The fi rst distinctive feature is the use of the auxiliary verb will in the fi rst person singular and plural of Future Indefi nite Tense, in contrast to the British normative shall. The second distinctive feature consists in a tendency to substitute the Past Indefi nite Tense for the Present Perfect Tense, especially in oral communication. An American is likely to say I saw this movie where an Englishman will probably say I’ve seen this fi lm. An Englishman says: I’ve lost my key today. Have you seen it? An American says: I lost my key. Did you see it? In American English the simple past can be used with already, just and yet. In British English the present perfect is used:

 I have already given her the present. (BrE)

 I already gave her the present. (AmE.) 

 I’ve just seen her. (BrE) 

 I just saw her (AmE.)

 Have you heard the news yet? (BrE) 

 Did you hear the news yet? (AmE.)

We can see the differences in following structure: in British English – to have a bath, to have a shower, to have a break in American – to take a bath, to take a shower, to take a break. Some differences in using irregular verbs are given in the table.

                   

British  English	American  English
to get – got –got	to  get – got – gotten
to spill – spilt – spilt	to  spill – spilled – spilled
to burn – burnt – burnt	to  burn – burned – burned
to spoil –spoilt –spoilt	to  spoil – spoiled – spoiled

                       

British  English	American  English
At the weekend/ at weekends	On  the weekend/ on weekends
At the front	In  the front
Fill in	Fill  out
Get on (with somebody)	Get  along (with somebody)
Stay at home	Stay  home

Vocabulary Differences between British and American usage as well as differences in shade of meaning in the common stock of words are also numerous. Eg.: In the UK, the word smart usually means dressed in expensive or fashionable clothes: a smart suit for interviews. The usual American word for this is stylish. In the US, smart usually means clever: He’s the smartest boy in our group.Americanisms represented by name of objects are called differently in the United States and in England. 

           

British  English	American  English
Chemist’s	Drug  store
tin	can

                          

sweets	candy
luggage	baggage
railway	railroad
autumn	fall
bookshop	bookstore
billion	trillion
milliard	billion
shopping trolley	shopping  cart

All this brings us to conclusion that the language spoken in the United States is generally identical with that spoken in Great Britain. The grammar systems are fully the same. The American vocabulary is marked by certain peculiarities which are not suffi ciently numerous or pronounced to justify the claims that there exists an independent American language. The language spoken in the USA can be regarded as a regional variety of English with its own peculiarities.