American English (AmE) vs British English (BrE)

English is spoken differently on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the years, the differences between British and American English have given rise to much heated debate and discussion. Modern British English is heavily influenced by American English, so some contrasts are disappearing. Pronunciation is sometimes very different, but most American and British speakers can understand each other easily. Before we take a look at some of the differences between the two main types of English, we stress that these differences are somewhat minor and with the ongoing internationalization of our modern world they could even said to be diminishing.

During much of the nineteenth century, some English people held the view that the Americans were "defiling" or "corrupting" the mother tongue. If we understand "defiling" and "corrupting" to mean "changing", then those English purists were indeed right. However, they failed to understand that change is the inevitable destination of all living languages.

Try these links:

http://www.sk.com.br/sk-usxuk.html

http://www22.brinkster.com/abistene/doubts/AmExBrE.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blbritam.htm