British-and-American-English

Inthischapter,weaimtounderstandthecharacteristicsofAmericanEnglish,todistinguishthedifferencesbetweenAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglish.Itisalaboriousjob,whileitisimportantthatAmericanEnglishbeaddressedinEnglishlearning.UsersofEnglishEnglishasanativelanguage:Britain,theUnitedStates,Ireland,Australia,NewZealand,Canada,theWestIndiesandSouthAfrica.ESL:India,Pakistan,Nigeria,Kenya,andmanyothercountries.EFL:LargenumbersofpeopleintheworldspeakandwriteEnglishasaforeignlanguageforthepurposeofscience,technology,andinternationalcommunication.Ithasbecomeauniversallanguageofinternationalcommunication.VarietiesofEnglishAsaninternationallanguage,theEnglishlanguagehasanumberofvarieties.BritishEnglishAmericanEnglishAustralianEnglishCanadianEnglishSingaporeEnglish………TwomajorvarietiesofEnglishBritishEnglish(BrE)andAmericanEnglish(AmE)Thesetwovarietiesdifferincertaindetails,butthereisnoessentialdifferencebetweenthembecauseofthesimilaritiesofthebasicwordstock,thebasicgrammarandthebasicphoneticsystem.Englishisunmistakableonelanguage,withtwomajornationaldialects.ThereisnosuperiorityorinferiorityasregardsBrEandAmE.ColonialAmericaTheestablishmentin1607ofthesettlementwhichtheexplorerscalledJamestownmarkedthebeginningofBritishcolonizationinAmerica.By1732theoriginalthirteenEnglishcolonieshadbeensetup.ThelanguagetheearlyimmigrantsbroughtwiththemwasElizabethanEnglish,thelanguagespokenbyShakespeare,MiltonandBunyan,whichbelongedtotheearlystageofModernEnglish.TheoriginalthirteencoloniesVirginia,Maryland,NorthCarolina,SouthCarolina,Georgia,Pennsylvania,NewYork,NewJersey,Delaware,Massachusetts,RhodeIsland,NewHampshireandConnecticut.AfterindependenceFollowingAmericanindependence,famouspersonslikeThomasJefferson,JohnAdams,BenjaminFranklin,andNoahWebsterbegintoconsiderthatthecountryshouldhavealanguageofitsown.Theindependenceledtotheemergenceasenseofnationality.Inthefieldoflanguage,thispatrioticfeelingwasmanifestedbytheargumentfortherecognitionoftheAmericanvarietyorstandardofEnglish.In1806,NoahWebsterfirstused“AmericanEnglish”.Websterproclaimedthathiscountrymenhadnotonlytherighttoadoptnewwordsbutwereobligedtomodifythelanguagetosuitthenewcircumstances,geographicalandpolitical,inwhichtheywereplaced.Manygreatwriters,suchasWashingtonIrving,WaltWhitman,RalphW.Emerson,markTwain,andO.HenryhelpedtopromotethedevelopmentoftheAmericanEnglish.AmericanEnglishhasdevelopedacharacterofitsown,reflectingthelifeandthephysicalandsocialenvironmentoftheAmericanpeople.TheAmericansinventedlargenumbersofnewwordstomeettheirvariousneeds.representative,assembly,president,Congress,senator…departmentstore,telephone,lynchtoadvocate,toantagonize,todemoralize,todonateThefutureofAmericanEnglishSincetheSecondWorldWar,theUnitedStateshasbecomeliterallytheleaderofthewesternworld,AmericanEnglishhasbeendevelopingandchanging.ThereisnodoubtthatAmericanEnglishwillenrichtheEnglishlanguagegreatly.Withtherapiddevelopmentofmodernmassmediaandthecommonneedsofeconomic,culturalandpoliticalexchanges,AmericanEnglishwillbemorewidelyusedintheworldthanBritishEnglish.MajordifferencesDifferencesinpronunciationDifferencesingrammarDifferencesinspellingDifferencesinvocabularyDifferencesingrammarOnthewholeBrEandAmEusethesamegrammarsystem.Differencesingrammararefewinnumberandtriflinginnature.However,itisimportantfornon-nativespeakerstounderstandthesedistinctions.DifferencesingrammarDifferencesinprepositionsMaryaimstobecomeawriter.Maryaimsatbecomingawriter.Pleasefillouttheform.Pleasefillintheform.AtweekendsIliketo…..OnweekendsIliketo……11.3DifferencesbetweenBrEandAmEDifferencesingrammarDifferencesinprepositionsBrEAmEdifferentfrom…differentthan…talkto…talkwith…atcollegeincollegelateforworklatetoworkthekeyofthedoorthekeytothedoorfiveminutespastsixfiveminutesaftersixTheuseofsubjunctiveIsuggestthatthemeetingshouldbepostponed.Isuggestthatthemeetingbepostponed.Itisimportantthatthemotionshouldbeplacedontheagenda.Itisimportantthatthemotionbeplacedontheagenda.1.MorphologyInAmericanEnglish,anumberofirregularverbshavebecomeregularised,whileremainingirregularinBritishEnglish:a)Inmanyinstances,itisonlythevoicingofthepasttensemorpheme-(e)dwhichhasbeenchangedtoregularisetheverb:BritishEnglishAmericanEnglishPresentPastorPastorPastParticiplePastParticipleburnburntburneddwelldweltdwelledlearnlearntlearnedsmellsmeltsmelledspellspeltspelledspillspiltspilledspoilspoiltspoiledb)InsomeirregularBritishEnglishverbs,thereisavowelchangefrom/i/inthepresentto/e/inthepastparticipleforms.TheAmericanEnglishformsretainthepresenttensevowelinthefollowingcases,aswellasvoicingtheending.BritishEnglishAmericanEnglishPresentPastorPastorPastParticiplePastParticipledreamdreamt/dremt/dreamed/drimd/kneelknelt/nelt/kneeled/ni:ld/leanleant/lent/leaned/li:nd/leapleapt/lept/leaped/li:pt/c)ThepastparticiplegottenisnotusedinBritishEnglish.InAmericanEnglish,itwasformerlyrestrictedtobeingusedinthesenseofobtainoracquire:I'vegottenanewcarsinceIlastsawyou.Now,however,gottencanbeusedinallmeaningsexceptforhaveinAmericanEnglish:Wehavegottenhomelateagain.Theyhavegotte