There are vocabulary differences in the varieties spoken in different regions. Australians talk about sole parents while people in England can them single parents, and New Zealanders call them solo parents. South Africans use the term robot for British traffic light. British wellies (Wellington boots) are New Zealand gummies (gumboots), while the word togs refers to very different types of clothes in different places. In New Zealand togs are what you swim in. In Britain one might wear them to a formal dinner.

The following questions provide a simple way to check out variations of American vs. British influence on the vocabulary we use.

• When you go window-shopping do you walk on the pavement or the sidewalk?
• Do you put your shopping in the car’s trunk or in the boot?
• When the car’s engine needs oil do you open the bonnet or the hood?
• Do you fill up the car with gas or with petrol?
• When it is cold do you put on a jersey or a sweater?
• When the baby is wet does it need a dry diaper or nappy?
• Do you get to the top of the building in an elevator or a lift?
• When the children are happy do you open a can or a tin of beans?
• When you go on holiday do you take luggage or baggage?
• When you’ve made an error do you remove it with an eraser or a rubber?

Pronunciation and vocabulary differences are probably the differences people are most aware of between dialects of English, but there are grammatical differences too. The following are some preferred American from the traditional British usages.

• Americans prefer to use “do you have” while British use “have you got”
• Americans say “gotten” when people in England use “got”
• Americans use “dove” while most English speakers prefer “dived”
• Americans ask “did you eat?” While the English ask “have you eaten?”

Source: “An Introduction o Sociolinguistics” by Janet Holmes. Published by Pearson Education Limited.