9 Differences Between US and UK English for Writers

December 12, 2024

Noah Webster was a lexicographer who published An American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. He campaigned for asserting an American variant of English and in one essay wrote, “Great Britain, whose children we are, and whose language we speak, should no longer be our standard; for the taste of her writers is already corrupted, and her language on the decline.” Of course, the Americans won the U.S. War of Independence and established a new version of English, with numerous differences from its British counterpart.

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Today, print and digital publications are primarily split between the US and UK English variants. American magazines and websites usually expect articles to be in US English, but it’s the other way around for UK publications. This means freelance writers might sometimes need to adapt to both English variations for American or British publications, which can be confusing. These are some of the most notable differences between US and UK English to be aware of for your articles.

Spelling

Spelling is one of the biggest differences between US and UK English. American spellings of numerous words differ from those of UK English. The disparity primarily lies in how the endings of words are spelled. Some of these spelling variations can be summarized as follows:

-or instead -our: Words ending with -or in American English end with -our in UK English (e.g. color instead of colour).
-ize instead of -ise: Words ending with -ize in American English end with -ise for alternative British spellings (e.g. organize instead of organise).
-er instead of -re: Words that end with -er in US English have an -re ending for UK spelling (e.g. center rather than centre).
-ense instead of ence: Words ending with -ense in US English are spelled with -ence in Britain (e.g. license and licence).

Those ending differences can affect the spelling of a wide variety of common words, such as harbor, prioritize, theater, pretense, and recognize. Another difference is that British spelling has a double l rule for words like canceled, traveler, and marvelous. Those words are spelled cancelled, traveller, and marvellous in UK English.

Vocabulary

British and American vocabulary differences are also quite broad. Americans have different names for some things, but seldom will this vocabulary difference cause confusion. These are some of the preferred American names for things that differ from UK English:

Movie
Apartment
Fries
Cookie
Pants
Elevator
Vacation
Trash
Soccer

The British English alternatives for those American nouns are film, flat, chips, biscuit, trousers, lift, holiday, rubbish, and football. Trousers and football are two vocabulary variations that can confuse. Although Americans call trousers pants, they are not the same things in England. Pants is the alternative name for underpants in Britain.

Soccer and American football are different sports in the United States, but that’s not so much the case in Britain. Americans call English football soccer, which is the name of that sport for most US publications. However, UK magazines and websites always call the ball-kicking sport football.

Quotations

Double-quotation marks are used around quotes and speech in US English, as in the first paragraph of this article. Americans add single quotation marks around quotes within quotes. American English quotations always include commas and periods within the quotation marks.

The opposite is true for quotations in UK English. The British style adds single quotation marks around primary quotations. Double-quote marks are used for secondary quotations within quoted passages or speech. However, the US quote style is becoming more prevalent in UK English.

Title Abbreviations

The abbreviations of formal titles in American English always include periods after them. For example, Mr., Mrs., Dr., and Col. are abbreviated titles for which periods are included in US English. However, this requirement for title abbreviation periods doesn’t apply to UK English.

Date Formats

The US and UK have different date formats that apply to their alternative English variants. Americans write dates with the MM/DD/YY format. For example, the 11/25/2024 date is written as November 25, 2024, in US English. Commas are always included between the day and year numbers for the US date format.

UK dates include days before months with the DD/MM/YY format. This format changes the 11/25/2024 date to 25/11/2024 in Britain. The written form of that date in British English is 25 November 2024, for which a comma is not required.

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Time

There is a small stylistic difference between US and UK English for writing clock times. The Americans always include a colon for times, such as 11:30, for example. In UK English, a period rather than a colon is placed between the hours and minutes, such as 11.30.

Collective Nouns

In US English, collective nouns for organizations, companies, bands, and other groups are usually considered singular subjects. This means groups are more widely treated as single units in US English. Consequently, singular verbs and possessive pronouns are more widely used for collective nouns, as in these examples:

“Apple has released its latest iPhone.”

“The band is playing music in the concert hall.”

“My team is going to win the match.”

However, collective nouns can be plural or singular depending more on the context in UK English. UK English generally places more emphasis on group members for collective nouns, especially sports teams which are always treated as plural subjects. For example, “The band are playing music in the concert hall” is correct in UK English.

The Serial Comma

The serial comma between the last two things in lists is favored in US English. The American Chicago Manual of Style and APA Publication Manual recommends using serial commas in lists. For example, a list of colors like green, blue, purple, and red includes a serial comma between the final two items.

The serial comma is not so widely used in UK English. However, exceptions are sometimes made when necessary to include serial commas for clarity or in more complex lists. This usage is comparable to the Associated Press Style, which recommends only including serial commas for complex lists.

Got and Gotten

In US English, gotten is the past participle of get for more dynamic situations that refer to obtaining or becoming. However, the past participle of get is always got in UK English. For example, the Americans say “I have gotten very tired,” but in UK English that should be “I have got very tired.”

How to Convert Between US and UK English

You can use word processor software and online tools to seamlessly switch between US and UK English when needed. Most word processors include alternative language settings you can select to switch between American and British English, along with other variations. Setting your word processor to US and UK English will at least ensure 100 percent spelling consistency for your articles.

I recommend utilizing the freely available Grammarly online tool for proofing your articles according to US or UK English SPAG differences. To do this, click the Sign up with Google button on this Grammarly page and input your Google account details. Or click Sign Up It’s Free if you don’t have a Google account.

When you’ve logged into Grammarly, set it to US or UK English. Click the menu button at the top-left corner of Grammarly. Select the American or British option on the Language preference drop-down menu.

You can now apply UK or US English editing by clicking the New Document button. Copy and paste an article’s content into the Grammarly text editor with the Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V keyboard shortcuts. Then, apply corrections highlighted by the red and blue underlines in Grammarly.

There are also various online US to UK English conversion tools you can try by pasting article text into them and clicking their Convert buttons. However, many of these tools seem limited to spelling conversions and corrections you can apply with word processing software. Check out the pages below to try some of those converter tools:

Whether you use UK or US English in your articles should primarily depend on your general audience rather than your native preference. The magazines or websites you submit articles to will likely prefer contributors to stick to either US or UK English. You can ensure consistency of approach by selecting American or British English options within your word processor and the Grammarly proofing tool.