Most of you are aware that Britain and the US use different grammar and spelling rules. If you didn't know that, now you do! If you're an editor, knowing the differences in grammar can be a major help when editing works. Typical, if you are an editor, you should spell out which type of grammar you edit, because as you'll see, it can have major effects on your editing. Please note that in the last 100 years, the free spread of information (especially in the internet era) has blended a lot of these editing differences, so there are tons of exceptions to the rules. Here is a list of all the things that are different between US and British English.

There are a lot of words that have different meanings whether you live in Britain or live in the US. Here is a list of the ones you might not catch normally.

A&E: In the US, A&E means accident and emergency, referring to a hospital emergency room (ER in America). A&E in America means Arts and Entertainment and is the name of a television network.

Bird – Can be a term to describe a woman in the UK... usually just means a flying animal I the US.

Biscuit – Cookie in the UK, a buttery bread roll in the US.

Bog – Swamp-like for the US, but it can mean a toilet in the UK.

Bonnet – In America, a bonnet is a headpiece worn by olden-day ladies, to a Britain, this can mean a car hood.

Boot – Like above, to an American that is a foot-ware for someone going in wet or snowy conditions, but is a trunk in Britain.

Brown Bread – 'You're Brown Bread!' would be equivalent to telling some they're dead in Britain. In America, it means you're a healthy piece of bread (we think multigrain and brown breads are healthier for some reason). Or it could possibly be taken as racist, given our issues with race relations and the racist term 'white bread' that African Americans some time use to refer to whites.

Bugger – This often means a small insect in the USA, often used when aggravated at anything small and annoying. "Why you little bugger!" In the UK, it has some negative connotations as a slur for homosexual men.

Casket – In the UK, this can mean a jewelry box, but it's another word for coffin in the US.

Chemist – The UK can use this to mean pharmacist. In the US, it only means a scientist who specializes in chemistry.

Conservatory - In America, a conservatory refers to a college to study music and the arts. In Britain, it's a room with a glass roof and walls, typically what we call a greenhouse.

Fanny – It means butt (bum in UK) for Americans, but it's the female sexual organ in the UK. As a side note, in the UK, this is a pretty offensive form of that word, while in the US, it's probably one of the most harmless forms of the word.

Fanny Pack – A fanny pack in the US is something you wear around your waist, something usually associated with geeks and tourists. In the UK, it means buttocks. Since Fanny is lewd in the UK, it's probably considered lewd as well.

First Floor – Refers to the first floor ABOVE the ground floor in the UK, but refers specifically to the ground floor in the US.

Fish and Chips: Most Americans know this, but fish and chips mean fried fish and French fries (although a specific kind of thinner french fry, I guess). In America, we call that a Fish Fry (usually served on Fridays). Fish and chips would possibly get you a bag of potato chips (I believe UK calls them crisps) and un-fried fish.

Flapjack – In UK, a flat oatmeal snack. In the US, it's a type of pancake.

Geezer – An old man in the US, a gang member / deplorable in the UK.

Hire – In America, this only really means to give someone a job. But in Britain, this can also mean 'rent'. So you can 'hire an apartment'.

Homely – In the UK, it means cozy or comfortable home... in the US it is used to describe an ugly or plain-looking person.

Hoo-ha – A hoo-ha is an argument or disagreement in the UK... but it refers to female genitalia in the US.

Jimmy – To jimmy something in the US, It means to loosen it. You can jimmy a lock or jimmy the windowsill. In the UK, you might get strange looks since jimmy may indicate to urinate.

Jumper – In the UK, it means a sweater. In the US, it means someone about to commit suicide by jumping off a building.

Lift – In the US, catching a lift only means getting a ride in a car. In UK, getting a lift also means getting a ride in an elevator.

Moot Point – Americans typically use this word wrong. The UK uses it to mean something that is "up for debate", which is actually the definition of the word. Americans changed the word to mean something irrelevant or unimportant to the current discussion.

Nappy – This can mean something a baby wears in the UK, but typically is just a description for stringy hair in the US.

Nervy – Has almost the opposite meaning in the US or UK. UK is a nervous individual, while US is someone who has a lot of nerve (ie, brave).

Rocket - Rockets go boom in the US, basically anything with an explosive attached to it as a means of travel that causes it to move in a certain direction. However, in the UK, the plant arugula can also be referred to as rocket.

Rubber – A rubber in the US is a condom, but it's just an eraser in the UK. Don't make this mistake guys, it can have consequences!

Rock – In the US, rocks only refer to rocks. If you're talking about rock candy or hard candy, adding that candy at the end is important. Not as much in the UK.

Pants – Underwear in the UK, but trousers in the US.

Shag – Most Americans know this, probably because a certain James Bond parody, but shag is sex in the UK, but mostly just refers to a type of carpeting in the US. It also makes Americans think of the 1970s, so if you say shag, we'll think you're being antiquated.

Spunk – it means "spirited" or "energetic" in the USA, but it can mean a certain male sexual reproductive discharge in the UK. It's not like someone in the UK isn't aware of the US form of the word, but like the word pussy meaning cat but not quite being able to use it because of its alternative meaning, you might not want to say someone has spunk in the UK. In the USA, most people wouldn't blink twice at the word.

Telly – In Britain, it's a television. America calls them TVs, but I think both cultures are aware of the naming convention. However, let it be known that calling a TV "telly" in the US is "VERY" British sounding, and will almost certain cause an American to laugh.

Uni – In Britain, it can be short for University. In the US, it's only a prefix that means one.

Mind you, with all the examples given, no definition is truly "wrong". You'll usually find both definitions in any dictionary you look up. It's just that, in casual speech, we typical use certain words differently depending on the culture. There are more examples, and one side may be aware of both definitions of the word, this list is rather general (and In some cases, might even refer to something obscure), but hopefully it helps.

The UK sometimes treats collective nouns as plural. So when you refer to a group of people, UK may refer to them as a plural, whereas the US always makes it singular.

UK: "The organisation are making an important announcement."

US: "The organization is making an important announcement."

In US grammar, when we write a list of words with an "and/or", we always include an additional comma before the and/or.

US: "The man bought a banana, a pineapple, and an orange."

UK: "The man bought a banana, a pineapple and an orange."

In the US, we write a date year with an apostrophe between the number and the 's'. In UK, they do not.

US: "She was a dancer in the 1930's."

UK: "She was a dancer in the 1930s."

Americans write the date with month, then day, then year. 12/31/2016 is December 31st, 2016. That date makes no sense in the UK, where they write the day first, then the month, and finally the year. 31/12/3016.

*As a side note, there has been a move to standardize dates as year, month, day, 2016-12-31, but I'm doubting it will catch on in the US.

British sometimes use a period between hours and minutes, whereas the US uses a colon [:].

US: "I'm going to go see the movie at 3:20."

UK: "I'm going to go see the movie at 3.20."

The period use doesn't appear to be that common though. It's likely because of digital clocks that colon use has grown to be more standard, but it's still possible you could find a period.

In the US, the double quotes (") is used for initial quotations and then the single quote (') is used for a quotation in a quotation. It is the exact opposite in the UK.

US: "I thought you said 'you are ugly' to me," she said.

UK: 'I thought you said "you are ugly" to me," she said.

Also note that in the UK, the punctuation on a "soft end" is on the outside of the quotation, where it is on the inside in the US, whether it's being directly quoted or not. There was conflicting information about this, so let me try to clear this up for you.

When the punctuation in the quoted text is part of the speech, you put it in the quotations like with the american style. However, when the punctuation is NOT part of quoted speech, in UK, you would put the punctuation on the outside. In both cases, the punctuation will be on the inside in the US. The reason for this had to do with typewriters. Basically, Britain changed to a more "logical" format but US kept things they way it was.

US: I did not particularly like the book, "Twilight."

UK: I did not particularly like the book, 'Twilight'.

I hope that makes it clear.

In the UK, you might write a number one hundred and five. In the US, it is considered proper to drop the 'and'. Thus it would be one hundred five.

Sometimes, the meaning stays the same, but the spelling is different. Here are the most common changes in spelling. This next section is a really long list of words, which is why I leave it for last!

A lot of words that contain –or in the US will be spelled –our in the UK.

arbour, arbours, ardour, armour, armoured, armourer, armourers, armouries, armoury, behaviour, behavioural, behaviourism, behaviourist, behaviourists, behaviours, belabour, belaboured, belabouring, belabours, candour, clamour, clamoured, clamouring, clamours, clangour, colour, colourant, colourants, coloured, coloureds, colourful, colourfully, colouring, colourize, colourized, colourizes, colourizing, colourless, colours, demeanour, discolour, discoloured, discolouring, discolours, disfavour, dishonour, dishonourable, dishonourably, dishonoured, dishonouring, dishonours, enamoured, endeavour, endeavoured, endeavouring, endeavours, favour, favourable, favourably, favoured, favouring, favourite, favourites, favouritism, favours, fervour, flavour, flavoured, flavouring, flavourings, flavourless, flavours, flavoursome, glamour, harbour, harboured, harbouring, harbours, honour, honourable, honourably, honoured, honouring, honours, humour, humoured, humouring, humourless, humours, labour, laboured, labourer, labourers, labouring, labours, misbehaviour, misdemeanour, misdemeanours, multicoloured, neighbour, neighbourhood, neighbourhoods, neighbouring, neighbourliness, neighbourly, neighbours, odour, odourless, odours, parlour, parlours, rancour, rigour, rigours, rumour, rumoured, rumours, saviour, saviours, savour, savoured, savouries, savouring, savours, savoury, splendour, splendours, succour, succoured, succouring, succours, technicolour, tricolour, tricolours, tumour, tumours, unfavourable, unfavourably, unsavoury, valour, vapour, vapours, vigour, watercolour, watercolours, yoghourt, yoghourts

arbor, arbors, ardor, armor, armored, armorer, armorers, armories, armory, behavior, behavioral, behaviorism, behaviorist, behaviorists, behaviors, belabor, belabored, belaboring, belabors, candor, clamor, clamored, clamoring, clamors, clangor, color, colorant, colorants, colored, coloreds, colorful, colorfully, coloring, colorize, colorized, colorizes, colorizing, colorless, colors, demeanor, discolor, discolored, discoloring, discolors, disfavor, dishonor, dishonorable, dishonorably, dishonored, dishonoring, dishonors, enamored, endeavor, endeavored, endeavoring, endeavors, favor, favorable, favorably, favored, favoring, favorite, favorites, favoritism, favors, fervor, flavor, flavored, flavoring, flavorings, flavorless, flavors, flavorsome, glamor, harbor, harbored, harboring, harbors, honor, honorable, honorably, honored, honoring, honors, humor, humored, humoring, humorless, humors, labor, labored, laborer, laborers, laboring, labors, misbehavior, misdemeanor, misdemeanors, multicolored, neighbor, neighborhood, neighborhoods, neighboring, neighborliness, neighborly, neighbors, odor, odorless, odors, parlor, parlors, rancor, rigor, rigors, rumor, rumored, rumors, savior, saviors, savor, savored, savories, savoring, savors, savory, splendor, splendors, succor, succored, succoring, succors, technicolor, tricolor, tricolors, tumor, tumors, unfavorable, unfavorably, unsavory, valor, vapor, vapors, vigor, watercolor, watercolors, yogurt, yogurts

accoutrements, amphitheatre, amphitheatres, breathalyser, breathalysers, calibre, calibres, centilitre, centilitres, centimetre, centimetres, centre, centred, centrefold, centrefolds, centrepiece, centrepieces, centres, chequered, epicentre, epicentres, fibre, fibreglass, fibres, goitre, goitres, kilometre, kilometres, lacklustre, litre, litres, louvre, louvred, louvres, lustre, manoeuvre, manoeuvred, manoeuvres, meagre, metre, metres, micrometre, micrometres, millilitre, millilitres, millimetre, millimetres, mitre, mitres, mouldered, outmanoeuvre, outmanoeuvred, outmanoeuvres, overemphasise, overemphasised, overemphasises, overemphasising, philtre, philtres, reconnoitre, reconnoitred, reconnoitres, reconnoitring, reveller, revellers, sabre, sabres, saltpetre, sceptre, sceptres, sepulchre, sepulchres, smouldered, sombre, spectre, spectres, theatre, theatregoer, theatregoers, theatres

accouterments, amphitheater, amphitheaters, breathalyzer, breathalyzers, caliber, calibers, centiliter, centiliters, centimeter, centimeters, center, centered, centerfold, centerfolds, centerpiece, centerpieces, centers, checkered, epicenter, epicenters, fiber, fiberglass, fibers, goiter, goiters, kilometer, kilometers, lackluster, liter, liters, louver, louvered, louvers , luster, maneuver, maneuvered, maneuvers, meager, meter, meters, micrometer, micrometers, milliliter, milliliters, millimeter, millimeters, miter, miters, moldered, outmaneuver, outmaneuvered, outmaneuvers, overemphasize, overemphasized, overemphasizes, overemphasizing, filter, filters, reconnoiter, reconnoitered, reconnoiters, reconnoitering, reveler, revelers, saber, sabers, saltpeter, scepter, scepters, sepulcher, sepulchers , smoldered, somber, specter, specters, theater, theatergoer, theatergoers, theaters

-ce versus –se

defence, licence, licenced, offence, pretence, defenceless, defences, licences, offences, pretences

defense, license, licensed, offense, pretense, defenseless, defenses, licenses, offenses, pretenses