{"id":3551,"date":"2020-06-09T23:00:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=3551"},"modified":"2021-05-12T16:27:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T21:27:12","slug":"exchanging-english-over-the-pond-u-s-and-u-k-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/verbs\/exchanging-english-over-the-pond-u-s-and-u-k-part-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"American vs. British English: Grammar"},"content":{"rendered":"

We hope you\u2019re enjoying our exploration of American and British English as much as we are. So far we’ve considered variations in spelling<\/a> and vocabulary<\/a> between the dialects. Our review continues with a closer look at American and Commonwealth grammar.<\/p>\n

Prepositions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Different phrasing involving prepositions between American and British English may not be as pronounced as it once was, particularly as the cultures continue to influence each other. However, when listening to one another from each side of the pond, we might still hear expressions such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
U.S. <\/strong><\/td>\nU.K. <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Are you going to the mall on<\/strong> the weekend?<\/td>\nAre you going to the mall at<\/strong> the weekend?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Greg must go to the <\/strong>hospital.<\/td>\nGreg must go to <\/strong>hospital.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Greg is in the <\/strong>hospital.<\/td>\nGreg is in <\/strong>hospital.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
We\u2019ll be open Monday through <\/strong>Friday.<\/td>\nWe\u2019ll be open Monday to <\/strong>Friday.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
She is different from\/than <\/strong>the others.<\/td>\nShe is different from\/to<\/strong> the others.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Henry gets along* <\/strong>well with Henrietta.<\/td>\nHenry gets on*<\/strong> well with Henrietta.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*In this usage, the preposition is included with the main verb to form a verb phrase; as such, it is a <\/em>verb particle<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In addition, as we identify in spelling<\/a>, the U.K. uses the preposition towards<\/em> where the U.S. often drops the s <\/em>(toward<\/em>).<\/p>\n

We might also hear similarities between phrases that include a preposition, such as how we refer to our time for rest and relaxation: This summer we are going on vacation <\/strong><\/em>(U.S.); This summer we are going on holiday <\/strong><\/em>(U.K).<\/p>\n

Verb Number<\/strong><\/p>\n

American and British English can differ in whether they use a singular or a plural verb with a collective noun. In Commonwealth English, collective nouns might take a singular verb in some cases, but most will accompany a plural verb to emphasize the members of the collective. Conversely, American English will more often pair such nouns with singular verbs to stress a single entity.<\/p>\n

U.K.: The committee are <\/strong>discussing the proposal.<\/em>
\nU.S.: The committee is <\/strong>discussing the proposal.<\/em><\/p>\n

U.K.: The blue team are <\/strong>winning.<\/em>
\nU.S.: The blue team is <\/strong>winning.<\/em><\/p>\n

U.K.: The rock band are <\/strong>on tour.<\/em>
\nU.S.: The rock band is <\/strong>on tour.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dates<\/strong><\/p>\n

10 June 2020:<\/em> Most of us who are stateside have seen the format before and probably been thrown off by it at least once. The U.K. presents dates as day month year <\/em>without punctuation, where the U.S. presents them as month day, year <\/em>(with punctuation).<\/p>\n

The U.K.\u2019s date format is the same as that used throughout much of Europe. Some European countries also use year month day <\/em>without punctuation (2020 June 10<\/em>).<\/p>\n

We conclude our current series on American and British English with a discussion of punctuation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We hope you\u2019re enjoying our exploration of American and British English as much as we are. So far we’ve considered variations in spelling and vocabulary between the dialects. Our review continues with a closer look at American and Commonwealth grammar. Prepositions Different phrasing involving prepositions between American and British English may not be as pronounced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,33,43,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dates-and-times","category-prepositions","category-subject-and-verb-agreement","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3551"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4842,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551\/revisions\/4842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}