When writing a journal, research paper, academic book or an essay, it is crucial to check where you want to submit the paper. Always remember that US and UK English is difference, and so is the pronunciation, spelling and grammar. So, before you start writing, you can need to ascertain whether you are going to submit in US or UK.
The difference in British English and American English can be ascertained from a simple example. If you ask someone in the UK where can you buy ‘chips’ from? They will typically send to you to a local market where they sell fish or they will direct to a nearby McDonalds! But if you ask the same question in America, they will guide you to a supermarket where you can actually buy chips. Even though technically all Americans and British can speak the same language, i.e. English, still there are varied differences between American English and British English.
There are few crucial spelling differences between American and British English. This is due to the fact that British English has typically kept the spelling of words that it has derived from other languages. But where American English is concerned, it has changed the spelling to appear more like how the words actually sound when you say it. For instance, let us check out some of the spelling differences between American and British English
| British English | American English |
|---|---|
| centre | center |
| organise | organize |
| colour | color |
| programme | program |
| travelling | traveling |
| licence | license |
When editing, apart from spelling, you also need to focus on grammar. Keep in mind that there are various grammatical differences between British and American English. For instance, when writing in British English, if you have to write a conversation between two people wherein one person is asking the other whether he/she is hungry but the other person has already finished their lunch, in British English, you will need to write in the present perfect tense ‘I have eaten already’, but in American English you are allowed to use the past tense ‘No I ate already’.
Whenever writing a journal, academic paper, research paper, book or anything else, you need to take care of these crucial points. A little mistake on your part in deciphering the spelling of British and American English, you will end up writing it wrong. To write it aptly, you can read more info on British and American English available online or even hire a good editor!