Identifying British and American English Spelling Differences

English, as a global language, has various regional differences, particularly between British English (BrE) and American English (AmE). These differences often manifest in spelling, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The question asks us to identify a pair of expressions where one of the spellings is incorrect, even when accounting for these standard British and American variations.

Analyzing English Spelling Pairs

Let's carefully examine each pair provided to determine which one contains an incorrect spelling.

• (A) plough (British) / plow (American)

  This pair represents a common and correct spelling difference. In British English, words ending with the '-ough' sound often retain this spelling (e.g., 'plough', 'doughnut'). American English tends to simplify these spellings, often changing them to '-ow' (e.g., 'plow', 'donut'). Therefore, this is a correct pair of corresponding spellings.

• (B) cheque (British) / check (American)

  This is another widely recognized and correct spelling variation. British English frequently uses '-que' endings for certain words (e.g., 'cheque', 'liqueur'). American English often simplifies these to '-ck' or '-k' (e.g., 'check', 'liquor'). Thus, this pair correctly shows British and American spellings.

• (C) theatre (British) / theater (American)

  This pair exemplifies a very common spelling difference related to words ending in '-re' in British English and '-er' in American English. Other examples include 'centre' (BrE) vs. 'center' (AmE), and 'metre' (BrE) vs. 'meter' (AmE). This is a standard and correct pair of variations.

• (D) skilful (British) / skilfull (American)

  This is the pair that contains an incorrect spelling. Let's break down the correct spellings:

  • British English: skilful

    In British English, when adding the suffix '-ful' to words that end in a single 'l' (like 'skill'), the 'l' is often not doubled. So, 'skill' + '-ful' becomes 'skilful'.

  • American English: skillful

    In American English, when adding the suffix '-ful' to words ending in 'll', one 'l' is usually dropped from the base word. However, for a word like 'skill', the American spelling retains both 'l's from the base word 'skill' and adds '-ful', resulting in 'skillful'. The spelling 'skilfull' (with an extra 'l' at the end) is not a standard American English spelling. It incorrectly adds an extra 'l' making it inconsistent with the rules for forming adjectives with the '-ful' suffix.

  Therefore, the listed American English expression 'skilfull' is misspelled.

Conclusion on English Spelling Errors

Based on the analysis of each pair, the pair "skilful (British) / skilfull (American)" contains an incorrect spelling because 'skilfull' is not the correct American English spelling; the correct American English spelling is 'skillful'.