Verbs

We even use verbs differently. There is a habit that I am picking up which really winds me up, in the US you would say, “I have more items downstairs” but in England they would say, “I’ve got more items downstairs”.  You might ask why this winds me up. It is because have and got mean the same thing so have got seems redundant to me.

In British English they tend to use both irregular and regular forms of verbs whereas American English tends to favour the regular form of verbs.

British                                American
Spat                                    Spit
Sawn                                  Sawed
Proven                                Proved
Got                                     Gotten
Sneaked                              Snuck
Dived                                  Dove
Shrank                                Shrunk