Questions tagged [british-english]
This tag is for questions related to English as spoken in Great Britain, and sometimes Ireland.
375
questions
70
votes
8answers
83k views
Is there a reason the British omit the article when they “go to hospital”?
Why do British speakers omit the article in constructions like "go to hospital" or "go on holiday"? Pretty much all American speakers would rephrase those as "go to the hospital" and "go on a holiday",...
20
votes
7answers
145k views
When is it correct to use “yourself” and “myself” (versus “you” and “me”)?
I'm confused by why people use the following:
It's up to yourself.
Rather than:
It's up to you.
Another example of this would be:
Please feel free to contact ourselves if you have any ...
52
votes
6answers
45k views
Capitalisation of nouns in English in the 17th and 18th centuries
It seems to have been common practice in the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain to capitalise the first letters of nouns in English, e.g.
At which Time he prov'd himself the Noah's Dove, that ...
33
votes
7answers
24k views
Are the endings “-zation” and “-sation” interchangeable?
What is with words that have forms that end both in -zation and -sation, such as localization and localisation?
Many spell checkers recommend -zation.
31
votes
9answers
183k views
“have” vs.“have got” in American and British English
I have looked through several questions and answers on EL&U, and often there is an indication that American English prefers "have" while British English prefers "have got". In addition, there are ...
23
votes
6answers
19k views
When will “Present Perfect vs. Past Tense” cases be affected by culture?
Regarding actions taken in the past, besides the differences those two tenses have semantically, my teacher shared that it could be a British vs American English case.
When talking about past action,...
25
votes
5answers
30k views
What is the pronunciation of “the”?
I read that the definite article is pronounced differently depending on the word that follows it.
Which is the exact pronunciation of the?
52
votes
6answers
231k views
“Oriented” vs. “orientated”
What are the origins of the word orientated?
As far as I know, the correct spelling is oriented and orientated is not an alternative spelling but an error that is in common use.
Is it for example ...
23
votes
5answers
22k views
ON an American street, but IN a British one. Do the twain ever meet?
In the United States, we say that someone lives on a street, whereas I've noticed that British people say in. For instance:
Bubba lives on Washington Street.
Colin lives in Cavendish Avenue.
I ...
24
votes
5answers
37k views
Using contracted forms (“don't”, “let's”) in a formal text
How compelled should I feel to use non-contracted forms (do not rather than don't and so on) when writing in a rather formal text, say an academic paper? In one case I am afraid to seem too stilted, ...
38
votes
6answers
404k views
“Speak to” vs. “Speak with”
What are the differences between these two phrasal verbs and what are the best situations to use each?
15
votes
9answers
29k views
Using “them” instead of “those”
Background:
Nowadays, I see this usage a lot. I don't know if it was this common in the past.
For example: "one of them people"
When I did a research about it, some people say it comes from a ...
83
votes
29answers
20k views
Is there an American English equivalent of the British idiom “carrying coals to Newcastle”?
I'm an American living in the Netherlands who is learning Dutch. There's an idiom in Dutch that describes performing a needless/futile activity, "water naar de zee dragen," which literally translates ...
5
votes
1answer
15k views
“s” vs. “z” in BE vs. AE
I have trouble understanding why some words change "s"-es to "z"-s from BE to AE and some not. For example:
analyse -> analyze
characterise -> characterize
hypnotise -> hypnotize
But:
compromise -> ...
38
votes
4answers
13k views
How and when did American spelling supersede British spelling in the US?
Considering that Webster published his first dictionary in 1806, is there a recognised tipping point (year, decade, etc.) that marked the move from traditional British spelling to Webster's American? ...
6
votes
2answers
3k views
Does modifying a collective noun with a number make the subject plural?
The word dozen is a collective noun, i.e., singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole. So we might say:
Talking about eggs: "A ...
31
votes
2answers
18k views
When do you use “learnt” and when “learned”?
Is learnt UK English and learned US? Is it that simple?
I’m used to using learnt, but my US spellchecker says it is wrong.
35
votes
16answers
12k views
Words with opposite meanings in different regions
I can't recall it, but there is a word in American English which now means the opposite of itself in British English. What words are there that have opposite (not just different) meanings in different ...
17
votes
3answers
5k views
Why is American English so wedded to the subjunctive?
In the sentence 'She suggested that they go to the cinema' there is no way of telling from the sentence in isolation whether it means that the speaker gave advice on attending a moving picture show, ...
32
votes
12answers
290k views
What is the difference between “English” and “British”?
As an American, I naively think of British and English as exact synonyms. I know I'm wrong, but I just don't know in what way. I am vaguely aware that people in the UK hold strong opinions about one ...
21
votes
7answers
15k views
“Knocked up” to mean “woken up”
I'm reading some Sherlock Holmes stories (don't judge - it's good vacation reading) and Conan Doyle has Holmes saying things like "Sorry to knock you up, Watson..." which I'm finding very... odd. ...
11
votes
4answers
10k views
The mysterious, unenunciated “w” in the “-wich” of English place names
Doing some reading lately, I've been pondering the strange pronunciations of English place names — namely, that of the 'w' in the "–wich" suffix, which, as I understand it, is not ...
5
votes
5answers
38k views
Which is correct: “I’m done” or “I have finished”?
Which of these alternatives is grammatically correct?
I’m done.
or
I have finished
Like I’m done sounds very American, but is it grammatically correct?
6
votes
4answers
47k views
How do they express the time, in American and British English?
I don't know if this is a good question. But as far as I know, and as I do it, American English also say "after" other than "past" in expressing times.
For example, a quarter after six instead of, a ...
30
votes
5answers
68k views
“right” vs “correct”
Except when we use right to denote direction, what is the difference between these two terms?
Also, which one is the preferred construction between these two
Am I right?
or
Am I correct?
55
votes
12answers
121k views
“Synced” or “synched”
Which is correct: synced or synched? Is one of these American and the other British spelling or are they interchangeable?
I have only ever seen sync used in the computing industry.
13
votes
9answers
143k views
Is there a rule in British English about how to pronounce “either”?
There are two common pronunciations of "either": British /ˈaɪðər/ and American /ˈiːðər/. If Americans are more or less consistent in this regard, then the Brits seem to be freely using both. In fact, ...
3
votes
9answers
9k views
How do American English and British English use the definite article differently?
I decided to make sure that I know this important difference between American and British English, so I wrote what I have found out so far and I would be grateful to anyone who reads this and tells me ...
28
votes
13answers
55k views
American vs. British English: meaning of “One hundred and fifty”
I've noticed that Americans do not say "and" when speaking numbers: for example, 150 would be pronounced "one hundred fifty".
I and most other British-English speakers would pronounce it "one hundred ...
16
votes
2answers
34k views
Is there any difference between “color” and “colour”?
What is the difference between color and colour?
17
votes
4answers
4k views
How do you proceed from pronouncing “t” in the regular way to t-glottalization, as found in various English accents?
It's just strange to me because "t" is pronounced with the front teeth, while the glottalized "t" is produced with the back of the throat; that seems like quite a noticeable journey that couldn't have ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
Omission of 'for' with various quantified time intervals: influence of verb
I came across these two examples, given to illustrate 'a case' where the inclusion of the preposition for is considered optional in the paper "Acquisition of Preposition Deletion by Non-native ...
18
votes
2answers
6k views
Preventative vs. preventive
In this answer about the non-word disabilitated, the word preventative is compared (unfavourably, if my reading of the implication is correct) to preventive.
However, I have always used preventative, ...
18
votes
6answers
6k views
Etymology of “nick” in, in the nick of time?
We have the nick meaning prison, as in "he served time in the nick", then we have the verb to nick, meaning to steal; but if the police catch you red-handed, then "you've been nicked". And if you led ...
15
votes
6answers
10k views
When and how did “momentarily” come to mean “in a moment”, rather than “for a moment”?
"Momentarily" used to mean "for a moment" only, and not "in a moment". Thus, newscasters could be divided into two clear groups: those who would say "we'll be back momentarily," and those who would ...
33
votes
12answers
16k views
Is there a difference between “cheers” and “thanks” in colloquial British English?
In colloquial British English today you hear "Cheers" (to mean "thank you") more often than "Thanks."
Is the choice of one or the other determined by regional, class, or education differences, or is ...
32
votes
8answers
89k views
“Toilet”, “lavatory” or “loo” for polite society
My friend is trying so hard to fit into polite society, and is raising her child to say loo rather than toilet. I know it should be lavatory (and I would not say lav) but we are in the 21st century ...
21
votes
3answers
29k views
Why is “can I get” replacing “could I have”?
I noticed the other day when serving the public that when asking for something, people were saying "Can I get an xyz, please". The previous time I had such a job it was "Could I have an xyz", or "May ...
36
votes
7answers
37k views
Is “used in anger” a Britishism for something?
On a different board, someone referred to a computer language that had achieved popularity beyond the academic world as "used in anger", the way a shot fired in combat instead of on the practice range ...
26
votes
4answers
200k views
Date format in UK vs US
Why is the most common date format in the US like mm/dd/yyyy, whereas in Europe (including the UK) it's more common to have dd/mm/yyyy?
Looking around, I found that the US form is actually the more ...
23
votes
4answers
9k views
The origins and usages of “waffle”
Scottish dogs used to waff
American voters waffled in 2000
British politicians “waffle on” for hours
And Swedish children eat them on March 25th
Waffle
nowadays has basically three meanings:
...
16
votes
4answers
2k views
Which English language variety is best to use for global e-commerce?
Which variety of English — like American English, British English, and so one — is better to choose when translating to Englis, or building it from scratch, for an e-commerce site which intends to ...
13
votes
5answers
17k views
Can “already” be used after a simple past verb in American English?
A British colleague asked if these two sentences are grammatically acceptable in American English:
They found already high recognition in Europe and we wish to carry
that further.
...
12
votes
5answers
23k views
How to use “you know”
For a non-native speaker like me, I am always wondering how to use you know correctly, as in the following sentence:
Alright, well, for example, like on
Saturdays, y’know, what I liked to do
...
24
votes
7answers
7k views
Does “gay” still include the meaning “merry”?
Dictionary.com lists eight meanings
of gay, with “merry, lively” as
the first entry.
Microsoft banned an
Xbox user for listing Fort
Gay (a real place) as his
hometown:
Xbox Live considered the term ...
14
votes
6answers
3k views
“Toward” or “towards” – what would a native speaker use?
In this question we learn that toward and towards are interchangeable, but that the former is somewhat more typical of U.S. English and the latter of British English, although there is some indication ...
17
votes
9answers
35k views
“to bath” vs “to bathe”
Recently, I came across the verb to bathe written as bath in two English coursebooks used by Italian students. The first time I saw it, I dismissed it as a typographical error and told my private ...
13
votes
3answers
10k views
Why is “a couple of <things>” often shortened to “a couple <things>”?
I would write a couple of . I often read/hear a couple .
I assumed this was an American English thing (I'm British), and just a convenient shortening of the phrase for speaking. It's easier to say a ...
8
votes
3answers
616 views
“A similar hat to Jane” vs “A hat similar to Jane’s”
Of late I have noticed British people using the following sort of construct:
John and Jane make such a cute couple because John always wears a similar hat to Jane.
To my ear, that is ungrammatical,...
5
votes
9answers
21k views
How do students respond to the “roll call” and how do you pronounce it?
I have two questions.
In the UK, to do (or is it read?) a roll call is commonly referred to as "calling out the register". It's been so long since I was a child that I'm not absolutely sure how ...
