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British English vs American English The two varieties of English most widely found in print and taught around the world are British and American. One particular.

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Presentation on theme: "British English vs American English The two varieties of English most widely found in print and taught around the world are British and American. One particular."— Presentation transcript:

1 British English vs American English The two varieties of English most widely found in print and taught around the world are British and American. One particular contribution towards formalizing these differences came from Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary (published 1828)

2 with the intention of showing that people in the United States spoke a different dialect from Britain.

3 American English Is the form of English used in the United State. It includes all English dialects used within the United States of America Regional dialects in the United States typically reflect the elements of the language of the main immigrant groups in any particular region of the country,

4 especially in terms of pronunciation and vernacular vocabulary. Scholars have mapped at least four major regional variations of spoken American English: Northern (really north-eastern), Southern, Midland, and Western.

5 British English British English also has a reasonable degree of uniformity in its formal written form. The spoken forms though vary considerably, reflecting a long history of dialect development amid isolated populations.

6 Dialects and accents vary not only between the countries in the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but also within these individual countries. There are also differences in the English spoken by different socio-economic groups.

7 Areas of Differences Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar vocabulary spelling punctuation idioms formatting of dates and numbers

8 Grammatical Differences Simple past tense for present perfect Speakers of American English generally use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less than speakers of British English.

9 In spoken American English it is very common to use the simple past tense as an alternative in situations where the present perfect would usually have been used in British English.

10 Examples Have you finished your work? BRITISH I‘ve already seen that film. Did you finish your work? AMERICAN I already saw that film.

11 A: Can I borrow your book? B: No, I haven’t read it yet. British B: No, I didn’t read it yet. American

12 The Verb Get He has got much better at playing tennis. BrE He has gotten much better at playing tennis. AmE

13 Have you got/ do you have “Have you got” is the usual verb in BrE to show possession, etc, in positive statements in the present tense, in negative statements and in the questions.

14 They have got a wonderful house.BrE. Have you got a meeting today? They have a wonderful house. AmE Do you have a meeting today?

15 In AmE ‘have’ and forms with do/does/did are the usual way to show possession, etc, in positive statements, negatives and questions

16 . Have got is not used in questions but is used in positive statements, especially to emphasize that somebody has one thing rather than the other. “Does your brother have brown hair”?. “No, he has got blond hair.”

17 Collective Nouns In British English collective nouns, (i.e. nouns referring to particular groups of people or things), (e.g. staff, government, class, team) can be followed by a singular or plural verb depending on whether the group is thought of as one idea, or as many individuals

18 Example My team is winning. The other team are all sitting down.

19 In American English collective nouns are always followed by a singular verb, so an American would usually say: Which team is losing?

20 The Differences of Vocabulary AmericanBritish Clothes: pants tie trousers necktietie jumperpinafore underwearpants

21 AmericanBritish Transportation Emergency brake handbrake tiretyre trolleytram

22 Building AmericanBritish apartmentflat sidewalkpavement liftelevator

23 Food AmericanBritish ketchupTomato sauce French frieschips Jell-ojelly cookiesbiscuits

24 Spelling AmericanBritish ColorColour CenterCentre DialogDialogue AgingAgeing

25 Important videos British English vs. American English: Pronunciation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKEM- juLxmM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKEM- juLxmM American & British English Differences http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh9PS1J Uv8g

26 American English vs British English http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vilC6Uf 1lUs


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