Реферат: Grammatical difference between British and American English

Реферат: Grammatical difference between British and American English

Content

American English...................2

Lexical difference...................4

Grammatical difference..................6

Bibliography...................8

Grammatical difference between British and American English.

American English.

In the early part of the seventeenth century English settlers began to bring

their language to America, and another series of changes began to take place.

The settlers borrowed words from Indian languages for such strange trees as the

hickory and persimmon, such unfamiliar animals as raccoons and woodchucks.

Later they borrowed other words from settlers from other countries – for

instance, chowder and prairie from the French, scow and

sleigh from the Dutch. They made new combinations of English words, such as

backwoods and bullfrog, or gave old English words entirely new

meanings, such as lumber ( which in British English means

approximately junk ) and corn ( which in British means any

grain, especially wheat ). Some of the new terms were needed, because there

were new and un-English things to talk about. Others can be explained only on

the general theory that languages are always changing, and American English is

no exception.

Aside from the new vocabulary, differences in pronunciation, in grammatical

construction, and especially in intonation developed. If the colonization had

taken place a few centuries earlier, American might have become as different

from English as French is from Italian. But the settlement occurred after the

invention of printing, and continued through a period when the idea of

educating everybody was making rapid progress. For a long time most of the

books read in America came from England, and a surprising number of Americans

read those books, in or out of school. Moreover, most of the colonists seem

to have felt strong ties with England. In this they were unlike their Anglo-

Saxon ancestors, who apparently made a clean break with their continental

homes.

A good many Englishmen and some Americans used to condemn every difference

that did develop, and as recently as a generation ago it was not unusual to

hear all “Americanisms” condemned, even in America. It is now generally

recognized in this country that we are not bound to the Queen’s English, but

have a full right to work out our own habits. Even a good many of the English

now concede this, though some of them object strongly to the fact that

Americanisms are now having an influence on British usage.

There are thousands of differences in detail between British and American

English, and occasionally they crowd together enough to make some difficulty.

If you read that a man, having trouble with his lorry, got out his

spanner and lifted the bonnet to see what was the matter, you might

not realize that the driver of the truck had taken out his wrench

and lifted the hood. It is amusing to play with such differences, but

the theory that the American language is now essentially different from English

does not hold up. It is often very difficult to decide whether a book was

written by an American or an English man. Even in speech it would be hard to

prove that national differences are greater than some local differences in

either country. On the whole, it now seems probable that the language habits of

the two countries will grow more, rather than less, alike, although some

differences will undoubtedly remain and others may develop.

It also seems probable that there will be narrow-minded and snobbish people

in both countries for some time to come. But generally speaking, anybody who

learnsto speak and write the standard English of his own country, and to

regard that of the other country as a legitimate variety with certain

interesting differences, will have little trouble wherever he goes.

Lexical difference.

Lexical differences of american variant highly extensive on the strength of

multiple borrowing from spanish and indian languages, what was not in british

english.

American variant British variant

Subway «метро» underground

the movies «кинотеатр» the cinema

shop «магазин» store

sidewalk «тротуар» pavement

line «очередь» queue

soccer «футбол» football

mailman «почтальон» postman

vacation «каникулы» holiday

corn «кукуруза» maize

fall «осень» autumn

Also claim attention differences in writing some words in american and

british variants of language.

For instance, following:

American variant British variant

honor honour

traveler traveller

plow plough

defense defence

jail gaol

center centre

apologize apologise

Grammatical difference.

Grammatical differences of american variant consist in following:

1. In that events, when Britainians use Present Perfect, in Staffs can be

used and Present Perfect, and Past Simple.

2. Take a shower/a bath instead of have a shower/a bath.

3. Shall is not used. In all persons is used by will.

4. Needn't (do) usually is not used. Accustomed form -don't need to (do).

5. After demand, insist, require etc should usually is NOT used. I

demanded that he apologize (instead of I demanded that he should apologise in

british variant).

6. to/in THE hospital instead of to/in hospital in BrE.

7. on the weekend/on weekend instead of at the weekend/at weekend.

8. on a street instead of in a street.

9. Different from or than instead of different to/from

10. Write is used with to or without the pretext.

11. Past participle of "got" is "gotten"

12. To burn, to spoil and other verbs, which can be regular or

irregular in the british variant, in the american variant ALWAYS

regular.

13. Past Perfect, as a rule, is not used completely.

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