Similarly, the pluperfect is often replaced by the preterite in the USA; this, even more than the dropping of the present perfect, is generally regarded as sloppy usage by those Americans who consider themselves careful users of the language.
• On informal occasions, the British would use "have got", whereas Americans would say "have" or just "got". "Have" is the only form used in formal writing.
• American English uses do as a substitute for have (the full verb, in the sense of possess), just as for other verbs such as "walk" or "think"; in the past, British English did not allow this, but it is becoming increasingly common. American: "Do you have any food? Yes, I do." British: "Have you (got) any food? Yes, I have." Note that such substitution is not possible in either American or British English for the auxiliary verb have: "Have you eaten? Yes, I have."
• Similarly, in informal usage, American English often uses the form "did" + infinitive where British English would use "have/has" + past participle. "Did you brush your teeth yet?" would be usual American English whereas most British speakers would say "Have you cleaned your teeth yet?". The "have" form is regarded as correct in both countries, however, and is required in all formal contexts. "Did you clean your teeth yesterday?" would be correct in both countries.
• Where a statement of intention involves two separate activities, it is acceptable for speakers of American English to use the simple continuous form "to go" plus bare infinitive. Speakers of British English would instead use "to go and" plus bare infinitive: thus where a speaker of American English might say "I'll go take a bath", British English speakers would say "I'll go and have a bath". (Both can also use the form "to go to" instead to suggest that the action may fail, as in "He went to take/have a bath, but the bath was full of brightly coloured machine tools.") By extension, "to come" plus bare infinitive is acceptable to speakers of American English, where speakers of British English would instead use "to come and" plus bare infinitive: thus where a speaker of American English might say "Come see what I bought", British English speakers would say, "Come and see what I bought".
• The subjunctive mood is more common in American English in expressions such as: "They suggested that he apply for the job". British English would have "They suggested that he should apply for the job" or even "They suggested that he applied for the job". However, these British usages are also heard in the United States.
• Singular attributives in one country may be plural in the other, and vice versa. For example, Britain has a drugs problem while the United States has a drug problem (although the singular usage is also commonly heard in Britain).

Prepositions

• In the United States, the word through can mean "up to and including" as in Monday through Friday. This causes little confusion in Britain though it is rarely used by British speakers, who might instead say Monday to Friday inclusive, or simply Monday to Friday.
• In Southern Britain the word whilst is used almost interchangeably with while. Whilst is more often used in instruction manuals, legal documents, etc. To Americans the word whilst, in any context, seems very archaic and/or pretentious. Similarly with amid(st), and to a lesser extent among(st). ("In one's midst" is a standard idiom in both).
• The word while means until in some dialects of Northern England. There is an apocryphal story that, because of this, railway crossings with signs saying "do not cross the track while the lights are flashing" had to be changed after several fatalities occurred.
• In Britain, from is used with single dates and times more often than in the United States. Where British speakers and writers would say "the new museum will be open from Tuesday," Americans would more likely say "the new museum will be open starting Tuesday" or "the new museum will open Tuesday." (This difference, which is more a tendency than an absolute rule, does not apply to phrases of the pattern from A to B, which are used in both British and American English.)
• American English uses with more often. Where an American will meet with someone and talk with them, a Briton can meet someone and talk to them. To a Briton, the use of with seems to reinforce a notion of mutuality, thus meet with is acceptable, but visit with sounds very strange (you cannot visit someone while they are visiting you). In some areas of the U.S. (St. Louis), the word with is also used as an adverb: "I'll come with" instead of "I'll come along". However, in some British Dialects, 'come with' is used as an abbreviation of 'come with me', as in "I'm going to the office - come with" instead of "I'm going to the office - come with me".
• American legislators and lawyers always use the preposition "of" between the name of a legislative act and the year it was passed, while their British equivalents do not. Compare Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to Disability Discrimination Act 1995.