Contents inroduction chapter I. American english as a variant of english

1.3 Differences between British English and American English 
Of course there are more similarities than differences between these 
variants - they are the same language. But still there are a number of differences 

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between them, the main one being the simplicity in the American variant, as 
peasant English has become even simpler due to the need to communicate. 
Spelling: There are such differences in spelling. There is an increasing 
tendency in American English to use simplified spelling. 
American spelling is more in line with the pronunciation that makes 
American English truly simplistic. Some changes in spelling were suggested by 
N. Webster, author of The American Dictionary of the English Language. 
American is often written 1) -or instead of -our (examples * above) 2) -er 
instead of -re 3) -se instead of -ce 4) -z- instead of -s- 5) -l- instead of -ll- 6) -
me, -ue at the end of words is missing. 
Pronunciation: Pronunciation is the most significant difference. Students 
with knowledge of English often encounter a characteristic difficulty when they 
first come into contact with Americans. The problem, however, is not even the 
language, but the pronunciation itself. Separate from the quality of American 
speech, there is a set of basic differences between British and American 
pronunciation. 
1. Emphasis in words. Britons and Americans pronounce some words 
with the stress on different syllables, e.g. addrEss (Brit.) and Address (Amer.), 
cAfe (Brit.) and cafE(Amer.). 2. Sounds in words. There are words that are 
pronounced differently by Americans and English with one or two sounds: ask 
reads [a:sk] in Britain and [əsk] in America, dance is pronounced as [da:ns] in 
England and as [dəns] in the United States. The sound [t] is pronounced like a 
weakly articulated [d], and the letter combination tt in the middle of the word is 
very similar to [d] in Americans. They don't "swallow" the [r] sound like the 
English, so speech seems to be rougher, growling. Linguists have developed 
lists of letter combinations and situations in which the pronunciation of an 
Englishman and an American will differ. 3. Intonation in sentences. The English 
use many intonation patterns, while Americans have only two at their disposal, 
the even and the descending. 

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Grammar: There are several grammatical differences between the British 
and American versions of English. 
One of the main reasons why the British think Americans are careless 
with language is that Americans hardly ever use Perfect in colloquial speech, 
but instead use the Simple (Indefinite) group tense. 
The American version never uses the future shall form; it is replaced by 
will or gonna (short for going to). 
In American, the words slowly and really are almost never used; they are 
replaced by slow and real. Many British English irregular verbs have become 
regular verbs in the American version (e.g., burn - burned, dream - dreamed, 
lean - leaned, learn - learned, smell - smelled, spell - spelled, spill - spilled, spoil 
- spoiled). Irregular verbs cause only unnecessary problems," the Americans are 
sure. In the American version, verbal nouns are formed more often (to research, 
a research). Of course, there are other differences between British English and 
American English, which are aimed at simplifying the language, but as a rule 
they are used in colloquial speech.