what does essay mean in british english

How to Write the Perfect Essay in English: 6 Easy Steps

If you are an international student at college or university and you need help with your essay writing in English, you are in the right place! We have created this simple 6-step guide to help you achieve the best results in the shortest possible time. This guide includes essay writing tips, examples, templates, and links to helpful resources. Let’s jump right in…

• Step 1: Plan
• Step 2: Research
• Step 3: Introduce
• Step 4: Argue
• Step 5: Reference
• Step 6: Conclude

What you will learn:  

Step 1: Plan Step 2: Research Step 3: Introduce Step 4: Argue Step 5: Reference Step 6: Conclude

Quick Intro

Essay writing in English is very different from other types of written communication, such as composing emails for work or personal letters to friends. The main difference is that you need to demonstrate your ability to think and write critically .

When writing an academic text, you need to clearly introduce and explain an argument . This means you must show that you have understood and carefully considered the opinions of experts in the subject/topic.

There are also rules (or conventions) that you have to follow when introducing theories and using quotes from other people’s work . We have included tips and links to help you get this right in your English essays.

Do not let academic writing in English scare you. You can do this!  

Step 1: Plan Your Essay

Have you ever heard the phrase “fail to prepare and prepare to fail” ? Well, it is famous for a reason – and is certainly true when it comes to writing a good essay.

Having a detailed plan makes it so much easier to produce a great essay, dissertation or research paper.

In any sort of academic writing, your preparation and planning are important. Before you start to write, make sure you complete a detailed plan .

Of course, while you are writing your essay, you may change parts of your original plan – but only if you are sure that there is a good reason for making these changes.

Here are some tips to help you plan your thoughts effectively to make essay writing in English a lot easier.

How to plan an essay in English

• Study the essay question carefully. Make sure you completely understand it. Write it out in full and then try to say it using different words. This will help you when you start to write your assignment.
• Underline the most important words (the “key words”) in the essay question. Make sure you understand them – use a dictionary or synonym bank to help you. Define the key words in the essay question, but using your own words .
• Create a ‘mind map’ on a big piece of paper. Write the essay question in the middle and then surround it with any key words, ideas or quotes that you would like to include in your essay. People sometimes call this “brainstorming”.
• List the research work you will need to complete to write your essay well. This includes all the relevant textbooks, as well as the prominent authors you will reference with quotes. Make sure you have access to all the books you need before you begin (online, library, shop).
• Plan your argument so that it makes logical sense. To write a great essay, you need to answer the question fully. This means you must show independent thought, and present your argument in an intelligent and convincing way.
• Choose a suitable person and register for your writing. Most academic texts must be written in formal register. Although you should not use the first person in an essay (“I”) , it is still important to demonstrate your ability to think critically. We will show you how to do this later.
• Decide how many sections your essay will contain. This depends on the required wordcount (length), but here is a simple section plan to get you started:

Example: essay structure

• Introduction – paraphrase the question to show you understand it in the context of your studies. We will look at paraphrasing – with a useful example – a little later (in Step 3).
• Body text 1 – present your main argument early in your essay, with carefully considered points to justify it. Show that you have read about the subject and are well-informed in the relevant theory or ideas.
• Body text 2 – show that you know the key arguments against your main point, and use references to these.
• Body text 3 – explain why your main argument is correct or justified, using the remaining points from your research.
• Conclusion – summarise the essay or assignment by returning to the original question, making sure you have answered it fully and clearly.

Template: plan for an essay in English

Question: Q. “ Tell me and I forget . Teach me and I remember . Involve me and I learn .” Discuss what Benjamin Franklin meant by this statement. Do you agree with it?

Underline the important words (key words) in the essay question: Involve me and I learn . Discuss what this means . Do you agree?  

Rewrite the essay question in my own words: Benjamin Franklin was a self-taught learner and believed in the power of allowing people to complete tasks and activities themselves, rather than being told how to do them in a traditional classroom setting. This essay aims to discuss how this inclusive approach could be used to form teaching tools and programmes to empower educators and students – both now and in the future.

Research I need to do:

• Benjamin Franklin – his life and ethos, his attitudes towards education.
• The main forms of current student-centred/inclusive education styles and how they work. Theory vs. practice.
• Theories of deductive vs. inductive education styles. Arguments for and against each, supporting my thoughts on the positive power of student-centred learning.
• Complete a reading list of key texts.

My initial thoughts (the argument I need to articulate):

• Including students in activities and tasks, making lessons student-centred, is a better way of helping them to learn than traditional teacher-centred methods.  
• Link education to the concept of democracy; giving people the power to make autonomous decisions is a more productive way of helping a group to develop independent thinking skills and therefore evolve as a society.
• My essay must argue why this is true, analysing theories of deductive vs. inductive (i.e. inclusive) education methodologies from the most prominent educational theorists of recent times.  
• I need to remember to conclude my essay by returning to the original question.  

Step 2: Research the Topic

Any piece of academic writing – whether it is an undergraduate essay, post-graduate dissertation or post-doctoral research paper – requires detailed and relevant research .

However, researching for an essay in English does not need to be a difficult or painful process!

Learning how to research effectively and efficiently will save you a lot of time and stress.

Remember that even academic professionals are not expected to know absolutely everything. We all learn something new every day.

However, it is important that all academic writing demonstrates the author’s readiness to explore a variety of facts and theories, and discuss them critically.

“Critical thinking” means thinking logically and rationally about facts, ideas and concepts, as well as the possible connections between them .

Critical thinking is different from everyday thinking. It is an essential skill for any college or university student, studying in any language – not just English. In academic or essay writing, you must show you are able to explain your critical thinking skills clearly.

Everyday thinking is something most of us do all the time – it does not usually require any real effort.

Critical thinking is the opposite to this. It is when we intentionally use our powers of analysis, combined with our knowledge and research, to produce a theory or argument about something.

How to think (and write) critically in English

Critical thinking involves several skills, including: conceptualising, analysing, refining and evaluating.

• Conceptualising: To conceptualise means to combine pieces of information to form a new idea, or concept.
• Analysing: To analyse means to study a fact, idea or concept in great detail, using independent thinking and research to discover its meaning or validity.
• Refining: To refine means to break something down into its essential parts. In other words, to take out all the unnecessary (or irrelevant) information and present the most important information, ideas or facts in a clear and concise way.
• Evaluating: To evaluate means to understand an idea, thought or argument and go on to assess how accurate or useful it is. A key part of critical thinking is acknowledging that not all arguments are equal, and being able to explain why some are more valid than others.

You will also need to evaluate your own work, after you have written your essay, to see where improvements can be made. This is an important step to complete before submitting your essay for marking.  

Step 3: Write a Great Introduction

To create a great introduction to an essay (or any academic piece of writing) in English, you need to do two things:

• Demonstrate that you understand the question fully
• Introduce your argument clearly

Here is how to do this…

• Show that you understand the question

The most important thing is to show you understand the question that you are answering in your essay, assignment or thesis. You should use clear and concise English. A simple way to do this is to paraphrase the essay question within the introduction to your essay.

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing means explaining what a statement or question means, using different words and grammatical structures. In academic writing, this demonstrates that you understand a point and are able to think critically about it – and express those thoughts using clear written English.

• “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Discuss what Benjamin Franklin meant by this statement. Do you agree with it?  
• American self-taught writer, scientist and diplomat Benjamin Franklin believed in the power of learning through experience. This quote demonstrates that he advocated inclusive education, rather than a teacher-centred, or didactic, approach to learning.

Franklin himself was a self-taught polymath. He learnt through experience, which greatly informed this view. This essay aims to demonstrate why today’s educators should take inspiration from Franklin by adopting an experiential approach to delivering lessons.

How to paraphrase in English  

• Make sure your first statement starts at a different point than the original sentence or question.
• Try to use synonyms (alternative words that mean the same thing – such as “different” instead of “alternative”) for the words in the original sentence or question.
• Break down the information, for example into two sentences (instead of one).
• Use different words to the vocabulary used in the essay question.
• Use different sentence structures to those used in the assignment question.

Although you do not need to go into great detail in your introduction, you should definitely begin to answer the essay question by referencing the direction your argument will take .

In this particular essay question, the student is being asked to express their agreement or disagreement with Franklin’s point of view. Therefore, expressing an argument for or against the quote is especially important here. Remember that you should never use the first person (“I’) in academic writing, unless it is specifically asked for.

“This essay aims to demonstrate why today’s educators should take inspiration from Franklin by adopting an experiential approach to delivering lessons.”

(Not! In MY essay… or … I will aim to… )    

Step 4: Present Your Argument

When writing your essay, it is a good idea to explain both sides of the argument in the first section of the body text of your essay (body 1).

This helps to show that you have analysed the question, and understand the importance of considering different viewpoints. Including the work of prominent writers and theorists in your field of study also shows you have done your research on the topic.

To help you do this, write a list of arguments for and against the point you are discussing. Then incorporate what you have written into your essay.

Based on the question below, we might create the following table to use in our essay. This shows agreement AND disagreement with Benjamin Franklin’s statement.

Step 5: Use Quotes Effectively

As we said in the research section (Step 2) of this guide, including the work and theories of prominent experts in the subject you are writing about is very important.

However, it is also important to reference the work of other people in the correct way – otherwise you could be accused of plagiarism (copying or cheating)!

There are several different systems of referencing. These include:

MLA (Modern Languages Association) system APA (American Psychological Association) system Harvard system MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association) system.

It is very important that you use the referencing system that is used and accepted by your academic institution or university.

For example, Nottingham Trent University in the UK requires students to use the Harvard referencing system, whereas other institutions might insist that students use the MHRA system. If you are in doubt, check with your tutor or lecturer.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is when you use another person’s work and pretend that it is your own. Sometimes, plagiarism is not committed intentionally, but is just the result of bad referencing.

Plagiarism is against the rules in all UK universities, and could cause a student to fail an assignment – or, in the worst-case scenario, they could even be asked to leave the course without graduating!

How to avoid plagiarism

• Make sure you understand what plagiarism means. Most UK universities have a detailed definition of plagiarism on their websites – as well as tools you can use to detect plagiarism in your own work before you submit it. Make sure you use them!
• Write quotes in a different colour or font type. Only change the format to match the rest of your essay text after you have referenced everything correctly.
• Read your essay back carefully before handing it in. Check for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, as well as for plagiarism.
• Ask a native English-speaking student or colleague to read your essay and check for inconsistencies in tone and style of writing – this can often indicate accidental plagiarism .
• Check the referencing system used by your academic institution, and learn how to use it yourself before starting your essay. Give yourself plenty of time to do this.
• Complete your bibliography. Your bibliography is the list of all the books, articles, websites and any other sources you have used to complete your essay. Check with your tutor to make sure your bibliography is written to suit the standards of your college or university. This is a very important part of the referencing process.

Here’s a useful video on how to use the Harvard referencing system: 

Step 6: End with a Strong Conclusion

The conclusion of an essay is just as important as the introduction.

It is here that you have your final chance to summarise your main points, highlight any research you have done and bring your thoughts together to end with a strong and convincing conclusion.

A great essay conclusion in English shows your ability to refine complex information and summarise an argument in clear and concise English.

Paraphrasing is important for the introduction of an essay, whereas summarising is important for the conclusion. Paraphrasing is saying the same thing as an original statement (but in different words), whereas summarising is providing a shortened version of the key points and defining exactly what they mean.

How to summarise

• Read your essay through at least twice. What are the key points?
• Identify these key points and rewrite them using different words.
• What do these key points mean when they are combined together?
• Write this out, making sure you refer back to the original essay question again.

Example summary (from essay conclusion):

In summary, by saying “tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”, Benjamin Franklin was not simply referring to education in the traditional classroom sense, where a teacher stands in front of a group of students and instructs them.

As this essay has referenced, many popular modern-day teaching styles, such as Montessori and Steiner, focus on student-centred learning. This focus on inductive learning in the early stages of a child’s life can be seen to be not only beneficial to the individual, but to society as a whole.

In conclusion, writing a great essay in English does not need to be painful or scary. In fact, it can be fun. Contact us if you need any support with English for academic, business or general purposes – we can help!

If you need native English tuition to improve your academic English, request a consultation today and speak to one of our experienced EAL instructors!

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What does the verb essay mean?

There are eight meanings listed in OED's entry for the verb essay , four of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the verb essay ?

How is the verb essay pronounced?

British english, u.s. english, where does the verb essay come from.

Earliest known use

Middle English

The earliest known use of the verb essay is in the Middle English period (1150—1500).

OED's earliest evidence for essay is from 1483, in a translation by William Caxton, printer, merchant, and diplomat.

essay is a variant or alteration of another lexical item; modelled on a French lexical item.

Etymons: assay v.

Nearby entries

• esraj, n. 1921–
• ESRO, n. 1961–
• ess, n. 1540–
• -ess, suffix¹
• -ess, suffix²
• essamplerie, n. 1393
• essart, n. 1656–
• essart, v. 1675–
• essarting, n. a1821–
• essay, n. 1597–
• essay, v. 1483–
• essayal, n. 1837–
• essayer, n. 1611–
• essayette, n. 1877–
• essayfy, v. 1815–
• essay-hatch, n. 1721–
• essayical, adj. 1860–
• essaying, n. 1861–
• essaying, adj. 1641–
• essayish, adj. 1863–
• essayism, n. 1821–

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Meaning & use

Pronunciation, compounds & derived words, entry history for essay, v..

essay, v. was first published in 1891; not yet revised.

essay, v. was last modified in June 2024.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

• corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into essay, v. in June 2024.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1891)

• Find out more

OED Second Edition (1989)

• View essay, v. in OED Second Edition

Please submit your feedback for essay, v.

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Citation details

Factsheet for essay, v., browse entry.

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Definition of essay noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• I have to write an essay this weekend.
• essay on something an essay on the causes of the First World War
• essay about somebody/something Have you done your essay about Napoleon yet?
• in an essay He made some very good points in his essay.
• Essays handed in late will not be accepted.
• Have you done your essay yet?
• He concludes the essay by calling for a corrective.
• I finished my essay about 10 o'clock last night!
• Lunch was the only time she could finish her essay assignment.
• We have to write an essay on the environment.
• You have to answer 3 out of 8 essay questions in the exam.
• the teenage winner of an essay contest
• We have to write an essay on the causes of the First World War.
• be entitled something
• be titled something
• address something
• in an/​the essay
• essay about

Want to learn more?

Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

Eloise McInerney

With a PhD in Languages, Literature & Cultural Studies, Eloise has a long background in language teaching which she brings to her work as an editor. When not poring over the words of others, she’s working on her epic fantasy novel, kicking bags at the gym, or roaming the beaches, hills and forests with her dog.

When it comes to British English vs American English, it has been said that we are “two countries divided by a common language.”

If you’re a writer or editor in the increasingly globalized digital market, you’ve probably encountered this divide firsthand in the job hunt. More contracts are certainly available for those who can use both of these common variants of English—but are you confident enough to expand your writing into a less familiar version of English?

Don't worry, it's easier than it seems. Though the differences between American and British English can be finicky, they follow distinct patterns.

In our ultimate guide, we cover spelling, common usage variants, and punctuation differences to help you write fluently in either variant of English and snag those extra contracts.

British vs American English: Historical Origins

English linguistic history goes back to before the 12th century. Back then, residents of what is now the UK used a combination of Germanic languages (which we consider the roots of modern English), early French, and Latin. Spelling and grammar weren’t standardized, and words with similar Latin roots might be spelled either the French way or the Latin way.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, influential dictionaries helped orchestrate the standardization of the English language. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published the first widely used British dictionary. Johnson preferred spellings based on a word’s roots, favoring French spelling , since, as he wrote , “the French generally supplied us.” Standard British spelling still follows this course.

Noah Webster, whose famous dictionary was published in 1828, tended to choose spellings based on common use and pronunciation rather than history, setting the trend for American spellings.

Now that we’ve seen how these regional variants were born, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty differences between American and British English so you can nail those overseas job proposals.

American vs British English: Usage and Vocabulary

It’s been suggested that when you pit British English vs American English, differences in vocabulary are focused around three areas: clothing, food, and transportation. It certainly seems that our terms for these common items are wildly different.

Here’s a quick chart so you don’t get caught out wondering what “boot” means in American English... or vice-versa.

American vs British English: Food

American vs British English: Outdoors

American vs British English: Clothing & fashion

American vs British English: Everyday home items ‍ ‍

Spelling Differences between British and American English

The common spelling differences between British and American English fall into these easy-to-recognize patterns. Still, there are always exceptions (this is English, after all), so keep a dictionary or style guide at hand.

-Or vs -our

American writers have mainly dropped the U in words with this ending. However, both variants may be acceptable on either side of the pond for some words.

• AmE behavior /BrE behaviour
• AmE color /BrE colour ‍
• In words where the ou sound is pronounced differently than an O sound, the ou spelling is standard to both regions: contour , troubadour
• In derivatives and inflected versions of these words in British English (that is, words where letters have been added or changed to denote different attributes or tenses), the U is not always kept: for instance, honour is BrE standard, but honorary drops the U .
• Cardinal numbers four and fourteen are always spelled with U .

-Ize vs -ise

The - ize spelling comes from Greek, while - ise is the French spelling. In American English - ize is the preferred form, while British spelling typically uses - ise , although style guides in Britain have more variance in their preferences. This applies to forms of the word other than the root word also. ‍ ‍

• AmE organize , organizing /BrE organise , organising
• AmE colonize, colonization/BrE colonise, colonisation

Exceptions ‍

• Words that do not come from a Greek root or do not use - ze /- se as a suffix are standard in English everywhere: advertise , seize , guise , capsize , franchise , demise , enterprise

-Yze vs -yse

This one is a bit simpler. In verbs, the British form is - yse while the American form is - yze . The spelling is followed in all forms of the verb. ‍

• AmE analyze , analyzing /BrE analyse , analysing
• AmE paralyze , paralyzed /BrE paralyse , paralysed

If a word ends in - re rather than - er , it’s the British spelling. However, even in British English, many words that end in this sound use - er . Generally - re is only used for the root versions of nouns; when this sound is used as a suffix (nic er , bigg er ) it always gets - er . Consult a dictionary if you’re unsure.

In the US, unless you are quoting the name of a fancy arts venue with an anachronistic spelling, it’s safe to assume - er is correct.

• AmE center /BrE centre
• AmE specter /BrE spectre
• AmE fiber /BrE fibre
• Words borrowed as-is from another language (such as French) retain their - re spelling in both UK and US English: genre , double entendre
• Words with Germanic roots, such as fire , anger , mother , danger , chapter , monster , member , and disaster, are typically consistent in both regions.
• Words made from the Greek suffix “meter” (for a measuring instrument) are always spelled - er : thermometer , barometer

While the British generally prefer the S when it comes to suffixes, for these words, they turn to a C , while Americans use an S.

• AmE defense /BrE defence
• AmE offense /BrE offence
• AmE pretense /BrE pretence
• Derivatives of the above words typically use the S in both regions: defensive , offensive , pretension
• In certain terms, the C denotes a noun form while the S denotes a verb form in both regions: Noun advice /verb advise , Noun device /verb devise ‍
• For other terms, that distinction is kept in British English but not in the US: BrE noun licence /verb license ; AmE license for both, BrE noun practice /verb practise ; AmE practice for both

Adding suffixes after the letter L

When adding one of the suffixes - ing , - ed , - er , - est , or - or , if the letter in front of the suffix is an L , British English typically doubles the L , while American English does not. However, watch out for exceptions.

• travel > BrE travelling /AmE traveling
• counsel > BrE counsellor /AmE counselor
• cruel > BrE cruellest /AmE cruelest
• Controlled and controlling are the same in both variants.

It gets trickier. When adding one of several other suffixes after an L , including - ful , - dom , and - ment , American English doubles the L , while British English does not.

• fulfill > BrE fulfilment /AmE fulfillment
• Words that are standard to both versions include till > until , null > annul
• British English prefers the root words instil , distil , and enrol over the American instill , distill , and enroll .

For other suffixes (e.g. - ous , - ize /- ise ) following an L , there is generally not a one-size-fits-all rule, so don’t close that dictionary!

Adding suffixes to words that end in E

For words that end in E , when adding a suffix such as - ing , -able , or - ism , American English sometimes drops the E as it is not pronounced, whereas British English typically will keep the E as a silent letter.

• Age > BrE ageing /AmE aging
• Like > BrE likeable /AmE likable
• Both sides of the pond typically use lunging , lovable , cringing , curable , and breathable.

Loss of vowel combinations/ligatures

Certain English words with roots from Greek and Latin, often medical terms, have been historically spelled with two vowels together to indicate what used to be a ligature (generally, a typeface that combines the two vowels into one character, e.g. ӕ or œ .) In British English, the combined vowels, either ae or oe , are kept, while in the US, only the E is kept. ‍

• BrE anaemia /AmE anemia
• BrE aeon /AmE eon
• BrE oestrogen /AmE estrogen
• Words that can be spelled both ways in US English: aesthetics/esthetics , archaeology/archeology , amoeba/ameba
• Words that can be spelled both ways in British English: encyclopaedia/encyclopedia , chamaeleon/chameleon , mediaeval/medieval

This is chiefly a word ending you’ll find in British prepositions and adverbs. Of course, Americans may use these terms in informal writing if they enjoy their unmistakable flavor. ‍

• AmE among /BrE amongst
• AmE while /BrE whilst

-T instead of -ed for past tense

For certain verbs, the British use - t to denote the past tense, while Americans typically use - ed . However, in American English, both variants are still often seen.

• leap > BrE leapt /AmE leaped
• burn > BrE burnt ( burned an acceptable variant)/AmE burned
• Among others, sleep > slept and sweep > swept are always standard.

-Og vs -ogue

Once again, the British generally use more letters, using - ogue where Americans use - og .

• AmE catalog /BrE catalogue
• AmE analog /BrE analogue
• While both forms of these words are accepted, dialogue , synagogue , and demagogue are the preferred spellings in the US.

Exceptions to the spelling rules

Of course, it wouldn’t be English without some spellings that don’t seem to follow any specific rule. Here’s a quick chart of some more unusual British and American English spelling differences.

Grammar differences between British and American English

Don’t think it’s all about spelling. Some differences have to do more with punctuation. Our comprehensive guide has you covered.

Single quotation marks vs double quotation marks

In general, while American writers prefer “double quotation marks” for dialogue, quotations, irony, and other purposes in a sentence, British writers use ‘single quotation marks.’

However, some British style guides do use double-quotation marks, so be sure to follow any specific instructions you are given.

If you’ve got quotes within quotes—say, a character quoting another within dialogue—the quotation mark styling for the inner marks is reversed.

British vs American English: Does punctuation go inside or outside the quotation marks?

American English puts two punctuation marks inside the quotation marks at all times: the period (full stop in BrE) and the comma. Colons and semicolons always go outside the quotes.

The em dash, the question mark, the exclamation mark, and the ellipsis typically go outside the quotes, unless they belong specifically to the quoted material.

British grammar is similar to US grammar in that it also puts the colon and the semicolon outside the quotation marks at all times. However, all other punctuation goes outside the quotation marks as well, unless it belongs to the quoted material and not the whole sentence.

In British English, in dialogue (that is, quoting from speech, real or fictional, rather than from another text), periods and commas typically go inside the quotation marks, as they indicate the tone of the speech and therefore belong with it.

Still confused? When it comes down to it, most punctuation marks are actually used the same way. The differences you should watch out for are in commas and periods. When these belong to a quote, as in dialogue or a full sentence from an original text, they’ll be inside the quotation marks in both variants.

When they are added to indicate punctuation in the new sentence, rather than the original quote, differences are as below.

Oxford/serial commas

The Oxford comma, or serial comma, comes after the final item in a list, before the word “and.”

It’s easy to remember which version of English uses the Oxford comma as long as you reverse what you’d expect: the English of Britain, home to Oxford University Press, tends not to use the Oxford comma. Meanwhile, in the US, the Oxford comma is more common.

Plural versus singular for groups

When referring to an entity composed of a number of individuals—such as a company or a band—an American would likely refer to the group as singular, while a British person would probably write about them as plural.

How can I learn to write American English—or vice versa?

Now that we’ve gone through the labyrinth of differences between British and American English, do you feel ready to take on a copywriting job anywhere in the world? If you’re determined to write like you’re on the other side of the pond, here are our five best tips for learning to write British English or American English.

1. Read the style you want to write.

The best tools writers and editors have are often their brains—and lots of repetition. After all, this is how we all learned English in the first place! Find books, magazines, and news media from reputable organizations in the version of English you want to write. Read often about a range of subjects, and you’ll begin to pick up on the variations naturally.

2. Avoid inconsistency!

The most important thing when writing is simply to choose one spelling/usage and stick with it. If you write “theatre” once, then make sure you always write “theatre.” Reader and editor preferences vary, but inconsistency always looks unprofessional.

It may be easiest to choose a major style guide to follow. (E.g., Chicago Manual of Style for American English or Oxford Style for British English.) Buy its official reference book and you’ll have all the info you need, though be warned that these can be quite dense.

Make yourself a style sheet and write down the required or preferred spelling every time you learn a new term. These can get long, so organize (organise) your style sheet so it doesn’t become completely unreadable.

3. Use your spellcheck to its full capacity.

If you’re writing in an unfamiliar dialect, spellcheck is your best friend. But make sure to double-check the language it’s checking—if you’re trying to write in British English and it’s set to American, you will have no end of woes.

Remember that this goes for the default autocorrect settings on your communications platforms and cloud documents, too.

If your word processor of choice doesn’t have a built-in spellcheck, try using an add-on such as Grammarly.

Most spellcheck programs enable you to customize your dictionary, so if you notice a word that you often get incorrect, you can add it to the program’s directories manually and never worry about it again.

4. Just look it up!

If you’re uncertain about a term, don’t guess: look it up!

Editing isn’t just about knowing what’s right; it’s about anticipating what might be wrong. Learn the signs that suggest a term might have an American or British variant—if you see an - ise or - ize spelling, for instance—and look those terms up at first rather than relying on memory.

Once you’ve learned a new term, add it to your style sheet. Choose one dictionary as your reference and stick with it, as there is some variance between dictionaries.

You may have to check often, but with repetition, most of these decisions will become second nature.

5. Ask a native speaker.

Many of us know somebody who either grew up in another country or continent or is living there now. If you have a friend who’s a native speaker of the variant you want to learn, ask them to scan your prose for anything that looks “off.” There’s no better resource than someone who’s been using a dialect their entire life.

If you don’t know anyone who speaks the variant personally, asking language questions on forums like Reddit and StackExchange could be useful. Or, if you can afford it, hire an editor who’s a native speaker. ‍

There you have it—the ultimate guide to the differences between American and British English. There are plenty more details to learn if you’re keen, but this will get you through the day-to-day.

Of course, if you’re still unsure whether you’ll get your target audience’s variant right, or if you don’t want to spend hours programming spellcheck, Eleven’s team of professional copywriters includes native English speakers from both sides of the pond, and we are ready to help.

Happy writing!

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American English vs. British English

American English is the form of English used in the United States . It includes all English dialects used within the United States of America. British English is the form of English used in the United Kingdom. It includes all English dialects used within the United Kingdom. Differences between American and British English include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary (lexis), spelling, punctuation , idioms, and formatting of dates and numbers.

Comparison chart

History of British vs. American English

The English language was introduced to America through British colonization in the early 17th century. It also spread to many other parts of the world because of the strength of the British empire. Over the years, English spoken in the United States and in Britain started diverging from each other in various aspects. This led to a new dialects in the form of American English.

American vs. British accent

Prior to the Revolutionary War and American independence from the British in 1776, American and British accents were similar. Both were rhotic i.e. speakers pronounced the letter R in hard . Since 1776, the accents diverged but English accent in America has changed less drastically than accents in Britain.

Towards the end of the 18th century, non-rhotic speech took off in southern England , especially among the upper class; this "prestige" non-rhotic speech was standardized, and has been spreading in Britain ever since.

Most American accents, however, remained rhotic.

There are a few fascinating exceptions: New York and New England accents became non-rhotic, perhaps because of the region's British connections. Irish and Scottish accents, however, remained rhotic.

To be fair, both American and British English have several types of accents and there is no one true American or British accent.

Noah Webster and the Blue-Backed Speller

Even after America gained independence, American schools used textbooks imported from England. Noah Webster , an American lexicographer, nationalist and prolific political writer, found them unsatisfactory. He disliked the influence and control of British aristocracy over the English language and its pedantic rules for spelling and pronunciation.

So in the 1780s Webster wrote and published A Grammatical Institute of the English Language a compendium that consisted of a speller (published in 1783), a grammar (published in 1784), and a reader (published in 1785). The speller became very popular and over time, Webster changed the spellings in the book to be more phonetic (e.g. color instead of colour ; defense instead of defence ). Webster's changes greatly influenced American English because his grammar books were so popular and used in schools throughout the country.

This influence was further solidified by Webster's dictionaries, first published in 1806. Noah Webster was a spelling reformer who believed that the spelling of words should match their pronunciation as much as possible.

Differences in use of tenses

In British English the present perfect is used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present moment. For example: I've misplaced my pen. Can you help me find it? In American English, the use of the past tense is also permissible: I misplaced my pen. Can you help me find it? In British English, however, using the past tense in this example would be considered incorrect.

Other differences involving the use of the present perfect in British English and simple past in American English include the words already , just and yet .

British English: I've just had food . Have you finished your homework yet? American English: I just had food. OR I've just had food . I've already seen that film. OR I already saw that film.

Differences in Vocabulary

While some words may mean something in British English, the same word might be something else in American english and vice versa. For example, Athlete in British English is one who participates in track and field events whereas Athlete in American English is one who participates in sports in general.

Rubber in British English: tool to erase pencil markings. Rubber in American English: condom.

There are also some words like AC, Airplane, bro, catsup , cell phone etc. which are common in American English and not used very often in British English. Some words widely used in British English and seldom in American English are advert, anti clockwise, barrister, cat's eye.

Differences in Spelling

There are many words that are spelt differently in both forms of English. Some examples are:

A majority of the spelling differences between American and British English fall into the following categories:

• - our (British) and - or (American). e.g. colour vs color
• - re (British) and - er (American). e.g. centre vs center
• - ce (British) and - se (American). e.g. defence vs defense
• - ise (British) and - ize (American). e.g. centralise vs centralize
• - yse (British) and - yze (American). e.g. analyse vs analyze
• - ogue (British) and - og (American). e.g. dialogue vs dialog
• Simplification of ae and oe in American English. e.g. gynaecology vs gynecology

Differences in the use of Prepositions

There are also a few differences between British and American English in the use of prepositions. For example: While the British would play in a team , Americans would play on a team . Another example: While the British would go out at the weekend , Americans would go out on the weekend .

Differences in Verb usage

American and British English may also use a base verb in different manners. For example: For the verb " to dream", Americans would use the past tense dreamed while the British would use dreamt in past tense. The same applies to "learned" and "learnt". Another example of differing past tense spellings for verbs in American and British English is "forecast". Americans use forecast while the British would say forecasted in simple past tense.

Differences in Pronunciation

Some words that are pronounced differently in American vs British English are controversy, leisure, schedule etc. There are also some words like Ax ( Axe in British) and Defense ( Defence in British) which have the same pronunciation but different spellings in both languages.

Time telling in British vs American English

Both languages have a slightly different structure of telling the time. While the British would say quarter past ten to denote 10:15, it is not uncommon in America to say quarter after or even a quarter after ten.

Thirty minutes after the hour is commonly called half past in both languages. Americans always write digital times with a colon, thus 6:00, whereas Britons often use a point, 6.00.

Differences in Punctuation

While the British would write Mr, Mrs, Dr, the Americans would write Mr., Mrs., Dr.

Video explaining the differences

Here's a funny musical video that outlines the differences in some English and British English language words.

• Books on American English
• Books on British English
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences

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Comments: American English vs British English

Anonymous comments (5).

September 23, 2012, 3:43pm i'm american and i prefer dreamt and ageing to dreamed and aging. spell check is doing red dotted underlines on those words! — 65.✗.✗.250

March 16, 2014, 8:57am Thx alot — 41.✗.✗.109

April 20, 2011, 11:47pm Did you know that a phrase in british english is knock-up it means to waken or rouse (in america it means to impregnate) learned it in school which makes school somewhat useful (not that much) crazy brits, be careful what you say around american chicks — 97.✗.✗.97

August 14, 2013, 10:58pm That line starting with "To be fair..." seems tacked on. It pretty well negates what came before it. — 108.✗.✗.242

December 28, 2010, 8:28pm I grew up in the SF Bay Area, and I had a mostly private education, except for State College. It seems I grew up learning a more “British” spelling. It wasn’t until I started using online dictionaries and MS Office, that I realized that there existed another variation. As a child color was colour. I still try to spell fulfill as fulfil. Neither was I aware that ageing should be spellt aging in American English, when were the standards changed? My piers would find that to be incorrect. Who writes dialog? I’ve always said learnt and dreamt, but only write dreamed and learned. Only recently have I heard someone say dreamed, and that person spoke English as a second language. Perhaps, these changes have come about to accommodate nonnative speakers of English? Although, I have heard differences in tense even here in California, I had thought that people speaking that way were undereducated. So while I might say, I just lost my pen, or I’ve just lost my pen, I would more than li — 64.✗.✗.212

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• Omniglot - English
• The Guardian - Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet
• Ancient Origins - How Did it All Begin? The Rich Origins of the English Language
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What is the English language?

The English language is an Indo-European language in the West Germanic language group . Modern English is widely considered to be the lingua franca of the world and is the standard language in a wide variety of fields, including computer coding, international business, and higher education.

How many people speak English?

As of 2020 there are 1.27 billion English speakers around the world. This makes it the most spoken language, ahead of Mandarin Chinese (1.12 billion speakers) and Hindi (637 million speakers). More than 50 countries officially list English as an official language.

Is African American Vernacular English a dialect of English?

There has been much public and academic debate on whether African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a dialect of English or its own separate language with African origins. In 1996 the Oakland Unified School District gained nationwide attention for officially recognizing AAVE as a second language.

Where did English come from?

Having emerged from the dialects and vocabulary of Germanic peoples— Angles , Saxons , and Jutes —who settled in Britain in the 5th century CE, English today is a constantly changing language that has been influenced by a plethora of different cultures and languages, such as Latin , French , Dutch , and Afrikaans . 

Is English the official language of the United States of America?

English is not the official language of the United States of America. The country does not have an official language on the federal level. Many states, however, have passed legislation that designates English as their official language.

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English language , West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family that is closely related to the Frisian , German , and Dutch (in Belgium called Flemish) languages. English originated in England and is the dominant language of the United States , the United Kingdom , Canada , Australia , Ireland , New Zealand , and various island nations in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean . It is also an official language of India , the Philippines , Singapore , and many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa . English is the first choice of foreign language in most other countries of the world, and it is that status that has given it the position of a global lingua franca . It is estimated that about a third of the world’s population, some two billion persons, now use English.

(Read H.L. Mencken’s 1926 Britannica essay on American English.)

English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages and is therefore related to most other languages spoken in Europe and western Asia from Iceland to India . The parent tongue, called Proto-Indo-European, was spoken about 5,000 years ago by nomads believed to have roamed the southeast European plains. Germanic , one of the language groups descended from this ancestral speech, is usually divided by scholars into three regional groups: East (Burgundian, Vandal, and Gothic , all extinct), North ( Icelandic , Faroese , Norwegian , Swedish , and Danish ), and West ( German , Dutch [and Flemish] , Frisian , and English). Though closely related to English, German remains far more conservative than English in its retention of a fairly elaborate system of inflections . Frisian, spoken by the inhabitants of the Dutch province of Friesland and the islands off the west coast of Schleswig , is the language most nearly related to Modern English. Icelandic, which has changed little over the last thousand years, is the living language most nearly resembling Old English in grammatical structure.

Modern English is analytic (i.e., relatively uninflected), whereas Proto-Indo-European, the ancestral tongue of most of the modern European languages (e.g., German, French, Russian, Greek), was synthetic , or inflected. During the course of thousands of years, English words have been slowly simplified from the inflected variable forms found in Sanskrit , Greek , Latin , Russian , and German, toward invariable forms, as in Chinese and Vietnamese . The German and Chinese words for the noun man are exemplary . German has five forms: Mann, Mannes, Manne, Männer, Männern . Chinese has one form: ren . English stands in between, with four forms: man, man’s, men, men’s . In English, only nouns, pronouns (as in he, him, his ), adjectives (as in big, bigger, biggest ), and verbs are inflected. English is the only European language to employ uninflected adjectives; e.g., the tall man, the tall woman , compared to Spanish el hombre alto and la mujer alta . As for verbs, if the Modern English word ride is compared with the corresponding words in Old English and Modern German, it will be found that English now has only 5 forms ( ride, rides, rode, riding, ridden ), whereas Old English ridan had 13, and Modern German reiten has 16.

In addition to the simplicity of inflections, English has two other basic characteristics: flexibility of function and openness of vocabulary .

Flexibility of function has grown over the last five centuries as a consequence of the loss of inflections . Words formerly distinguished as nouns or verbs by differences in their forms are now often used as both nouns and verbs. One can speak, for example, of planning a table or tabling a plan , booking a place or placing a book , lifting a thumb or thumbing a lift . In the other Indo-European languages, apart from rare exceptions in Scandinavian languages , nouns and verbs are never identical because of the necessity of separate noun and verb endings. In English, forms for traditional pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs can also function as nouns; adjectives and adverbs as verbs; and nouns, pronouns, and adverbs as adjectives. One speaks in English of the Frankfurt Book Fair , but in German one must add the suffix -er to the place-name and put attributive and noun together as a compound , Frankfurter Buchmesse . In French one has no choice but to construct a phrase involving the use of two prepositions: Foire du Livre de Francfort . In English it is now possible to employ a plural noun as adjunct (modifier), as in wages board and sports editor ; or even a conjunctional group, as in prices and incomes policy and parks and gardens committee . Any word class may alter its function in this way: the ins and outs (prepositions becoming nouns), no buts (conjunction becoming noun).

Openness of vocabulary implies both free admission of words from other languages and the ready creation of compounds and derivatives. English adopts (without change) or adapts (with slight change) any word really needed to name some new object or to denote some new process. Words from more than 350 languages have entered English in this way. Like French, Spanish, and Russian, English frequently forms scientific terms from Classical Greek word elements. Although a Germanic language in its sounds and grammar , the bulk of English vocabulary is in fact Romance or Classical in origin.

English possesses a system of orthography that does not always accurately reflect the pronunciation of words; see below Orthography .

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Meaning of essay in Essential English Dictionary

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(Definition of essay from the Cambridge Essential Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Translations of essay

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Word of the Day

play truant

to be regularly absent from school without permission

It’s not really my thing (How to say you don’t like something)

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