IthasbeensaidthattheAmericansandtheEnglishare 　　"twonationsseparatedbyacommonlanguage". 　　BritishEnglish 　　BritishEnglish(BrE)isabroadtermusedtodistinguishtheformsoftheEnglishlanguageusedintheUnitedKingdomfromformsusedelsewhere.ItencompassesallthevarietiesofEnglishusedwithintheUK,includingthosefoundinEngland,Scotland,NorthernIrelandandWales. 　　ThevastmajorityofpeopleinBritainspeakEnglish.Althoughtheterm"BritishEnglish"israrelyusedwithinBritainitself(justasAmericansseldomusetheterm"AmericanEnglish"),itisusedasameansofdistinguishingtheformsofEnglishprevalentinBritainfromthosespokenelsewhereintheworld. 　　ThereareslightregionalvariationsinformalwrittenEnglishintheUnitedKingdom.Nevertheless,thereisameaningfuldegreeofuniformityinwrittenEnglishwithintheUnitedKingdom,andthiscouldbedescribedas"BritishEnglish".TheformsofspokenEnglish,however,varyconsiderablymorethaninmostotherareasoftheworldwhereEnglishisspoken,andauniformconceptof"BritishEnglish"isthereforemoredifficulttoapplytothespokenlanguage. 　　Accent 　　ThemostcommonformofEnglishusedbytheBritishrulingclassisthatoriginatingfromsouth-eastEngland(theareaaroundthecapital,London,andtheancientEnglishuniversitytownsofOxfordandCambridge).Thisformofthelanguageisknownasthe"ReceivedStandard",anditsaccentiscalledReceivedPronunciation(RP).EarlieritwasheldasbetterthanotheraccentsandreferredtoastheKing's(orQueen's)English,oreven"BBCEnglish".OriginallythiswastheformofEnglishusedbyradioandtelevision.However,thereisnowmuchmoretoleranceofvariationthantherewasinthepast;forseveraldecadesotheraccentshavebeenacceptedandarefrequentlyheard,althoughstereotypesabouttheBBCpersist.EnglishspokenwithamildScottishaccenthasareputationforbeingespeciallyeasytounderstand.Moreover,onlyapproximatelytwopercentofBritonsspeakRP. 　　Eveninthesoutheasttherearesignificantlydifferentaccents;thelocalinnereastLondonaccentcalledCockneyisstrikinglydifferentfromRPandcanbedifficultforoutsiderstounderstand. 　　InLondonitself,thebroadlocalaccentisstillchanging,partlyinfluencedbyCaribbeanspeech.Londonersspeakwithamixtureoftheseaccents,dependingonclass,age,upbringing,andsoon. 　　DifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish 　　AmericanEnglishhassomespellingdifferencesfromEnglishasusedelsewhere.Unlikemany20thcenturylanguagereformstheAmericanspellingchangeswerenotdrivenbygovernment,butbytextbookwritersanddictionarymakers.SpellingtendenciesinBritainfromthe17thcenturyuntilthepresentday(e.g.-isefor-ize,programmeforprogram,kerbforcurb(noun),skilfulforskillful,chequeredforcheckered,etc.),insomecasesfavoredbythefrancophiletastesof19thcenturyVictorianEngland,hadlittleeffectonAmericanEnglish. 　　ThefirstAmericandictionarywaswrittenbyNoahWebsterin1828.AtthetimetheUnitedStateswasarelativelynewcountryandWebster'sparticularcontributionwastoshowthattheregionspokeadifferentdialectfromBritain,andsohewroteadictionarywithmanyspellingsdifferingfromthestandard.Websteralsoarguedformany"sim