This ends all world confusion - well, about the British Isles at least

I've often wondered about which label was the correct one when describing various countries or groups of countries in the British Isles, and thanks to the Grammar Girl Facebook page there's an easy to follow diagram.

In a nutshell:

The Channel Islands are Guernsey and Jersey.

The Crown Dependencies are the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands (above).

Great Britain is a combination of England, Scotland and Wales.

The United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland.

The British Islands are the United Kingdom plus the Crown Dependencies.

Ireland consists of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The British Isles is all of the above!

Source: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/whats-the-difference-between-england-great-britain-and-the-uk

The British Government were a busy lot when you also add in their British Overseas Territories of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands. On top of that they also have the 53 Commonwealth of Nations countries (usually ex-territories), which includes Australia and Botswana among many others.

So in case you were wondering...................now you know!