Wash in American English?

Question

As an American, I'm noticing that using "wash" as a transitive verb is tripping me up a little. It sounds ungrammatical to me ear to use it transitively. I'm guessing this could be a difference between American and British English, maybe (if a British speaker says it sounds fine).

I can say, "I wash up every morning" or "I'm wash myself every morning," but "I wash every morning" doesn't say what I'm washing, so it sounds like an incomplete sentence.

Reading the Kwiziq lessons has been great. They're both thorough and concise, which is impressive. Thanks!

Anne Davies · Answer

Brit here - it’s a difference between American and British English. "I wash every morning" is fine as a complete sentence and taken to mean you wash yourself. Whereas "I wash up every morning" pretty much always means "I did the washing up" to us, ie you washed the dishes. Confusing, eh?

Cécile Janty-Davies · Answer

Bonjour Andrew, 
You might find this page on the use of English interesting.
https://www.kwiziq.com/is-this-english-correct

Andrew McNabb · Answer

I've done a lot of Kwiziq quizzes over the last month, and it's been great, but it's been genuinely surprising how much British English I've had to learn along the way. I really have gotten a lot of questions wrong just because of the British vs. American mismatch. This really isn't something I would have predicted.