Contents
The importance of studying American English nowadays.
The history of American English.
The differences in grammar.
The differences in spelling.
The differences in vocabulary.
Conclusion.
Literature.
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The Importance of Studying American English nowadays
We speak English in the UK.
So do you in the US.
But yet we don’t
Speak the same language.
David Barton,
Durham, United Kingdom.
The topic of our report is “The Comparing Analyses of American English and British English”. It was said by Sir George Bernard Shaw that “England and America are two countries separated by the same language”. Why is this problem actual for me? The first reason is: if you have ever spoken with a British person or visited the United Kingdom, you have probably noticed that, although Americans and Britons are speaking the same language, there are some pretty significant differences between American English (AE) and British English (BE).
A great number of people want to learn American English nowadays. It is more alive, flexible and changeable. Thus there are many reasons to use it during travelling and business talking. The colorful American culture is one more reason why a lot of people prefer the American variant.
The second reason is: American English has been the object of linguistic, cultural and sociological researches. Some linguists consider it is an independent and free language.
Nevertheless people from sides of Atlantic can communicate effectively when they meet and understand each other easily. When English people go to America, or when Americans come to England, they usually have no difficulty in understanding one another.
The aim of our work is to find the differences between the two variants of English and to prove that they are not significant for communication. In our report we will try:
firstly, to represent AE as a variant of the English language;
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secondly, to define some distinguishing features between American and British English. We have studied a lot of information sources: books, text materials, newspapers, information from the Internet. The actuality of our work is that AE is becoming the leading language in the world. This is the language of computer technology, business and science. It is becoming more and more widespread because it has simple grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The theme of a language will be always actual because the language changes with people together.
The Differences in Grammar
During our researching we defined some differences in grammar between British English and American English:
in AE Past Simple is often used instead of Present Perfect to give more information or to tell about the recent events:
Past Simple is often used with adverbs just, already, yet:
I am not hungry. I just had lunch.
I already posted the letter.
I did not tell them about the accident yet.
In AE the forms I have/ I do not have / Do you have? are more usual than I have got/ I have not got / Have you got?
We have a new car.
Do you have a family?
Some verbs in AE and BE have different verb forms in Past Simple and Past Perfect:
such verbs as to burn, to lean, as a rule, are regular verbs in American English: burned, learned, leaned while in British English they are both regular and irregular.
The verbs to spill, to spell, to smell, to leap, to dream, to spoil are irregular in British English and regular in American English.
The Past Participle of get is gotten, from prove is proven.
Americans often use the infinitive without to in the constructions with insist/ suggest:
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Americans don’t use to after the verb help:
Americans say: “ on the team”, Britons say: “at the team”:
Americans say: “ on the weekend/ over the weekend” but not “ at weekend”.
In American English “different than” is also possible as “different from”. “Different to” is not used.
Americans say “write someone” without to:
10) Americans use “will” instead of “shall” in the Future Simple Tense forms.
11) Americans use the auxiliary verbs do, does, did with the verb have. Where an Englishman would say “I have no money” or “I have not got any money”, an American would say “I do not have any money”.
12) The use of prepositions also varies in the two countries. In England people say “at school”, “at the corner of the street”, while in America people say “in school” and “on the corner”. In England one lives “in the street”, but in America “on the street”. An Englishman looks at his watch and says “It is twenty-five to five”, where an American would say “It is twenty – five of five”.
It is an interesting fact that many British writers use some American written forms and some British forms are used by many American authors.
The Use of Present Perfect
In British English the Present Perfect tense is used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present moment. For example:
I’ve lost my key. Can you help me look for it?
In American English the following is also possible:
I lost my key. Can you help me look for it?
In British English the above would be considered incorrect. However, both forms are generally accepted in standard American English. Other differences involving the use of Present Perfect in British English and Simple Past in American English
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include already, just and yet.
British English: American English:
I’ve just had lunch I just had lunch OR: I’ve just had I’ve already seen that film. lunch.
I already saw this film OR:
I’ve already seen this film.
Have you finished your homework yet? Have you finished your homework
yet? OR:
Did you finish your homework
yet?
Vocabulary
Though the differences in pronunciation and spelling are important, modern linguists are of the opinion that the most important difference between BE and AE lies in the field of vocabulary.
Meeting birds, animals and fish for which there were no English names, the first settlers took words from American Indian languages. From the Indians were taken many geographical names of rivers, mountains and lakes. In later years new ideas and new things let to new expressions and new meanings for old words.
English speech is different from the other forms of English speech all over the world. People who come to the USA notice that AE has not any strict rules. If you want to ask a question, you may not use the verbs do, does, be.
You know something? – Do you know something?
Looking for him? – Are you looking for him?
Got a problem? – Do you have a problem?
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Ever been in London? - Have you ever been in London?
Even well-educated Americans speaking English often use a lot of idioms. If you want to understand AE, you must listen and understand that idioms are used very often. For example, an American can say to you “How ya doin?” as a variant of “Hello”. Some other general phrases include absolutely (yes, no doubt about it), “take it easy” , (calm down), “I do not get it” (I do not understand it), “ have a nice day” (good – bye), “hold on” (wait), “how come” (why is it), “no way” (never), “you bet, sure” ( of course), “ suit yourself” ( do as you please), “ knock it off” ( stop, what are you doing?)
Americans also use such colloquialisms as:
Yep, yup, yeah – yes; nope, naw, nah –no; ya – you
Hafta – have you; hasta – has you;
Gonna – going to; wanna – want to; gotta – have got;
Lemme – let me; lotta – a lot of; outta – out of;
Gimmie – give me; I dunno – I do not know.
I wanna tell you something. Ya gotta choices.
Ain’t – am not, is not, have not, has not.
It ain’t right.
That (this) – so.
I’ve never been out this late before. It is easy.
We would like to call your attention to the words which cause the most confusion when a British subject and a United States citizen meet.
AE BE
subway underground
the movies the cinema
shop store
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sidewalk pavement
line queue
soccer football
mailman postman
vacation holiday
corn maize
fall autumn
trunk boot
truck lorry
hood bonnet
railroad railway
candy sweets
can tin
I guess I think
sure surely
During the last few decades, however, many changes have taken place in British English, especially in the vocabulary. The influence of American English is strongly felt, due to the large number of books, magazines and films, radio and television broadcasts coming from America. Americans invent new words very often, a lot of them are used in British English too. They have such new words as “to televise” from “television”, “cablegram” from “cable”, “telegram” and “sportscast” from “sport” and “broadcast”. The usage of nouns as verbs let make our vocabulary richer. So, we can park not only cars, but also babies, dogs and even chewing gummies can be parked. The cheap thing of good quality is “good buy”, food is called “eats” and a technical designer producing the excellent “lay – out” has “know – how”. Many Britons complain about Americanisms coming into the English language, but they do not think about that fact that many words they
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used come from American English.
Spelling
There are some well – known spelling differences between BE and AE. Many of these spelling differences result from French influence on English. British English has a tendency to keep the spelling of many words of French origin. Americans try to spell words more closely to the way they sound phonetically and they tend to omit some letters.
The general spelling differences between BE and AE are listed below.
Words ending in –or (American) –our (British):
color – colour
humor – humour
flavor – flavor
armour – armor
British – re vs. American –er:
theatre – theater
centimeter – centimeter
Words ending in – ize (American) - -ise (British)
recognize – recognize
patronize – patronize
- aeo in BE vs. – eo in AE:
archaeology – archeology
palaeontology – paleontology:
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manoeuvre – maneuver;
toxaemia – toxemia.
Americans write – ll instead of British – l in the words:
enrolment – enrollment
fulfil – fulfill
skilful – skillful.
In BE, verbs that end in – l preceded
As you can see, the differences in spelling are not significant for understanding.
Conclusion
In the early part of the seventeenth century English settlers began to bring their language to America. English – speaking colonists had contacts with different people – native speakers of different languages and cultures.
We came to the conclusion that American and British English have much in common. They have the same grammar, vocabulary, background. But they are not significant for understanding. We have proved that :
1) American English is the form of English used in the United States. It includes all English dialects used within the United States.
2) The most important difference between British and American English lies in the field of vocabulary.
3) There are some differences in usage of English tenses, prepositions, auxiliary verbs.
4) These differences are not significant for communication, and people from both sides of Atlantic can understand each other easily.
So, we believe, American and British English cannot be considered as different languages. I think, we have reached our goal.
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Literature
Бурая Е.А. «Фонетика современного английского языка». – М.:
Издательский центр «Академия», 2006. – 272 с.
Журнал «Иностранные языки в школе», № 6, 2002.
Журнал «Иностранные языки в школе», № 3, 2003.
http//www.runovschool.ru/learn English/American English/.
http://yazykmira.ru/americanskii_angliiskii_jazik.php.
http://alemeln.narod.ru/pages/call/html.
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Тезисы работы
My name is Kirill, I’m studying at high school in Kuganak and I’m in class 8 now. The topic of my report is “The Comparing Analyses of American English and British English”. It was said by Sir George Bernard Shaw that “England and America are two countries separated by the same language”. Why is this theme interesting for me? The first reason is: if you have ever spoken with a British person or visited the United Kingdom, you have probably noticed that, although Americans and Britons are speaking the same language, there are some pretty significant differences between American English (AE) and British English (BE).
The second reason is: American English has been the object of linguistic, cultural and sociological researches. Some linguists consider it is an independent and free language.
The aim of our work is to find the differences between the two variants of English and to prove that they are not significant for communication. In our report we will try:
firstly, to represent AE as a variant of the English language;
secondly, to define some distinguishing features between American and British English.
The actuality of our work is that AE is becoming the leading language in the world. This is the language of computer technology, business and science. It is becoming more and more widespread because it has simple grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The theme of a language will be always actual because the language changes with people together.
So, we came to the conclusion that American and British English have much in common. They have the same grammar, vocabulary, background. But they are not significant for understanding. We have proved that :
1) American English is the form of English used in the United States. It includes all English dialects used within the United States.
2) The most important difference between British and American English lies in the field of vocabulary.
3) There are some differences in usage of English tenses, prepositions, auxiliary verbs.
4) These differences are not significant for communication, and people from both sides of Atlantic can understand each other easily.
I think, we have reached our goal.
Заявка на участие в конференции
| 1 | Название работы | “The Comparing Analysis of American and British English” |
| 2 | Ф.И.О. автора | Хлыстов Кирилл Александрович |
| 3 | Кто представляет работу | Хлыстов Кирилл Александрович |
| 4 | Адрес автора | С. Б. Куганак, ул.Комсомольская, 6- 25. |
| 5 | Ф.И.О. научного руководителя | Козлова Ольга Николаевна |
| 6 | Год участия в конкурсе | 2013 |
| 7 | Необходимые технические средства для демонстрации дополнительного материала . | компьютер |
| 8 | Экспертиза: когда, кем проведена. |
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| 9 | Результат |
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| 10 | Дополнительная информация |
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