American E & British E Grammar #1

Present perfect & past simple; have & have got; irregular verbs.

1) BrE sometimes uses the present perfect while AmE use the past simple:

BrE: Have you eaten all those biscuits?
AmE: Did you eat all those cookies?

BrE: Have you ever seen the film, Casablanca?
AmE: Did you ever see the movie, Casablanca?

2) BrE uses have got while AmE tends to use have:

BrE: Have you got new training shoes?
AmE: Do you have new sneakers?

BrE: I’ve got some wellington boots you can borrow.
AmE: I have some rubbers you can borrow.

BrE: I haven’t got time for a holiday this year.
AmE: I don’t have time for a vacation this year.

3) There are some differences in irregular verbs between AmE and BrE. Two major differences are:

BrE: dive – dived – dived She dived into the pool.
AmE: dive – dove – dived She dove into the pool.

BrE: get – got – got The baby has got a lot bigger.
AmE: get – got -gotten The baby has gotten a lot bigger.