How good is your British English?

If you’re an English speaker and have spent any time in an English-speaking country not your own, you know how different the language can be. Sometimes the differences are slight – for example, the stress on different syllables of weekend between British and American English (wiːkˈɛnd vs. ‘wēkˌend, respectively) – but sometimes the differences are pronounced enough to demand some explanation!

We recently looked at British words that might cause confusion in America, which begs the question: how is your British English? Test yourself below with our quiz. If you’re looking for further quiz challenges, try our quizzes on American English, Australian English, Canadian English, and South African English also!

The opinions and other information contained in OxfordWords blog posts and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press.

Comments

mooch92

What about your, as far as I’ve been taught, incorrect use of “begs the question”
- ivantheaverage
  
  The question is begged; however, a slightly more comfortable phrasing might have been, “We recently looked at ‘British words that might cause confusion in America’, a quiz that begged the question, ‘How is your British English?'”
  Ignoring the whole “What is English if not the language of the English” question and whether or not it might have been more politic to say the United States rather than America, this formulation at least attempts to get its tenses in order and specifies exactly what it is that is begging the question.
- investigator
  
  “Begs the question” is a fancy phrase, a kind of jargon, from the formal study of logic.
  It means ” to rely, in the course of an argument, on a statement which is not independently verifiable, which is only true if the argument which it is supposed to support is true.”
  
  An example: Women are more emotionally sensitive than men; a survey of two hundred women showed this to be the prevailing opinion.
  
  The phrase was originally most commonly used by well educated people in the course of intellectual discussion.
  Not-so-well-educated folk thought, probably unconsciously, that they would create the impression of being well-educated simply by using this phrase. But they betray their ignorance by misusing it.
  They use “begs the question” when the ordinary phrase “raises the question” will do the job perfectly.
PCWT

I scored 10/10, but only after difficulty with the last question, the answer to which should have been ‘tantrum’. I had never heard any of the four suggested answers used in that context and plumped for the one that happened to be declared correct. Furthermore, the introduction to the quiz misuses “begs the question”, which should have been “raises the question” or similar.
http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

I missed two–the one about car navigation, which is a new thing since I last lived there in the ’70s…and the last one about a kid’s tantrum.
Tesh N

I’m Australian, and I got 8/10. I use a lot of these words.
Caesar A. Ramirez

Clearly I would have a lot of communication problems if I ever go to the UK :(
Terry Moran

It doesn’t beg the question, it raises the question! How can anybody with connections to the Oxford Dictionary get this so wrong?
Emerald

I live somewhere that had been conquered by Britain but gained independence, so we follow British English. But I found out that our English is still different. Or the quiz is wrong? :P 9/10
JFrederick

There is no such thing as American English.
The Americans can talk anyway they like, but it ain’t English good buddy.
Jan Sexton

“A ‘Bronx cheer’ refer to” — shouldn’t it be refers?
Michael Lidgley

You don’t throw a strop, you get into a strop, and throw a wobbly.
Shaner Mac

Oxford Dictionary has British English, American English and South Africain English. Why no Hiberno-English?

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How good is your British English?

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