British and American Word Differences

Sometimes, different words are used to refer to the same thing. 

Here are 10.

trainers (British) / sneakers (American)

rubbish bin (British) / trash can (American)

(shopping) trolley (British) / cart (American)

lift (British) / elevator (American)

crisps (British) / potato chips (American)

trousers (British) / pants (American)

football (British) / soccer (American)

(car) boot (British) / trunk (American)

(car) bonnet (British) / hood (American)

mobile phone (British) / cell phone (American)

Different Parts of Speech (Articles)

There are two articles in the English Language. The two articles are the indefinite a and an, and the definite the. An article can be placed before a noun.

The indefinite article a and an can only be used before a noun in the singular number.

For example:

• a clock, a park, a city, an apple and other nouns in the singular number.

One thing to add: If the noun is uncountable, you cannot follow this general rule for the indefinite article. Let me give one example:

Bread is an uncountable noun, so you cannot use this general rule and write or say 'a bread', but you would have to add loaf of  or slice of  after the indefinite article, and before the word 'bread' to be correct.

For example:

• I bought a loaf of bread. 

• I ate a slice of bread. 

The indefinite article cannot be used before a noun in the plural number.

For example: 

• clocks, parks, cities, apples and other nouns in the plural number. 

To put an indefinite article before clocks, parks, cities, apples and other plural nouns would be a grammatical error.

The definite article the can be used before a noun in either the singular or plural number. 

For example:

• the clock, the clocks; the park, the parks; the city, the cities; the apple, the apples.

There can be exceptions when an article is not used. Let us compare!

• A car has wheels. (any car)

• The car has wheels. (a particular car known or described) 

• The cars have wheels. (some particular cars known or described)

• All cars have wheels. (taken in its widest sense - no article used)

• There are some cars with 5 doors. (indefinite sense  'some cars' -  no article used)

Different Parts of Speech (Proper and Common Nouns)

A noun is a person, place or thing. Nouns can be proper or common.

Proper nouns specifically name a person, place or thing. For example: Peter (person), England (place), and Big Ben (thing). Proper nouns are capitalized. 

Common nouns do not specifically name a person, place or thing, but in general. For example: uncle (person), country (place), and clock (thing). Usually common nouns are not capitalized, but there are exceptions. One of those exceptions would be if a common noun is used at the beginning, for example: Bags are used to carry things in.

Here are some examples using proper nouns (London, Big Ben, and Peter):

• My favourite place is London.

• They took a photograph of Big Ben.

• He plays football with Peter every week.

Here are some examples using common nouns (city, clock, and uncle):

• My favourite place is in the city.

• They took a photograph of a clock.

• He plays football with his uncle every week.

Different Parts of Speech (Articles and Nouns)

There are different parts of speech in the English language: article, noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, participle, adverb, conjunction, preposition and interjection.

Let us begin with the first two in the list, the article and the noun. An article is placed before a noun. The articles are a, an and the - a and an are called indefinite articles (general) and the is called the definite article (specific).

A noun is a person, place or thing, for example: man (person), library (place), lion (thing),  and car (thing).

Here is an example using the definite and indefinite articles with a noun:

Have you got the pen? (referring to a specific pen)

Have you got a pen? (not referring to a specific pen)

There are 2 ways to write the indefinite article, a and an. Usually a is used when the noun begins with a consonant, for example, a ball, and an is used when the noun begins with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u), for example, an apple, but there are exceptions. One exception is the word 'university', which starts with a vowel, but uses a (a university) and not an, because the word 'university' has a consonant sound.

English Alphabet

There are twenty-six letters in the English Alphabet. The term Alphabet comes from the first two Greek letters which are Alpha and Beta, and denotes the order in which the letters are written.

They are arranged in the English Alphabet in the following order: Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy and Zz.

A Capital letter is used for the first word of a new sentence, or speech.

A Capital letter is used when referring to the One true God (a small g is used when referring to false gods).

A Capital letter is used for proper nouns (like proper names and places), and adjectives derived from them.

A Capital letter is used for 'I, O, Oh!'