American and British people both speak English of course. But sometimes there are some important differences between British English and American English.

   First of all, they sound very different. Often, Americans don’t say each wordseparately. They say words together. Americans may say “I dunno” instead of “I don’t know”. Or they may say “Whaddya say?” instead of “What did you say?” However, the British are more careful. They usually say all the words and keep them separate.

Sound is not only the difference. Words sometimes have different meanings too. For example, the vocabulary for cars and driving is very different. Americans drive trucks, but in England people drive lorries.

Many expressions（短语） are also different in the two countries. In England, if you are going to telephone your friends, you “phone them up”. In America, you “give them a call”. When you are saying goodbye in England you might say “Cheerio!” In America you might say “See you later.”

There’re also some differences in grammar. For example, Americans usually use the helping verb “do” when they ask a question. They say “Do you have a storybook?” But the British often leave out the helping verb. They say “Have you a storybook?”

Most languages are like this. Languages change over time. When people live in separate places, the languages change in different ways. This is what has happened to English. It can also happen to other languages, such as French. Many people in Canada speak French but their French is very different from the French of France.