Writing Tips: American for Brits

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Most writers are aware of major differences between British and American English, and British writers are usually good about changing arse to ass and git to idiot when writing in American-based fandoms. Still, there are a few British quirks that seem to sneak through, even occasionally by writers experienced in the American idiom.

Some of these quirks seem minor, or even sound so "right" to a British ear that the American alternative just sounds weird, but they really do stand out to American readers. The absolute best way to catch Britishisms is to ask an American to beta. Another tip is to keep a list of the phrases or expressions your characters use in canon, and stick to those rather than phrases that come naturally to you.

Here are a few common Britishisms in fanfic that you can watch out for, with examples from Stargate SG-1 and Torchwood.

Grammatical constructions

"preposition + hospital" versus "preposition + the hospital"

Americans always use "the" here, and wonder what happened to the article if they don't see it. Yes, even if you're not talking about a specific hospital.

"General Hammond's in the hospital?" Daniel was immediately alarmed.

"Just a minor procedure, nothing to worry about," promised Jack.

(Also, "casualty" in Britain is "the emergency room" in America. "Casualty" is only ever used to refer to losses due to war or accident.)


"have done/would do" versus "have/would"

Americans understand that the "do" is understood in action verbs, as it's used in the negative and interrogative forms. We also use it when responding to a negative or interrogative construction without restating a verb.

"I think we have some Jaffa over the ridge there. Do you see the smoke?"

"Yeah, I do."

We do not, however, repeat it with compound verb forms:

Sam barely glanced up. "I'm just going to stay here all night to finish running the simulation."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you would. Have fun with that."

versus

Toshiko barely glanced up. "I'm just going to stay here all night to finish running the simulation."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you would do. Have fun with that."

collective nouns

A noun which refers to a group of individuals, particularly an institution, is nearly always treated as a singular by Americans, and they find it jarring to see a collective noun followed by a plural verb form.

"The SGC is doing everything in its power to help," Sam assured.

"Right," retorted the distraught mother. "The government is responsible for screwing everything up in the first place."

versus

"Torchwood are doing everything in their power to help," Gwen assured.

"Right," retorted the distraught mother. "The government are responsible for bollocksing everything up in the first place."

Punctuation

apostrophes in truncated words

Any word truncation that has been in use for over 50 years (or even five years, in our rapidly changing world!) will not be given an apostrophe to indicate the missing letters by Americans. I hear that the British don't often use 'phone or 'flu any more, either, but sometimes I still see the apostrophes in Brit-written fic.


periods in abbreviated titles

Americans still spell Mr., Mrs., Dr., Sgt., etc. with a period.


quotation marks

The placement of commas, periods and semicolons with a closing quotation mark will undoubtedly be the subject of a future entry. In short, for now, American correct usage is to always place them inside. Always. Really. Yes, I know it's weird. Also, see the entry on single quotation marks for more on the American usage of double quotation marks for speech.


Word choices

See the English-to-American Dictionary, listed below, for many more examples. These are some that I see frequently in fanfic.

"whilst" versus "while"
Americans never, ever, ever use "whilst."

"trolley" versus "shopping cart" (or "cart")
To Americans, a trolley is a tram.

"holiday" versus "vacation"
To Americans, "holiday" is a recognized day or two free from work or school, like Memorial Day or Thanksgiving Day. "Vacation" is used to refer to extended days off--such as summers off from school or multiple weeks around Christmas and New Year's--or to traveling for fun.

"rubbish" versus "trash"
When Americans want to take out the trash, we empty the wastebasket into the garbage can and put it out on the curb. In a big city, we might put our garbage bags into a big dumpster in the alley. The garbage truck will then take the garbage to the dump. We don't empty the bins, leave it out on the kerb or in the skip, and wait for the rubbish to be hauled to the tip.

"tea" (or "supper") versus "dinner"
The morning meal is breakfast; the midday meal is lunch; and the evening meal is dinner. In some parts of the US, the evening meal might be supper--follow what your canon characters say. If someone is invited for tea, it's literally just for a cup of tea, and maybe cookies. ("Biscuits" are a type of flour roll served with butter or gravy.)

"university" versus "college"
The correct name for a post-secondary education institution exploring a single subject or specific trade is "college," while the name for one comprised of several colleges, or exploring several subjects is a "university." Nevertheless, for some reason Americans refer to their university experience as "college," and both the college and university experience as "school." Even when it would be technically correct, Americans don't "go to university."

Sam gave her teammates a pleading look. "If Cassie doesn't straighten out her grades, she'll never get into college, and I know she's set on Stanford University ... at least she was before Janet died."

Jack glowered at the report card. "With grades like these, she'd be lucky to get into school at Colorado Springs Beauty College."

Daniel wasn't too worried. "It's just one bad semester. I had one of those, and it didn't hurt me getting into school."

"Yeah, well," Jack retorted, "you already had five universities trying to recruit you by the time you were fourteen."

"Where did you go to college, Uncle Daniel?" interrupted Cassie, from the doorway where she'd been hovering.

"I went to UCLA," he replied, holding out an arm to pull her into a hug.

While we're on the subject, Americans go to elementary school (kindergarten through sixth grade), then middle school or junior high (grades 6-8 or 7-8 or 7-9, varying), then high school through grade 12. Public schools are paid for by the government, while private schools charge fees to students' parents. Before ten years ago, there was no test required to get a high school diploma--just finishing four years with passing grades. Now some districts or states do have required testing. All students planning to attend college (university, not trade schools) take the SAT test for verbal and math skills. Some also take ACT tests in particular subjects, if the university of their choice requires it.


So that's a quick roundup of Britishisms I see in American canon fanfic. One of my favorite sites for translating the common language that divides us is The English-to-American Dictionary: http://english2american.com/. Even without a fic project at hand, it's a fun read for its own sake.

Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, please chime in on your English usage, as well!

Comments

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

In short, for now, American correct usage is to always place them inside. Always. Really. Yes, I know it's weird.

So that's where I picked that up. Sheesh, you'd think I was Brit, the way I punctuate. theemdash likes to tease me about it.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Hee! The British rules make more sense in most cases, but even there I'd change some of the rules ... if I were the Queen of Grammar. *wants to be Queen of Grammar*

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Well, if you're the Queen, I'd totally be your High Inquisitor.

(Oh, and note: I'm an American, born and raised, though my high school program was very Brit. I write my dates "backwards", spell things funny when I'm tired, and tend to use the word "bloody" rather a lot. Yes, I know, I'm a freak.)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

I do the backward date thing, too, because it makes more sense! The American military also does it--I think because it operates in the international arena. (I do use the abbreviation for the month--26 Apr 2008--to prevent ambiguity.)

High levels of consumption of British books/news/television have messed with my American-meter some, too. ;-)

[moony-blues.livejournal.com]

While we're on the subject, Americans go to elementary school (kindergarten through sixth grade), then middle school or junior high (grades 6-8 or 7-8 or 7-9, varying), then high school through grade 12.

In some areas of the country, such as where I'm from, middle school is grades 5 and 6, while junior high is grades 7 and 8, sometimes 7 through 9. That's fairly typical, from what I've seen, in the Midwestern states. =D

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Interesting! And good to know, for those Midwest-based fandoms. :-)

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

In my neck of the woods (Kentucky and Tennessee - Southern states), the mid-day meal can be dinner. Especially on a Sunday.

And some institutes of higher learning that are smaller in size but academically rank at the university level are called colleges. My daughter went to Centre College, and it's one of the best schools in Kentucky. Notice the spelling for it? I didn't realize that was a British spelling until recently, but it is a very old school.

Laurie

[china_shop]

Ooh, cool post. Thank you!

Any word truncation that has been in use for over 50 years (or even five years, in our rapidly changing world!) will not be given an apostrophe to indicate the missing letters by Americans.

What about 'cause (ie, truncation of because)? I see people putting the apostrophe there, presumably to avoid ambiguity. Before I started writing American English, I would've just spelt it cos, but no one seems to use that, so I tend to follow the herd. :-)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

The vagaries of regionalisms! In most American states I've been in, dinner only happens before 5 on Thanksgiving, and maybe Christmas. :-)

And ah, yes--liberal arts colleges. I forgot the multidisciplinary colleges that offer bachelors degrees, versus universities that offer bachelors and graduate degrees.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

'Cause is technically a contraction used to represent dialect or speech, and not a truncation. You wouldn't see 'cause (or 'em or rockin') in a newspaper or academic essay, but you would see phone or flu. Perhaps someday 'cause might make its way into formal writing, but not yet!

And thank you! Any comments from the Kiwi perspective?

[china_shop]

'Cause is technically a contraction used to represent dialect or speech, and not a truncation.

Fair enough. But you guys don't use "cos", do you?

Any comments from the Kiwi perspective?

Ha! Hundreds. Off the top of my head:

clothes -- we say jersey or jumper instead of sweater or pullover, and trousers instead of pants, singlet instead of wifebeater (a name that makes me shudder), zip instead of zipper, etc.

vehicles -- we say boot instead of trunk, indicator instead of turn signal, windscreen instead of windshield, bonnet instead of hood, tyres instead of tires, accelerator instead of gas pedal (?), petrol instead of gas, and probably a dozen other things. :-) Carpark instead of parking lot.

I suspect most of those are similar to the UK.

What else? NZ uses soft drinks or fizzy drinks for carbonated drinks (which I generally call "soda" when writing American, but I know some regions call it pop or soda pop).

We say dreamt and spelt and learnt, but I've more or less trained myself into typing dreamed and spelled and learned, and I usually remember not to talk about fortnights without explaining that it means two week periods. Speaking of which, we say full-stop instead of period.

/blurt :-)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

If an American's really writing in dialect, she's more likely to use "cuz" than "cos." (That can also be dialect for "cousin," so context matters, too. ;-)

Oh, yes, I recognize those as Britishisms, too! I should have added the "-t" versus "-ed" for verbs.

Just so you know, "wifebeater" shows up a lot on LJ for some reason, but it was always "tank top" where I grew up. And yes, we call it a gas pedal, or just say, "Step on the gas."

*loves your blurt* :-)

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This is an invaluable post for me. I tend to fall between a rock and a hard place as a Brit who's lived overseas for nearly twenty years - my influences are all over the shop:)) I write in an American and a British fandom, and while many things are ingrained now ( the 's' 'z' thing, for instance), there are some things that always give me pause. Your cultural tidbits here are useful, and the link is terrific!

[silkendreammaid.livejournal.com]

This is probably going to come across as a rant ...but I don't mean it to be...

a question.. why is it that I,as a non-American writer, should make adjustments to my language? I'm expected to be able to understand not only the different spellings and meanings for words, but also large chunks of a culture that can sometimes seem completely alien to me.

Is this just because the majority of people here are American and I should conform to a majority perception of the language? What I end up doing is using 'my' English with more description just to bridge a perceived gap. A holiday becomes specified as either public or school to differentiate and holidays that are work-related are classed as 'four weeks leave from work'. I think most authors take care to have enough description to cover regional differences in such instances.

To me, some words that Americans use seem so wrong, that to use them is impossible.. 'leaned' vs 'leant' for example... at those times my mind is almost translating what I'm hearing and reading into 'my' English. Does this make non-American writers more intelligent in some ways because we not only know 'our' English, but the 'American' way too, whereas American writers only know theirs? I've only had two queries regarding my word usage, so the differences aren't really that noticeable. I don't think the differences, even when noticed, really detract from what you are reading, as long as it is well written. A well thought out and well-written story is going to overcome any language differences.

I'm Australian, so my English is of the British denomination, and being older there are generational differences in words and grammar as well. Which often makes me laugh often when I read some fics and see phrases that innuendo just doesn't cover.

Whichever English you use is going to be understood, I think. Peoplle are intelligent enough to see and realise where an author originates from and are able to mentally adjust.

I probably should have phrased this better, or clearer, or spent longer figuring out what I wanted to say. I really do not intend to offend anyone with this response and that dictionary is very amusing. I just don't intend to 'Amercanise' my writing. Because once my written words change, then my spoken words could be put at risk.

silken :)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Have fun with that site; I find it to be endlessly entertaining.

[china_shop]

Here "tank top" used to mean a knitted sleeveless jersey (aka sweater), and I don't hear people using it much anymore. Clothing is a huge can of worms, as is food -- pancakes/crepes/pikelets/scones/hot cakes anyone? /o\

[zortified.livejournal.com]

The explanation for this (that I always heard, growing up in Oklahoma) is that dinner is the biggest meal of the day, and if that occurs at noon it's dinner and supper at night. If midday meals are smaller, then it's lunch and dinner.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

There's no intent to say one English is better than another! I apologize if it seemed that way. This is only meant to apply to fanfic writers who are writing about canon American characters/culture. It's jarring to see Jack O'Neill say, "Get through the gate, whilst I hold off the Jaffa!" Just as it is jarring to see Harry Potter finding out that Dudley is taking his SATs and choosing what college to go to. There is another post scheduled for one of our grammarians to write about what American writers tend to miss when writing in British-based fandoms.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

/o\ Getting a local beta is a must!

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks. :-)

[china_shop]

Yes!

Hey, do Americans say "gotten"? I think of it as an American construction, but someone used it as evidence that I story I'd posted anonymously wasn't written by an American.

[china_shop]

I started off writing fanfic in American English as a POV thing (like how I capitalise or don't capitalise "god", depending on the religious beliefs of my POV character), and now it's just become habitual, and I do it even when writing from, say, a Canadian's POV. I know a number of Australasians who make concessions on vocab for characterisation purposes but who steadfastly maintain their native spelling, so that kind of compromise is always an option, too. Not that I'm saying you should compromise if you don't want to. :-)

[silkendreammaid.livejournal.com]

no it's not your fault.. I should have taken longer to phrase it right... I can see the spelling mistakes I made now.. ~hides~... I see what you mean in regards to language crossovers like that... they're what make them memorable..

silken :)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Oh dear! "Got" and "gotten" is one of my soapboxes, but I may post on that here in the future, so will summarize for now. Americans do use "gotten" correctly as a past participle: "I've gotten (received) three text messages in the last five minutes," or "I've gotten (become) used to having him around." "I've got to" is unfortunately also popular in the incorrect usage that is an emphasis of "I have to." ("I've got to get out of here!")

Also? Dying laughing over your icon!

[china_shop]

That's what I thought! *is vindicated, but no less confused by others' assumptions*

One of my many "I'm a dork" icons. \o/