Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Blame Noah Webster. Steambadger grammar I love your site; however, I must take issue with you on one matter. The practice of placing punctuation inside quotation marks, regardless of where it logically belongs, is an abomination and should be resisted. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=19273#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=19273#Comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:52:54 GMT Todd grammar "aluminium" became "aluminum (2)." Actually the Brits originally spelled aluminum as the Americans but changed it later on to make it similar to other elements in the periodic table. Also a good reference of the evolution of English language and its regional differences is Robert MacNeil's "The Story of English". It was a book and series on PBS in the mid 1980s. Excellent. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=18261#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=18261#Comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:49:27 GMT Todd grammar "aluminium" became "aluminum (2)." Actually the Brits originally spelled aluminum as the Americans but changed it later on to make it similar to other elements in the periodic table. Also a good reference of the evolution of English language and its regional differences is Robert MacNeil's "The Story of English". It was a book and series on PBS in the mid 1980s. Excellent. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=18260#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=18260#Comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:48:46 GMT Dave grammar Hi GG, What about 'our"? Favourite vs favorite. Behaviour vs. behavior. The little OED built into the Mac gives the alternate British spellings but doesn't comment on them. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=18161#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=18161#Comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:31:26 GMT Peter Killick grammar The big problem with the spelling introduced by that country hick Noah Webster is that it is sloppily thought through and therefore inconsistent. And if you are brazen enough to wish to inflict what even George Bernard Shaw failed to achieve, inconsistency is unacceptable. An example of this in US spelling as it is generally used? Program. Programmer. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17996#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17996#Comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:27:52 GMT Ben M. Browning grammar Hey, Grammar Girl! I love what you are doing. Keep up the good work. I have just one minor correction to make, since it is grammar and English usage about which we are talking. In the section titled "Pronunciation Differences", shouldn the phrase "It's far to complex to cover here," read "It's far 'too' complex to cover here"? I often have problems keeping their and there straight. Keep on doin' good! Ben http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17985#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17985#Comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:10:09 GMT Robert Etheredge grammar There is a large number of words that have different spellings in each country, as well as common words that may have completely different meanings. The myWriterTools software program has a nifty feature that will automatically change spelling from U.S. to U.K., or U.K. to U.S. as well as change the words that have different meanings. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17904#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17904#Comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:19:35 GMT Pilch grammar I have a question. Why is it that in American English the sentence, 'I looked out the window' is acceptable, whereas in British English this would be written as, "I looked out OF the window"? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17873#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17873#Comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:12:36 GMT Edward Aveyard grammar In some British dialects (mostly the north of England), "while" means "until". Many British people, even if they speak Received Pronunciation, cling to "whilst" so that there can be no confusion with "while" in the sense of "until". There are some differences between Scottish and English writing as well. For example, Scots use "retiral" instead of "retirement" and "outwith" instead of "outside". http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17762#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17762#Comments Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:44:05 GMT Dave Richards grammar It is a fallacy to claim that standard British English uses single quotation marks first and doubles only for quotes embedded in quotes. This is indeed the case with novels, but all other publications use double quotation marks first and singles for nested quotations. Opening any British magazine or newspaper, or indeed visiting their websites, will confirm this. Regarding punctuation within or outside quotation marks: it depends on the nature of the quotation. If the sentence ends with a quotation that is itself (more or less) a full sentence, the punctuation is within the quotation marks. If the quotation is not a full sentence, punctuation marks should be outside the quotation marks: He only said, "What the hell do you think you are doing?" Do you really think your new pink hat is "bodacious"? Logical though the British method be, it suffers from edge cases, which the absolute US method does not. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17738#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx?commentid=17738#Comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:55:07 GMT Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:52:54 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/british-american-english-differences.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us