Check for American English on your British Website (and Vice Versa!)

​Ensuring that your website's content aligns with the intended regional spelling conventions is crucial for maintaining professionalism and clarity. Spling offers robust tools to help identify and correct discrepancies between American English (en-US) and British English (en-GB) spellings, ensuring your content resonates appropriately with your target audience.​

Using Spling to Check an American English Site for British English Spellings

British English spellings on an American English site can appear as typographical errors to a U.S. audience. To identify and address these:​

1. Start a Spell Check:
   • Visit Spling's website and enter your site's domain to start a new spell check.
2. Select Language Settings:
   • Once Spling scans your website's pages, you can choose "English (en-US)" as the language for the spell check. This setting ensures that Spling identifies spellings that deviate from American English norms.
   • Choose "English (GB) (en-GB)" if you want to identify spelling and grammar that are inconsistent with British English standards.
3. Review the Report:
   • After the scan, Spling will provide a report highlighting instances where British English or US Engish spellings are used. For example, words like "colour" (instead of "color") or "centre" (instead of "center") will be flagged.​
4. Implement Corrections:
   • Use the report's recomendations to update your website's content, replacing British spellings with their American counterparts to align with your audience's expectations.​

Understanding Regional Language Differences Beyond Spelling

Beyond spelling, regional grammatical differences can impact how content is perceived. Spling can also help identify these inconsistencies.

Collective Nouns: Singular vs. Plural

British English often treats collective nouns (e.g., "team," "company," "government") as plural, while American English typically treats them as singular.

Examples:

• Grammatical Preferences (e.g., collective nouns singular/plural usage differences).
  • British English: "The team are playing well."
  • American English: "The team is playing well."
  • British English: "The company have announced new policies."
  • America English: "The company has announced new policies."
• Punctuation (e.g., usage of quotation marks, commas).
  • British English: 'single quotes'
  • American English: "double quotes"

10 frequent British English idioms

1. "Bite the bullet": To face a difficult situation with courage.​
2. "Bob's your uncle": Used to conclude a set of simple instructions, meaning "and there you have it."​
3. "Chuffed to bits": Extremely pleased or happy.​
4. "Don't get your knickers in a twist": Don't get overly upset or agitated.​
5. "It's not my cup of tea": Not something one likes or prefers.​
6. "Over the moon": Delighted or extremely happy.​
7. "Piece of cake": Something very easy to do.​
8. "Put the cat among the pigeons": To cause trouble or controversy.​
9. "Spill the beans": To reveal a secret.​
10. "The ball's in your court": It's your decision or responsibility to take action.​

10 frequent American English idioms

1. "Break the ice": To initiate conversation in a social setting.​
2. "Burn the midnight oil": To work late into the night.​
3. "Hit the nail on the head": To describe exactly what is causing a situation or problem.​
4. "Kick the bucket": To die.​
5. "Let the cat out of the bag": To reveal a secret unintentionally.​
6. "Once in a blue moon": Something that happens very rarely.​
7. "Piece of cake": Something very easy to do.​
8. "Spill the beans": To disclose confidential information.​
9. "Take the bull by the horns": To face a challenge head-on.​
10. "Under the weather": Feeling ill or unwell.​

Spling's comprehensive spell-checking and proofreading services ensure that your website's content is free from spelling and grammatical errors, tailored to the appropriate regional conventions. By identifying and correcting discrepancies between American and British English spellings, Spling helps maintain the professionalism and credibility of your website, enhancing user experience and engagement.