5. The fulfill / fulfil group (1)

5. The fulfill / fulfil group (1)

A certain number of disyllabic verbs stressed on the second syllable are written in British English with a single but in American English with -II. This affects the spelling of derivatives. Click here to see the full text.

AE	BE
appall, appal	appal
distill, distil	distil
enroll, enrol	enrol
enrollment	enrolment
enthrall, enthral	enthral
fulfill, fulfil	fulfil
fulfillment	fulfilment
install, instal	install, instal
installment, instalment	instalment
instill, instil	instil
skillful	skilful
willful, wilful	wilful

5. Pronunciation of 't'

5. Pronunciation of 't'

In British English t is usually pronounced quite clearly but in many instances of American speech, when it is not the initial consonant in a word, it may either be pronounced like a d or it may disappear entirely. When the t occurs between two vowel sounds, it is often pronounced as d: bitter, latter, shutter, water, waiting, writing, etc. In Britain, on the other hand, the pronunciation of such pairs as bitter/bidder, latter/ladder, shutter/shudder, waiter/wader, writing/ riding I eaves no room for ambiguity, even when the context is unknown. The t in American speech tends to disappear after nasal sounds like m, n, and ng. Thus, words like dentist, twenty, understand, intercontinental become dennist, twenny, unnerstann, innerconninennal. The only comparable phenomenon in Britain, in well-defined areas like Cockney London, Glasgow in Scotland, or Ballymena in Northern Ireland, is the use of the glottal stop to replace the t in words like butter, matter, water, and so on.

4. Pronunciation of 'u'

4. Pronunciation of 'u'

The u in words like mule, mute, mutual, cube, butane, Houston is pronounced identically on both sides of the Atlantic, i.e. with an imaginary y inserted before it: myool, myoot, myoo-tyoo-al, etc. In the US, however, such words are exceptions; the usual pronunciation is without the y sound. Thus, new, nude, tune, student, duke, Tuesday' are pronounced noo, nood, toon, stoodent, dook, toosday. In England, these words are all pronounced with the y sound, and this is generally the case. Exceptions exist, of course, such as assume, suit, lute, which are usually pronounced assoom, soot, loot. It may be noted, however, that English stage actors are still trained to say assyoom, syoot, lyoot.

3. Pronunciation of 'o'

3. Pronunciation of 'o'

The pronunciation of the o in such words as not, lot, hot, top, dog, hod,pot is also noticeably different. In England, this is still an open o pronounced with the lips rounded and the tongue at the back of the mouth. In America, however, except in parts of New England, it has commonly lost its rounding and in most words has become a sound very similar in quality to the a in father, only shorter. This illustrates a general tendency in American speech towards the neutralisation of vowel sounds. Non-essentials are dropped so that words like don and dawn are pronounced identically. In England vowels tend to retain their sharpness.

3. Auxiliary and modal verbs (5)

3. Auxiliary and modal verbs (5)

In British English, but not American, do can be used alone as a substitute verb after an auxiliary verb. In such cases, the auxiliary verb is stressed. Click here to see the full text.

AE	BE
—Will you go to the party?	—Will you go to the party?
—I may. I haven't decided yet.	—I may (or I may do). I haven't decided yet.
He didn't pass the test, but he could have if he had studied a little harder.	He didn't pass the test, but he could have (or he could have done) if he had studied a little harder.