Subject: English Name: Lingyu Qiu Teacher: Gemma Hijano Group: 2n batxillerat Year: 2010-2011 School: INS Eduard

Fontser Town: LHospitalet de Llobregat Date: 17th January 2011

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Acknowledgements
I want to thank my teacher, Gemma Hijano Navas, who has helped me so much as she has given me some information and made suggestions to deal with the topic and has also told me where to find useful books or documents and finally has read it carefully to check the content. I also want to thank my friend, He Wei, who is studying at university and helped me to borrow the books. In addition, I want to thank other friends, who gave me the opportunity to accomplish the practice and gave me some information about the topic as well. All in all, thanks to all the people who have helped me.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Why I chose the topic.......................................................................................4 2. Introduction.......................................................................................................5 3. About English...................................................................................................6 4. Varieties in British and American English.........................................................8 5. Dialects and accents of British and American English.....................................10 6. How British and American English came to be Different.................................11 7. British English since Elizabethan times............................................................14 8. American English since Elizabethan times......................................................16 9. Interactions between British and American English.........................................21 10. Some differences between American and British English...............................22 10.1 Grammar.................................................................................................22 10.2 Vocabulary..............................................................................................26 10.3 Spelling....................................................................................................33 10.3.1 Spelling of verbs...................................................................................34 10.4 Pronunciation..........................................................................................35 10.5 Writing.....................................................................................................38 11.British English speakers versus American English speakers............................40 12. Conclusion.........................................................................................................42 13. Bibliography.......................................................................................................44

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1- Why I chose the topic

Ive chosen this topic because, apart from being an international language and thus, essential and really useful, I love it. I remember so much when I arrived in Barcelona; I couldn't speak Spanish, Catalan or English, I only could speak Chinese and I just knew the twenty-six letters in the English alphabet so I couldn't communicate with anybody. But I didn't like learning Spanish or Catalan either, because these two languages didn't sound good to me and their grammar was too different from my language, so it was difficult for me to learn them. Instead, I loved learning English, and as a result, it was easier for me to learn it, because it sounded really good and its grammar was easier than Spanish and Catalan for me. From then, I have improved my English progressively. In addition, last summer I met some British and I had the opportunity to practise with them. I also met a German too and he spoke American English, because his teacher had taught him it, so there were words that I couldn't understand. From then, Ive been curious about American English. Actually, when I knew that I had to choose a topic, I was really worried about it because I had never done it in my life, and whats more, my Spanish and Catalan were really bad. But finally this topic came to my mind, which was motivating and interesting for me. So I thought I was a really lucky girl.

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2- Introduction
When I started to learn English, I didn't know about any variants in English because I didn't know much about English. One day, when I was watching an English film, I noticed that there were many words pronounced differently from the way I had learnt them, so I asked my teacher why some words were pronounced in different ways. Then she told me that there were many variations of English in the world. So in every country, where English was spoken, there were differences concerning pronunciation. Before I heard it, I thought there were only American English and British English in the world, because I had a German friend who spoke American English. There are several English variants but I am going to deal with American English and British English. These two are similar, the written language is quite the same but the pronunciation and vocabulary are pretty different. And I think that if I know the differences, it will be useful for me. In order to accomplish this work, the biggest problem was finding someone specialised in the topic to help me with the practice. First, there was a university teacher of English, who offered me the possibility to answer some questions to me if they were not too specific as she spoke British English mainly. Finally, she couldnt answer me. Next, I thought of another way to do this part. So as I have British and American friends, I made them listen a conversation by British or American people and I asked them questions about it. As result, I learnt many things, thanks to them.

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3- About English
About three hundred years ago, English was simply the language of the English. The language we know today as English, developed by about 1400 out of England, with a good deal of borrowing from Norman French, the language of those who had conquered England in the year 1066. Wales, Scotland and Ireland were at that time separate countries whose inhabitants spoke Celtic. The North American continent was unknown to Europeans. Australia had not yet been discovered. The language in which European scholars wrote and communicated was Latin. If we take English to be around six hundred years old we can say that, for half its history, it was exclusively the mother tongue of the people of England. In the 17th century, English wasnt spoken by Americans but then the British came there and there was a very important colonization of Britain. So, after it, people started speaking English. The Colonization was followed by trade and by the establishment of colonies of settlers. European languages (including English) came to be used in places far from Europe, both as the home language of the emigrants and their children, and also as the language in which the new trading communities conducted their business. In addition, the English was used for administration, education and commerce, either as the mother tongue or as a foreign or second language. The settlers from England and later from all over the British Isles founded communities which used English as their native language, not only at home and at work but also for government and law. Yet in many places these English-speaking settlers were a minority. This was the case in North America for many decades, but the American Indian population declined as the colonists multiplied, and eventually the English-speaking settlers far outnumbered the non-English speaking population, which included colonists of other nationalities as well. English came to be used, then, not only as the mother tongue by the English, not only by the population of Britain as a whole (after the incorporation of Wales, Scotland and Ireland), not only by the English-speaking settlers in the colonies and dominions, but also __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 6

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ as a foreign language by large numbers of non-English speaking inhabitants of those territories. By the beginning of this century, English had already become a language of world-wide use by colonists. Nowadays, there are 300 million people speak English as their mother tongue, and at least a further 300 million use it regularly as a second language or are able to communicate in English when the need arises. It is a characteristic of all languages that varieties can be observed and described. Of course, they are all varieties of one and the same language; British and American English are varieties of English; as Mexican, Puerto Rican and Castilian are all varieties of Spanish. The important point is that different varieties exist in all languages. Whatever the varieties of any language may be, their number will reflect the sheer size of the language, that is, the number of people who use it, its geographical spread, and the range of its uses. In some countries, although English is not the mother tongue of the majority of inhabitants it may be the medium of instruction, the language in which education is offered, at least in a major part of the educational system, or it may be an official language, used, for example, in courts of law. In such circumstances English is a second language. Elsewhere, when English has no special status it is a foreign language. Thus in Singapore, Hong Kong, Ghana, Nigeria, to name only a few examples, English is a second language because it has special status, and is used as a medium of instruction; in France, Brazil, Thailand, Japan and many others it is a foreign language.

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4- Varieties in British and American English

The three dimensions (user, use and social relations) are found in both British and American English. The precise details vary, which is not surprising, when one realizes that variety depends on society and that Britain and America are different societies. The world-wide picture that emerges is that of two families of English, one stemming from linguistic contact with Britain, the other from contact to the United States. They can be shown diagrammatically. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Standard English

American English family

British English family

United States

Canada

West Indies

British Isles

Australasia

Africa

Australia

New Zealand Rhodesia S. Africa

Thus, If English is a language for the whole world, if this world-wide language displays complex variations of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, if these variations are broadly similar in American and in British English, it is also true that there is no other different set of variations to be considered. The language, as a whole, is so sufficiently __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 8

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ close-knit that, in order to embrace all varieties of English, only two families of varieties, a British and an American family, are required. Australian varieties, or those of the West Indies, India-Pakistan, Africa, etc. can be described as belonging to one family or the other, even though it is often necessary to suggest a mixture of the two.

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5- Dialects and accents of British and American English

When we refer to British and American English, two kinds of distinction need to be made: first, forms of English in areas where it is the mother-tongue and areas where it is not; and secondly, forms of English related to British English and forms related to American English. A language has a very special place in the culture and society of a person for whom it is the first language the mother tongue, the native language which can not be matched by any second or foreign language. The first language is indeed the very carrier and vehicle of the society's culture, whereas a second language is almost always a tool for practical activities of various kinds. Whatever the status of English in a given country, there is one further observation that can be made about it whether it is oriented towards British English or American English. It is certain to belong to one branch of the family or the other, even though the position in some countries may well be changing. Taking first language countries, Australian and New Zealand English is more like British than American English, as also are West Indian and South African English; Canadian, on the other hand, is more like American English rather than British. And each possesses its own characteristic features, specially in accent. Similar orientations can be seen in may other countries; thus, English in Hong Kong and Singapore, in Malaysia and Fiji, is British English whereas English in Western Samoa , Mexico and the Philippines is American English. A few countries have a dual tradition. In Japan, for instance, a long pre-war tradition of British English teaching (led by the work of Harold Palmer) was followed by the period of American occupation during which American English became the standard. Brazil, Chile and Argentina are three other countries where both British and American English have their adherents. There is even some evidence in a few countries of a swing away from American-oriented English teaching towards Britishoriented English teaching, and vice versa.

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6- How British and American English came to be Different

American English begins in Elizabethan times, around the year 1600 when Englishspeaking settlers began to live on the Atlantic coast of the American continent. These first settlers had grown up in England; they had learnt as children to speak and write English in the last quarter of sixteenth century and whats more, they were people who did not have much formal school training. They were not used to writing. Of course, one should not forget that among the colonists there was a large proportion of educated ministers but there were not enough of them to attend to all the religious and governmental duties on the members of the communities that were established. So unusual and important functions frequently devolved up on men who in their homelands would never have been faced with such tasks. So an example of one important function in colonial days in New England was that of keeping records of the activities carried on through the various governing bodies which the colonists established. Many of these first settlers had not been to school enough to know how to spell some very common words. Moreover, these scribes were accustomed to use pronunciations and words in their daily life that seldom if ever appeared in the writings. The records left by these early New England clerks and secretaries are therefore interesting for the light they shed on the speech actually used by common people in certain parts of England during the first half of the seventeenth century. In England records of the kind kept in New England were made by people trained to write as they should speak, not as they really did speak. Consequently, the records kept in England do not possess the linguistic interest of those kept in New England at the same period. Then the colonists naturally werent aware of the changes going on in the language in Great Britain. In addition, there was colonization of many countries too, who spoke Spanish, German, French, and other countries had come and had contributed their share toward making American English differ somewhat from the English used beyond the Atlantic. As a result, British and American English came to be different: first, British English changed itself, as a result of the passage of time and the social history of the British Isles. Secondly, English as spoken and written in America acquired a character of its own, __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 11

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ reflecting the growth and history of the American community. And third, the interaction and the relations between Britain and American changed themselves, which also affected the history of English. On 18th June, 1812, the relations between British and Americans weren't good because of trade and conflict so there was a War.(from 1812 to 1815). This war caused the differences between Americans and Englishmen to be sharply accentuated. There was a tendency after the war for writers to single out and stress points of contrast between the peoples of the two countries. It was easy to be seen by the end of the eighteenth century when the language employed in the United States differed somewhat from that used in England. The Americans were quick to claim that the language as used by them was vastly superior to that employed in England, and the English lost no time in taking the opposite view of the matter. These two views have been maintained with varying degrees by their followers from then on. What's more, among the colonies established by England it has been only in the United States that a literature has been produced which can even remotely be thought of in comparison with that produced in the homeland. American authors and works have inevitably been compared to English writers and their products. These reviews and comparisons have tended to keep open the question of the relative superiority of the English used in England and that used in the United States. The really surprising thing about the English of England and that of the United States is not that they differ slightly. When they consider the great number of people of different nationalities who have come to this country during the past tree hundred years they may well marvel that the present-day speech is so nearly standard English that whenever an American travels in the English-speaking world they do not have real difficulty in understanding the English speech they hear and in making themselves understood. The difference, however, between American English and British English has been a subject of study for the past century and a half. Some of the observations made by those who have dealt with the subject are quite useless, and show that their authors were not competent to pass any judgement on any phase of the subject they treated. Other observations were made by people who had the background necessary to enable them to __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 12

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ have sensible views about the growing divergence between British and American usage.

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7- British English since Elizabethan times

Some of the words, expressions and grammatical rules are the same as those of presentday English (e.g. dedicating, I shall be sorry, etc.); and others are different, though recognisable (e.g. I know not, happ'ns, etc.). In British English the first new material to come into use was a great quantity of learned words, mostly taken in from Latin and Greek sources, as a result of the revival of learning which was already going on throughout Europe by the time of Shakespeare's birth. As scholars became aware and familiar with the classical manuscripts brought to the West by refugees from Constantinople, captured by the Turks, great quantities of ideas and therefore of vocabulary were taken into English from Latin, Greek and other languages. It is surprising to discover that none of the following words (among several hundred others) existed in English before about 1600: Some Words borrowed from Latin or Greek: apparatus arena complex curriculum formula maximum minimum series

Another quite different source of borrowings was from foreign countries, especially those that made up the British Empire (was the largest formal empire that the world had ever known. As such, its power and influence stretched all over the globe). As English-speaking traders, administrators, soldiers and missionaries travelled, they needed to import a number of words into the English language. These are some of them: bungalow (from India) kangaroo (from Australia) __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 14

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ pyjamas (from Persia) tattoo (from Polynesia) tea (from China)

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8- American English since Elizabethan times

In the earliest, colonial period, the first task for English in America was the need to find names to refer to places, plants, animals, and customs which existed in America but had no equivalent in Britain. The greatest source of new words and expressions was the large number of American Indian languages spoken on the American continent. Here are some of the words borrowed by American English belonging from American Indian languages: Trees, Plants, Fruits catalpa (a tree with heart-shaped leaves, trumpet-shaped flowers, and slender seed pods.) hickory (a chiefly North American tree which yields tough, heavy wood.) pecan (a hickory tree of the southern US, which produces pecans.) pokeweed (a North American plant with red stems, cream flowers, and purple berries.) squash (a gourd with flesh that can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable.) tamarack (a slender North American larch.) Food hominy (coarsely ground corn used to make grits.) hooch (alcoholic drink, especially inferior or illicit whisky.) pemmican (a pressed cake made from pounded dried meat mixed to a paste with melted fat.) pone (bread.) succotash (a dish of maize and lima beans boiled together.) Amerindian Culture manitou (a good evil spirit as an object of reverence.) potlatch (a ceremonial feast at which possessions are given away or destroyed to display wealth ) __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 16

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ papoose (a young North American child.) powwow (a North American Indian ceremony involving feasting and dancing.) tomahawk (a light axe formerly used as a tool or weapon by American Indians.) Animals cayuse (an American Indian pony) moose (American term for elk.) opossum (an American marsupial which has a naked prehensile tail and hind feet with an opposable thumb.) raccoon (a greyish-brown omnivorous American mammal with a black facial mask and a ringed tail.) skunk (a black-and-white striped American mammal of the weasel family, able to spray foul-smelling irritant liquid from its anal glands at attackers.) woodchuck (a North American marmot with a heavy body and short legs.) A second cultural contact for the English-speaking settlers in America was with French. It is not surprising that the contact with the great French Empire should leave traces in American English. Some of the words were themselves first borrowed by the French from Indians; others are borrowings direct from French into English: apache (a member of an American Indian people living chielfly in New Mexico and Arizona.) brave (an American Indian warrior.) cache (a hidden store of things.) chowder (a rich soup typically containing fish, clams, or corn with potatoes and orions.) rapids (happening in a short time or at great speed.)

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ Another great European nation, Spain, occupied large areas of North America. As with French, so with Spanish, over the years many Spanish words were borrowed by American English:

adobe (a kind of clay used to make sun-dried bricks.) hacienda (a large estate with a house.) plaza (a shopping centre) sierra (a long jagged mountain chain.) sombrero (a broad-brimmed felt hat, typically worn in Mexico and the south-western US.) The Dutch presence was also sufficiently long and extensive to have influenced American English. The following words are among those borrowed from the Dutch: bedspread (a decorative cloth used to cover a bed.) boss (a person who is in charge of an employee or organization.) dumb (stupid) Santa Claus (Father Christmas.) bush (back country) dope (drug)

By far, the largest single immigrant group was made up of slaves of African origin. Their influence on the language was less than might be expected from their numbers. There are three main reasons for this. First, they did not share a single tribal, geographical or linguistic origin, but included members of different places, who had little if anything in common as far as languages is concerned. Secondly, the forced immigrants from Africa were slaves, and so their own culture, customs and language did not have any value. The oppressions laid upon the unlucky Africans by the succession of white hands through which they had to put up with , from the Arabic slave traders by way of British, American, Dutch and other sailors, to the British, French, Spanish or American plantation owners, meant the denial and suppression of their own culture.

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ Thirdly, the children and further descendants of the African slaves had to learn English, both in order to communicate with their masters and as a lingua franca ( a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongue) for their own use, given thus the accidental, random mixture of mutually incomprehensible languages which were found on most plantations and in most black townships. Few words of African origin survive in American English, apart from the following: gumbo (a stew, soup) hoodoo (a curse or spell) okra (a vegetable) voodoo (a cult)

If the influence of African languages upon American English in the shape of borrowed words is very small, that does not mean that Afroamericans have no characteristic forms of English. On the contrary, the post-war surge of ethnic consciousness on the part of the black population has provided a justification for differentiation from the standard variety, both in grammar and in pronunciation, as a badge of membership of the black community. "Black English" is a reality, and one which raises educational problems of great importance in Modern America. Another language which has provided many borrowings is German. From the very large number of German-speaking immigrants, American English has taken in words such as these: Beer garden (a garden attached to a pub, where beer is served.) delicatessen (a shop spelling cooked meats, cheesed, and unusual or foreign prepared foods.) frankfurter (a seasoned smoked sausage made of beef and pork.) hamburger (a round patty of minced beef, fried and typically served in a bread roll.) lager (of considerable or relatively great size, extent, or capacity.) __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ noodle (a very thin, long strip of pasta or a similar flour paste.) poker (a metal rod with a handle, used for prodding and stirring an open fire.) semester (a half-year term in a school or university, especially in North America.) So, the past history of English on the two sides of the Atlantic begins with Elizabethan English transported to the New World. Gradually a distinctive American English grew up and became no longer a colonial variant but an equal partner with British English and a powerful source of innovation and expressions.

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9- Interactions between British and American English

We have already seen the way in which British and American diverged, and the main changes which each underwent. There remains one important aspect of their history to be noticed, and that is the way in which they have influenced each other. The interactions fall into three phases. First, American English was colonial in status and British English was dominant. During this phase the influence and the flow of development was from British to American English. In the second phase, from Independence until the First World War, American English established for itself a character of its own, including a reputation for creating new expressions and being racy and original, while still being regarded and perhaps regarding itself as a junior partner beside British English. Thirdly, which continues at the present time, American English emerges as of equal status and value as that of British English and in some respects reversing the earlier flow of influence, so that it is frequently British English which draws on American English.

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10- Some differences between American and British English

The American who hears British English, like the Englishman who hears American English, knows with certainty that what he hears is different from the way he himself speaks. If he is sophisticated about language, for example, if he is a teacher of English, he is likely to assume that the differences reside in roughly equal proportion in the grammar, the vocabulary and the pronunciation of the two forms of English.

10.1- Grammar differences

The number of grammatical differences turns out to be rather small and their nature seems to be trivial. The commonest differences can be grouped under three headings: differences to do with the verb; differences to do with the noun or pronoun; differences to do with the preposition. In addition, there are a small number of miscellaneous differences.

1.American people use a past simple tense in some cases where British people use a present perfect, because in American English, the past simple is often used to give news. 2.Americans use the verb have a little differently from British people in certain cases. British English: When we are talking about states like possession, relationship, illness, etc, the normal spoken (informal) present-tense forms of to have are as follows. For example: I've got a car.

Got-forms are less common in the past tense, and in past questions and negatives, do-forms are often used. For example: I had flu last week. (not: I had got flu...). __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ Got is not used with infinitives, participles, or -ing forms. You cannot say to have got a headache or having got a brother. In more formal spoken or written English, simple auxiliary-verb forms are generally used instead of got -forms. For example: The company has a reputation for efficiency. When there is an idea of repetition or habit, the got-forms are not used, and do is used in questions and negatives. Compare: I haven't got any whisky. We don't usually have whisky in the house. Do-forms are also becoming common in British English even when there is no idea of repetition, under the influence of American English. For example: Sorry, I don't have any whisky. / Do you have time for a drink? When have is used with got, weak forms and contractions are common. For example: I've got a ticket for the cup final.

American English: In American English, have can be used as a normal verb (with do in questions and negatives) when talking about all kinds of states as well as actions. (American usage is therefore much simple than British). For example: I have a problem. / Do you have a light? Got-forms are also possible in informal speech; in very informal speech, have can be omitted. For example: I('ve) got a problem. Got- and do-forms may be mixed. For example:'I('ve) got a new apartment.'- ' Oh, do you?' Note that when get is used to mean receive, become, etc, the American past participle is gotten. For example: she's just gotten a raise in salary. __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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3. The subjective is much more common in American than in British English. For example: US: It's essential that he be informed. GB: It's essential that he should be informed.

4. Americans sometimes use his where the British say one's. In American English, if one has been used at the beginning of a sentence, he, him, his and himself are often used to refer back to this one. In the British English, one can be used as subject or object, there is also a possessive one's, and a reflexive pronoun oneself. For example: US: One should try to get to know his (or one's) neighbors. GB: One should try to know one's neighbours. 5. British speakers often say I have done, I can do, I might do, etc, in cases where Americans would just say I have, I can, I might because in British English (but not American), do can also be used in this way after another auxiliary verb. For example: 'Come and stay with us.' - 'I may (do), if I have the time.' *In some cases, do can be used together with so. For example: 'Put the car away, please.' -'I've already done so.'

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ 6. There are many small differences in the use of prepositions and adverb particles. Examples:

US check something out do something over fill in/out a form meet with somebody protest something stay home visit with somebody Monday through Friday

GB check something do something fill in a form meet somebody protest against something stay at home visit somebody Monday to Friday

7. On the telephone. US: Hello, is this Zac? GB: Hello, is that Zac? 8. In informal speech, many Americans use like in cases where most educated British people would prefer as or as if. Like is a preposition- it is followed by a noun or a pronoun. For example: I'm very like my brother. As is a conjunction- it is followed by a clause, with a subject and verb. For example: She's a fine singer, as her mother used to be. As is also used before prepositional expressions. For example: In 1939, as in 1914, there was a great surger of patriotic feeling. In informal American English, like is very often used as a conjunction instead of as. This usage is becoming common in British English. It is still considered incorrect in formal styles of British and American English. Like is also often used, in an informal style, instead of as if. __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ For example: Nobody loves you like I do, baby. In a very informal style (especially in American English), like is often used instead of as if. For example: She sat there eating cream cakes like there was no tomorrow. In a formal written style, as is sometimes followed by the word-order and structure of questions. For example: He was a Catholic, as were most of his friends. 9. In informal speech, Americans sometimes use adverb forms without -ly. For example: US: He looked at me real strange/ GB: He looked at me really strangely.

10.2- Lexical differences

There are far more examples of British and American differences in vocabulary than in grammar. When comparing the grammar of the two it is unexpectedly difficult to find many examples, and most of those are rather trivial. But in vocabulary there is no shortage of examples. The problem is how to find and describe a pattern of vocabulary differences, rather than simply listing a large body of unrelated items. In fact, it is possible to distinguish three types of vocabulary. The first kind of vocabulary to be mentioned comprises the great majority of the word-stock of English as a whole. This occurs identically in both American and British English. Words such as man, woman, fish, sky, tree, day, week, mathematics, green, hot, smell, and tens of thousands of others are exactly the same in both kinds of English. The greatest interest lies in the two other types of vocabulary, where differences exist between American and British usage. The second category comprises a fairly large number of items where an idea or an object which exists in both British and American culture, but where different words are used for them in the two forms of English.

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ The third category covers words for ideas or objects which have no counterparts in the other country. An obvious group of examples would be words for geographical features or plants or animals found only in America; or words for games and sports not shared between the British and the Americans. British English retains the vocabulary of a monarchy but these terms are clearly part of English as a whole, whereas the American vocabulary of presidential government is more restricted to American society. Sometimes different words are used for the same idea (US apartment/ GB flat), or the same word has different meanings (mad= US angry/ GB crazy). Here is a list of words:

US Alumnus Anyplace Apartment

Meaning in GB

GB Graduate Anywhere

A set of rooms for living Flat in, usually on one floor of a large building.

Attorney Automobile Baby-carriage Bar Cab

Lawyer Car

Barrister,solicitor Car (motor) Pram

Piece of metal

Pub

The cab of a lorry is the Taxi front part in which the driver sits.

Call collect Can

Reverse charges (when telephoning) A metal container in Tin which something such as food, drink, or paint

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ Candy Sweet foods such as Sweets chocolate is referred as candy Closet Cookie Corn Cupboard Biscuit Small painful areas of Maize hard skin which can from on your foot. Crazy People is very foolish or Mad strange. Dessert Something sweet, such Sweet as fruit or pudding, that eat at the end of a meal. Dish-towel Faculty Tea-towel In some universities or Staff (of a university) college, a faculty is a group of related

departments. Fall Something or someone Autumn move quickly from

somewhere. Freeway A major road that has Motorway been specially built for fast travel over long distances Expressway A wide road that is Motorway

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ designed so that a lot of traffic can move along it very quickly. Gas, gasoline Any substance that is Petrol neither liquid nor solid, e.g. oxygen. Mad Someone who is mad Angry has a mind that does not work in a normal way, with the result that their behaviour is very strange. Mail Mailbox Math Mean Message Post Mailpost Maths The mean is a number Nasty, vicious (of a person) that is the average of a set of numbers. It is also meaning of words. Motor Movie Car Engine

The movies are movies Film in general, and or art the of

business

making movies. The movies Muffler Scarf The cinema Silencer

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ Noplace Nowhere One-way In streets or traffic Single (ticket)

systems, vehicles can only travel in one

direction. Overpass Purse Flyover A purse is a very small Handbag bag that people,

especially women, keep their money in. Potato chips Private hospital Crisps A private hospital is a Nursing home hospital which is not supported financially by the government and

which people has to pay for visit. Railroad (car) Raise Rest room Round- trip Rubber Rubber is a Achieve, lift Railway (carriage) Rise (in salary) Public toilet Return (ticket) strong, Condom (male contraceptive) elastic

waterproof,

substance made from the sap of a tropical tree or produced

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ chemically. It is also a small piece used to rub out mistakes of writing, drawing or typing. Rubbers A piece of rubber used Gumshoes, wellington boots for erasing pencil

marks. Run When someone runs in Ladder (in tights) a race, they run in competition with other people. School An institution for School, college, university

educating children. Shorts Shoulder Sick Sidewalk Sneakers Something is not long. Underpants A part of body. To vomit. Verge (of a car) ill Pavement A soft shoe worn for Gym shoes,tennis-shoes sports. Someplace Spigot Somewhere A type of valve that Tap (outdoor) controls the flow of a liquid from one source to another. Store Stove Booking. An apparatus Shop which Cooker

provides heat, either for __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ cooking or for heating a room. Subway A passage for Tube, underground (train)

pedestrians that goes underneath a busy road or a railway track. Sweater A pullover with long Jersey, jumper, pullover, sweater sleeves. Thread Truck A long thin line. Cotton

An open vehicle used Van, lorry for carrying goods on a railway.

Trunk Undershirt Vacation Vest Wheat

Elephant nose.

Boot (of a car) Vest holiday(s)

T-shirt

Waistcoat Corn,wheat

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10.3- Spelling differences

Not all the differences in spelling between British and American usage are due to American innovations. Some of them arose inevitably from the fact that the original common source of both, Elizabethan English, permitted much greater variation in spelling than is tolerated today, and sometimes the alternative that eventually became standardised in America was different from the preferred alternative in British English. In American English, final -l is not usually doubled in an unstressed syllable, it is only usually doubled if the syllable is stressed. Compare: re'bel, re'belled Skill, skillful In British English, final -l is doubled words that end in -l preceded by a vowel usually double the -l when a suffix is added and if the syllable is not stressed. Compare: 'travel, 'travelled, 'equal, 'equalled 'travel, 'traveled

But is doubled after one consonant.

1. Some words end in -ter in American English, and -tre in British: e.g: US theater, center / GB theatre, centre. 2. Some words end in -or in American English, and -our in British: e.g: US color / GB colour. 3. Some words end in -og in American English, and -ogue in British: e.g: US catalog, dialog, analog / GB catalogue, dialogue, analogue. 4. Many verbs end in -ize in American English, but in -ize or -ise in British: e.g: US realize / GB realize or realise.

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Some spelling differences in individual words: US analyze check defense jail jewelry offense pajamas plow practice (verb) pretense program specialty GB analyse cheque (from a bank) defence aol, jail jewellery offence pyjamas plough practise pretence programme speciality

10.3.1- Spelling of verbs

-ed & -t The category involves verbs that use -ed or -t for the past simple and past participle. Generally, the rule is that if there is a verb form with -ed, American English will use it, and if there is a form with -t, British English uses it. However, these forms do not exist for every verb and there is variation. For example:

Base form to dream to leap to learn

American English dreamed leaped learned

British English dreamed/ dreamt leaped/ leapt learned/ learnt 34

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ base form & -ed It includes verbs that use either the base form of the verb or the -ed ending for the past simple. For example:

Base form to fit to forecast to wed

American English fit forecast wed

British English fitted forecasted wedded

10.4- Pronunciation differences

Pronunciation is a difficult matter anyway. Many people have an idea that there is one proper way of pronouncing practically all words, and that the dictionary is the place where this proper way may be found. Another view of the matter is that there are various proper __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 35

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ ways of pronouncing a large number of the words in their language. Many people are sensitive about pronunciations that they have been taught to believe are exclusively proper. Pronunciation is a matter of noises, of speech-sounds. Any accent consists of a regular system of sounds. In order to describe the similarities between British and American accents the author must rely on the reader's ability to read with his ears, to recall in his mind what English sounds like when it is spoken. For most people, this means recalling a considerable experience of hearing either an accent from the British family of varieties of English being spoken, or an accent from the American family; they usually have only a limited and uncertain experience of an accent from the other family. Fortunately, the differences that need to be discussed belong to a fairly small number of types. There are many different regional accents in both Britain and American. The most important differences between 'standard' American and 'standard' British speech are as follows: 1. Stressed vowels are often lengthened more in American English than in British. 2. Vowels are often nasalized in American English; that is to say, air comes out through the nose and mouth at the same time. Vowels are not nasalized in most British pronunciations, so this makes the two accents sound very different. 3. Most vowels are pronounced a little differently in British and American English. Three vowels are very different: The vowel // (as in home, no) is a diphthong (double vowel) in British English; in American English it is closer to being a monophthong (single vowel), and it sounds very different. The vowel // (as in pot) is pronounced in American words without lip-rounding, and sounds like the vowel /:/ (as in palm). Many British people pronounce /:/ (a back vowel) in some words where Americans pronounce // (a front vowel). __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ Examples: cant, castle, fast, glass, class, staff, after, pass, example. 4. In standard British English, r is only pronounced before a vowel. In American English, r is pronounced in all positions in a word, and it changes the quality of a vowel that comes before it. so words like car, turn, offer sound very different in British and American speech. 5. In American English, t and d both have a very light 'voiced' pronunciation /d/ between vowels so writer /'raidr/ and rider /'raidr/ sound the same. In British English, t remains 'unvoiced' between vowels: writer ( /'rait(r)/ ), rider ( /'raid(r)/). 6. before -u and -ew, British people pronounce n-, d- and t- like ny-, dy- and ty- ( /nj-, dj-, tj/ ). Americans pronounce them as they are written. Examples: tune (GB /tju:n/ ; US / tu:n/ ); new (GB / nju:/; US /nu:/) ; duke, due, dew, reduce, tube, intuition, tumour, nude. 7. Words ending in -tile are pronounced with /-tail/ in British English, and /-tl/ in American. Examples : fertile (GB /'f :tail/, US /'f:rtl/ ). 8. Borough and through are pronounced differently in British and American English: GB /'br ,'r/; US /'br ,'r/. 9. Can and Can't. In general American pronunciation these two words have the same vowel-sound; in British pronunciation they have different vowel-sound (can like man and can't approximately like barn). The way in which the American speaker is made aware of the very important difference between can-positive and can-negative is by the fact that the final t-sound has the effect of making the vowel-sound in American English can't shorter than in American English can. Compared to the small number of grammatical differences between American and British English, differences of pronunciation are many indeed, and compared with the somewhat random and individual nature of vocabulary differences, differences of pronunciation are __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ rather systematic. From this point of view it could be argued that the biggest differences between the two lie, in fact, in pronunciation. Certainly when individuals from Britain and America meet in conversation it is above all by their accents that they identify their differences. Yet even so, there is no doubt, the underlying rules for producing speech are more alike than they are different. Both British and American pronunciations share a set of phonemes which are identical as to the number and type of consonants and only slightly different as to the number and type of vowels; they share an identical system of stress and rhythm, and they organize pitch-changes into a similar intonation system. Where they differ is chiefly in vowel-quality, in the treatment or r-sounds, in intervocalic t-sounds becoming /d/ in American accents, in small differences of intonation, in the extent of nasality in vowels following a nasal consonant, and in the extent of vowel-lengthening in stressed syllables. The differences are characteristic, in the sense that they immediately identify the speakers as belonging to one community or the other. They are difficult to learn to imitate exactly, but they can very quickly be learned as a passive skill of comprehension. The differences between British and American accents rarely cause any difficulty in comprehension.

10.5- Writing differences

American usage is different from British in certain ways when they write the letters. 1. In dates, the month is put before the day (March 21st 1970 = 3/21/1970), British people put the day first ( 21st March, 1970). 2. After the salutation, Americans normally put a colon (Dear Mr. Haekes:) or (informally) a comma (Dear Mr Haekes,). In British English we either use no punctuation or put a comma. 3. Gentlemen is used instead of Dear Sirs. 4. Yours faithfully is not used; common endings are Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Yours __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 38

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ sincerely or Yours truly. 5. Americans are often addressed (and sign their names) with the first name in full, followed by the initial of a middle name (Keith S. Parker). This is unusual in Britain. 6. Americans usually write Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Dr. with a full stop.

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________

11. British English speakers versus American English speakers

I got in contact with some British and American friends and I asked them to help me in order to do some research about the situation of both variants nowadays . First, I asked my British friends to listen to a conversation by American people and I did the same with my American friends but with a conversation by Bristish people. Once they listened to it, they told me if they had had any problems to understand it. Finally, I asked them some questions connected to it. Here are the questions: 1.What do British think about the differences between British and American English? The main differences are the accent and simple changes in words for things such as elevator in American English and lift in British English. For them, There is no difficulty in understanding one another. British people pronounce words more accurately whereas Americans show like a lazy way of pronouncing words. 2. What do Americans think about the British and American English? The American expressions are very colloquial and people with a mediocre English level will find it difficult to understand its proper meaning. 3. Which one is better? (for British and American) An important point is that different doesn't mean wrong. And there is not a better or worse language or regional variety of language better than another, because they are just different. People may just think one is easier to understand. 4. Which one do people normally like to speak? People like to speak in the way that he or she feels the most comfortable with, because people doesn't mind what they speak. The most important is pronunciation so people can __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ understand. 5. Do British find difficult to understand American English? No, because it is extremely easy to understand. 6. Do Americans find difficult to understand British English? No, because it is extremely easy to understand.

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12. Conclusion
After dealing with this topic, I can say that I think it has helped me so much to improve my English and I have learnt quite a lot since I started. American English and British English are variants of English as a whole language. The English language was first introduced to the Americans by British colonization, beginning in the early 17th century. Similarly, the language spread to other countries due to the expansion of the British Empire . The standard usage in the colonies remained that of the motherland until the American Revolution. Thereafter American English was no longer a colonial variety of the English of London but had acquired an identity of its own. The colonists were not illustrated; they spoke English but they couldn't write it. American English borrowed words from Spanish, Dutch or French because of

colonization as well and they did the same with words from Indians in America. The differences do not only affect the pronunciation. There grammar, writing and lexical differences. The main area of difference is the vocabulary and the spelling used. There are many differences in these areas. The most significant one is the use of different words to name the same things but bearing in mind that these words have different meanings in each variant at the same time. People whose first language is English appreciate the different speaking styles that English speakers from different English speaking countries have. In addition, anyone can say that he or she doesn't like the way an American sounds or a British does as there are also Australian , Scottish , Irish , South African or New Zealand __________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH 42 are also many

INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ accents and more. Most people whose second language is English have an accent, but it is usually their own accent. Currently, British English and American English speakers can communicate and understand one another, in spite of the differences.

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________

13. Bibliography
Books:
1. Funk, W. Word origins and their Romantic Stories, Bell Pub. New York. 1978. 2. Marck Wardt, A.H. American English. O.U.P. 1958. 3. Marck Wardt, A.H. & Quirk, R. Acommon Language BBC. 1964. 4. Mathews, M.M. The beginning of American English. The university of Chicago Press. 1973. 5. Meacken, H.L. The American Language, knopf.1970. 6. Stevens, P. British and American English, Coller Machaillan. 1972. 7. J.L. Dillard, A history of American English. 8. Harold, Edwards,The sound of American English 9. Kenneth, The Intonation of American English 10. G.H.Valeins ,Spelling (a chapter).

Websites:
11. http://xzn.2000y.net/mb/2/ReadNews.asp?NewsID=122644 12. http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/44021487 13. http://www.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/americanbritish.html 14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_English 15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_colonization_of_the_Americas 16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences 17. http://esl.about.com/od/toeflieltscambridge/a/dif_ambrit.htm 18. http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/The-Influence-On-British-English-By-American__________________________________________________________________ BRITISH ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN ENGLISH

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INS Eduard Fontser 2010-2011 ________________________________________________________________________ English/1157553 19. http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm 20. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1837_aae/page46. shtml 21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism 22. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution 23. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire 24. http://www.britishempire.co.uk/ 25. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca 26. http://www.onestopenglish.com/grammar/grammar-reference/american-english-vsbritish-english/differences-in-american-and-british-english-grammararticle/152820.article 27. http://www.slideshare.net/cupidlucid/grammar-and-vocabulary-of-american-andbritish-english-presentation 28. http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/59661372

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