Teach English in Guiliuhe Zhen - Xing'an Meng — Hinggan

Is there any differences between American English and British English? English is the language spoken by different countries such as The USA, the UK, Australia, and others. The source of the English language Is British, in other words, It was first introduced by the British colonization to the United States of America between the 16th and the 17th centuries than spread to other countries due to the British Empire. Regardless, there are some varieties in this language concerning pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and spelling. In the following paragraphs, we will make a comparison between the British English which is known as (BrE) and the American English which is also known as (AmE), respectively. First, the pronunciation is an interesting factor in English, that is why sometimes it is difficult to make a distinction between the American and the British accents when there is a big diversity of accents inwards both societies. That is to say, the accent of someone from Texas and other from New York is completely different. As well as in the UK, a speaker from London has a different accent than another from Manchester. As an example, the sound “R” and “T” are pronounced in a different way in both countries: In the US it is rhotic, this means that the “r” sound always clearly pronounced. In the UK it is non-rhotic, this means that the “r” sound is not pronounced unless it is followed by a vowel sound. “T” sound in the US is pronounced like “d”; they pronounce the T in the word butter as a “d”. It is generally in an unstressed syllable, between two vowel sound, or between a vowel and a robotic sound. In British English which the “t” sound which is a received pronunciation, pronounced as a hard t’s (voiceless/t/). In other words, when an American citizen says “my father is in the car” the “r” is clearly pronounced, however, a British will not pronounce it. Second, there are many more ways in which BrE and AmE are different regarding vocabulary, here are some of the examples: In the US people generally say “garbage, trust” while in the UK they generally say “rubish”. Americans go on vacation but Brits go on holiday. In the US people buy apartment while the UK citizens flat. People in the US use the elevator while in the UK they take the lift. In the US you will turn on the TV however in the UK you will turn on the telly. In fact, there are plenty of examples that show that AmE and BrE are different. Third, there are so many varieties in the way grammar is used in English in America and The UK, bellow there are several examples: Auxiliary verbs: Brits use “shall” for future more than Americans, in the US they use it to ask for advice by using the pronoun I. Prepositions: American people say “on the weekend “ while British people are saying “at the weekend “. In the UK people say “different from or different to” but American citizens say “different from or different than”. Past tens form: Brits frequently use the present perfect to talk about an action happened in the past while Americans use the simple past. Examples: American English British English She went to the store. She has been to the shop. Did he get the newspaper? Has he got the newspaper? I was in Turkey. I have been to Turkey. I did not play football. I haven't played football. I worked too much. I have worked too much They were rich last year. They have been rich last year. Richard broke his leg. Richard has broken his leg. We felt happy two years ago. We have felt happy two years ago. Did I eat meat at dinner? Have I eaten meat at dinner? 4.Regular and irregular verbs: In the US the past of learn is normally learned, while in the UK it is more common to say learnt. Americans say leaped but Brits say leapt. In America, the past of dream is dreamed while in The UK is dreamt. The past of burn in America is burned, in the UK is burnt. That is to say that Americans tend to use the -ed; Brits tend to use the -t ending. 5.collective nouns: in the English language the collective nouns are used in order to refer to a group of individuals. In AmE, collective nouns are always singular, however, in BrE, they can be singular or plural. American English: the team is playing tonight. British English: the team are playing tonight. Or, the team is playing tonight. Finally, as it is mentioned before, there are a wealth of varieties between BrE and AmE. Noah Webster, the creator of spelling dictionary, made an effort to remedy English spelling in the 1970s, in order to make words spelt the same way they sounded. Here are some examples: Words ending with British English American English re / er Centre Metre Center Meter nce / nse Licence Defence License Defense Ou / o Colour Favour Color Favor Ise / ize Organise Apologize Organize Apologize Ll / l Travelled Cancelled Traveled Canceled As a conclusion, although there are differences in American English and British English there are also similarities which both nations, Americans and brits can hear and understand without any awkwardness. That is why it easy for a native English speaker to recognize the differences and be able to understand without any problem. However, learners of English will focus on one or two varieties and will likely have some troubles of understanding until they get a significant level of learning. According to Wikipedia, linguist Braj Kachru, quoted by Christian Science Monitor in 1996, stated that “ American English is spreading faster than British English”. The Monitor claimed that English taught in Europe and former British colonies are more influenced while the English taught in other countries such as Latin America and Liberia and East Asia are more influenced by American English.