Exercise 18

Distribute these words and word combinations into two columns: those pertaining to British English and those pertaining to American English.

1. airplane - aeroplane

2. block of flats - apartment house/building

3. dialing code - area code

4. baby carriage - pram, perambulator

5. cashpoint - ATM (automated teller machine)

6. backpack/backbag - rucksack

7. baked potato - jacket potato (cooked without removing the skin)

8. ring road, circular road (a road circling a city) - belt way

9. braid - plait (hair style)

10. bus - coach (for journey between towns, single decker; bus = double-decker)

11. engaged tone - busy signal

12. sweet - candy

13. carriage (railway) - car (railway)

14. carousel - merry-go-round

15. trolley (shopping), cart

16. cell phone - mobile phone

17. checkers - draughts (board game)

18. current account (banking) - checking account

19. reverse charge call (telephone) - collect call

20. condominium, condo (individually owned) - block of flats

21. biscuit - cookie

22. sweet corn, maize - corn

23. town centre - downtown

24. driver’s license - driving licence

25. drug store - pharmacy, chemists

26. elevator – lift

27. rubber - eraser

28. autumn - fall

29. rubbish - garbage, trash

30. garbage can - dust bin

31. ground meat - minced meat

32. crossroads - intersection

33. socket /connector for phone/ - jack

34. kindergarten - nursery

35. surname - last name

36. liquor - spirits (whisky, brandy, vodka)

37. lost and found - lost property

38. semi skimmed milk - low fat milk

39. trousers - pants

40. parking lot - car park

41. penitentiary - prison

42. state school - public school