the variety of English that is taught in schools, used in formal writing, and often heard on radio and television. It is considered by many to be the correct and proper English. Standard English is not the same in all of the countries where English is spoken. In the United States, for example, the words labor, color, and center are correctly spelled as written here, while in Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and other parts of the English-speaking world—in fact, nearly all of it— the same words are correctly spelled labour, colour, and centre. See also NON-STANDARD and RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION.

the English currently spoken or written by literate people over a wide geographical area.

refers to the variety of English in which most texts, government documents, and media publications are written. Although pronunciation and idiom may vary widely within Standard English, grammatical structure is uniform.