Differences between British and American English

Most of the English materials available on the net are in American English. The main reason is that American online users constitute a large fraction of the total Internet users. There are slight differences between American English and British English in terms of spelling and pronunciation. So, students learning British English (for example students in Malaysia, Singapore etc) should be able to identify American English. It is very crucial due to the fact that during examination, marks will be deduced for using both British English and American English in your essay writing. It is because it shows that you cannot use English consistently.

American English: The color of the center of the clock is blue.
British English: The colour of the centre of the clock is blue.

Both of the sentences above are correct whereas the two sentences below show inconsistent use of English language.

Wrong: The color of the centre of the clock is blue.
Wrong: The colour of the center of the clock is blue.

Actually, ‘color’ and ‘center’ are American English words while ‘colour’ and ‘centre’ are British English words. For British English users, unless you are able to write the whole of your essay in American English, you are advised to use British English in writing your essay. Other examples are ‘traveller’ and ‘traveler’, ‘customize’ and ‘customise’ etc.

Besides spelling, the pronunciation for certain words is different between British English and American English. Some common instances include but not limited to the words ‘dance’, ‘them’ and ‘often’. Check the correct pronunciation of these words with your English dictionary software.

Tags: British, American, English, spelling, pronunciation

Correct Date Format in Essay Writing

Sometimes we write date in our essay when mentioning an event. However, do you know how to write a date correctly?

Basically, there are a number of date formats in essay writing. Let us examine the date format in the following sentences in common essay writing.

We celebrated the recent National Day of Malaysia on 31 August 2007.
We celebrated the recent National Day of Malaysia on August 31, 2007.
We celebrated the recent National Day of Malaysia on the 31^st of August, 2007.

All three formats of date in the sentences are correct. Please take note that when using 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th… in writing a date, article ‘the’ must be added in front of the date. Otherwise, the date format used in the sentence will be considered wrong.

Wrong: We celebrated the recent National Day of Malaysia on 31^st of August, 2007.

The following date formats are not acceptable in written essay.
31/8/2007
31-8-2007

Tags: date, essay, writing