American English

American English (AmE) is the form of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. It is the primary language used in the United States. As of 2005, more than two-thirds of native speakers of English use various forms of American English. American English is also sometimes called United States English or U.S. English.

English words obsolete outside the U.S.

A number of words that originated in the English of the British Isles are still in everyday use in North America, but are no longer used in most varieties of British English. The most conspicuous of these words are fall, the season; to quit, as in "to cease an activity" (as opposed to "to leave a location" as still used in most other Anglophone countries); and gotten as a past participle of get. Americans are more likely than Britons to name a stream whose breadth or volume is judged insufficient for it to be a river or a creek. The word diaper goes back at least to Shakespeare, and usage was maintained in the U.S. and Canada, but was replaced in the British Isles with nappy.

Related Topics:
Fall - Past participle - Stream - River - Diaper - Shakespeare - Nappy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some of these words are still used in various dialects of the British Isles, but not in formal standard British English. Many of these older words have cognates in Lowland Scots.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The subjunctive mood is livelier in North American English than it is in British English; it appears in some areas as a spoken usage, and is considered obligatory in more formal contexts in American English. British English has a strong tendency to replace subjunctives with auxiliary verb constructions.

Related Topics:
Subjunctive mood - Auxiliary verb

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~