Writing Tips: American for Brits
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!
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!