Tie or Draw ?

Question

Is TIE American English and DRAW British. My teachers (from  an American English institute) kept correcting me when I used the term 'draw' when speaking of a football match result.

Philip · Accepted Answer

EyeSeeYouIs TIE American English and DRAW British. My teachers (from an American English institute) kept correcting me when I used the term 'draw' when speaking of a football match result.

AE: the score of a game can be "tied" at any point during the play; it can end in a "draw" or a "tie".

Alan.es · Answer

In the game of football as in the actual World Cup in Germany at the moment, the word 'draw' is used almost 100%. That's soccer, of course, in the US.

EyeSeeYou · Answer

Philip
EyeSeeYou
Is TIE American English and DRAW British. My teachers (from an American English institute) kept correcting me when I used the term 'draw' when speaking of a football match result.

AE: the score of a game can be "tied" at any point during the play; it can end in a "draw" or a "tie".

If they are the same I wonder why I got corrected twice in a week. Thanks.

Philip · Answer

EyeSeeYou
Philip
EyeSeeYou
Is TIE American English and DRAW British. My teachers (from an American English institute) kept correcting me when I used the term 'draw' when speaking of a football match result.

AE: the score of a game can be "tied" at any point during the play; it can end in a "draw" or a "tie".
If they are the same I wonder why I got corrected twice in a week. Thanks."Tie" is more common. "Draw", for some people, may be used only in a non-sports arena: the debate between X and Y ended in a draw (tie is not used, because there was no score). I'm only guessing here, because I don't know your teacher's background.

Does this help?

EyeSeeYou · Answer

Philip
EyeSeeYou
Philip
EyeSeeYou
Is TIE American English and DRAW British. My teachers (from an American English institute) kept correcting me when I used the term 'draw' when speaking of a football match result.

AE: the score of a game can be "tied" at any point during the play; it can end in a "draw" or a "tie".
If they are the same I wonder why I got corrected twice in a week. Thanks."Tie" is more common. "Draw", for some people, may be used only in a non-sports arena: the debate between X and Y ended in a draw (tie is not used, because there was no score). I'm only guessing here, because I don't know your teacher's background.

Does this help?

I think that's pretty much what she told me too: 'draw' used for non-sports situations. The strange thing is that upon consulting my Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, both terms have examples with sports referencies.

Alan.es · Answer

I repeat myself that in BrE, any two players or teams in any sport which have the same score at the end of the fixed time period DRAW.

If at any time during the time period they have the same score, they are DRAWING.

Tune in to any British transmission of the football World Cup now taking place in Germany where 24 countries are just completing the group stages before proceeding to the knock-out stages next week and you will never hear the word' tie' used except for the item of clothing that you put round your neck. :-0 , well, maybe once or twice.

In the group round the USA lost to the Czech Republic and Ghana but they DREW with Italy , 1-1.

Anonymous · Answer

EyeSeeYouIs TIE American English and DRAW British. My teachers (from an American English institute) kept correcting me when I used the term 'draw' when speaking of a football match result.

In cricket, there are four possible results: a win for either side, a draw, or a tie. The difference between a draw and a tie is that a tie occurs when both sides have closed their batting, either because they have been bowled out, or, in a limited-overs match, the allocated overs have been bowled, and they have reached the same aggregate score (number of runs). A draw occurs when batting has not closed but the match ends because the time allocated for it has expired or it is abandoned e.g. due to rain. The number of wickets which each side has lost and runs scored are not relevant. Ironically, this usually means that ultimately a drawn or tied match which runs its full course is greatly to be preferred in the spectators' view, because even a side which clearly has no chance of winning can play determinedly not to lose.

Now, in disrupted limited-overs cricket, the Duckworth Lewis method is often used to set a target score for the side batting second, so they could win, even though scoring less than the first batting side did, but that is wandering off the point, which is that people interested in cricket (British, mainly English people, and other test-playing nations) will make this distinction between a tie and a draw, but others (Americans and other non-cricketers) will usually not. They will also extend this distinction to other games (I have noticed it a lot in Rugby). However, the Soccer people refer to the scores being tied during a match. If it ends like that, the result will become a draw. Soccer people also use the word “tie” to refer to a particular match itself, for example, a match in the contest for the FA Cup is a “Cup Tie”. This not cricket phraseology.

The OP's teachers are wrong. Tie is not American English and Draw British. Nor are the terms, strictly, interchangeable. Terminology varies between sports more than being dependent upon which side of the Atlantic you are. When more cricket is played in the USA (and there is a good following already) correct use of the words will spread.

Tie or Draw ?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions