Unit 19: I'm really sorry...
Adverb positions
Select a unit
- 1 Pop-ups
- 2 Hidden talents
- 3 Can't buy me love
- 4 Travellers' tales
- 5 The colleague from hell
- 6 Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
- 7 Career changes
- 8 Art
- 9 Project management
- 10 The dog ate my homework!
- 11 The diary of a double agent
- 12 Fashion forward
- 13 Flat pack skyscrapers
- 14 Extreme sports
- 15 Food fads
- 16 Me, my selfie and I
- 17 Endangered animals
- 18 A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
- 19 I'm really sorry...
- 20 Telling stories
- 21 Fakes and phrasals
- 22 Looking to the future
- 23 Becoming familiar with things
- 24 From rags to riches
- 25 Against the odds
- 26 Our future on Mars?
- 27 Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
- 28 Dodgy dating
- 29 Annoying advice
- 30 I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks
Session 1
Theatre or theater? In this session we look at words with more than one spelling
Activity 2
British or American?
Theatre or theater?
Where would you go to watch a performance of Hamlet? To the theatre. Or is that... theater? Both spellings of this word are used, but the first one is British English and the second one is American English.
In 6 Minute Vocabulary we heard that there are a lot of words which are often spelt differently in British and American English. Spelt was one of them. Take a look:
More common in British English
spelt
learnt
burnt
More common in American English
spelled
learned
burned
Read the text and complete the activity
What other tips do we have? Well, words which end -our in British English are usually spelt -or in American English. The -re ending in lots of British English words becomes -er. And verbs which end -ise in British English are spelt -ize in American.
British English
colour
flavour
theatre
centre
apologise
organise
American English
color
flavor
theater
center
apologize
organize
To do
In the quiz below, you have to drag the words into the correct columns. Good luck!
Organise / organize these words!
8 Questions
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -or?Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -ise?Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -our?Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -or?Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about verbs?Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -er?Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -re?Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about verbs?Question 1 of 8
American English
British English
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Organise / organize these words!
8 Questions
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -or?Question 1 of 8
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -ise?Question 2 of 8
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -our?Question 3 of 8
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -or?Question 4 of 8
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about verbs?Question 5 of 8
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -er?Question 6 of 8
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about words that end in -re?Question 7 of 8
Help
Activity
Did you follow our tips on British and American spellings? Time to test yourself!
Hint
What did we say about verbs?Question 8 of 8
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Next
We're not finished yet - there's one more activity to test your knowledge of different spellings - next!
Session Vocabulary
Some words have two possible spellings in British English, for example analogue, disc, enquire. Sometimes the second spelling comes from American English.
Disc can be spelt d-i-s-c or d-i-s-k for computing terms.
Some words ending in -ise or -yse are spelt -ize and -yze in American English. That spelling is generally accepted in British English too.
apologise (BrE) / apologize (AmE/BrE)
The past form of some verbs can be spelt in two ways in British English. But the -ed ending is preferred in American English.
spelled / spelt (BrE) / spelled (AmE/BrE)
Other words have two spellings, not from any American influence.
all right / alright, barbecue / barbeque, racket / racquet
Some American English spellings are not accepted as correct in British English. Two common examples are words with ou in them and words ending in -re.
colour (BrE) / color (AmE), centre (BrE) / center (AmE)