Unit XV. British and american english British and American Vocabulary

Some of the most noticeable differences between British and American English involve vocabulary.

Sometimes speakers use the same word, but with a different meaning.

	North	British
	American
dumb:	Stupid	unable to speak, stupid
nervy:	Impudent	nervous, afraid
pants:	Trousers	underpants
vest:	Waistcoat	undershirt
pavement:	road surface	pedestrian part of the street

school: any educational institution primary and secondary only

smart: intelligent well-dressed or intelligent

Sometimes speakers use different words with the same meaning.

North British North British

American American

apartment flat zero nought

flat puncture subway underground

biscuit scone underpass subway

cookie biscuit stroller pushchair

to broil to grill yard garden

change purse purse garbage rubbish

purse handbag pharmacy chemist’s

fresh fries chips candy sweets

elevator lift mail post

gas petrol jelly jam

movie film potato chips crisps

movie theater cinema schedule timetable

sidewalk pavement sneakers trainers

truck lorry trunk boot

vacation holiday fall autumn

street railway tram can tin

radio wireless baggage luggage

There are a few grammatical differences between British and American English;

1. In American English the past simple is often used to give new information or to announce a recent happening: - I lost my key. Can you help me look for it?

The past simple is used with just and already:

- I'm not hungry, I just had lunch.

- "Don't forget to post the letter " - "I already posted it".

Americans use the past simple with yet:

- I didn't tell them about the accident yet.

2. In American English the forms I have /I don't have / do you have? are more usual than I’ve e got/I haven’t got / have you got ? :

- We have a new car.

- Do you have any change?

3. These verbs (burn, learn, etc.) are normally regular in American English:

burned, learned, etc.

4. The past participle of get is gotten in American English:

- Your English has gotten much better since I last saw you.

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

Ex.1. Read and translate the text

British and American people speak the same lan­guage — right? Wrong. Although they both speak Eng­lish, there is an increasing number of differences between the two varieties of English. For example, Trudi Burns and Eileen Unwin recently spent a very similar day. Here, they describe the day's events. How many differences can you spot?

Trudi (USA):

I got up at seven-thirty. I put on my bath robe, went into the bathroom and turned on the bath-tub faucets. Af­ter my bath I ate breakfast with my parents on the deck. Our apartment's on the fifteenth floor, so the view's terrif­ic. At eight o'clock my mom and I took the elevator to the parking lot underneath our apartment block. First we stopped for gas, then she drove me to school. The freeway was really busy — automobiles everywhere. When I got to school it was raining. Luckily I'd brought my galoshes and an umbrella, so I didn't get wet.

School was OK except that we had a math test before recess. I think I flunked it. Anyway, after school I took a bus downtown to meet my sister, Susan. She became a grade school teacher after she left college last year. We ate out at a Chinese restaurant. Personally I don't like rice, so I ordered french-fries instead. Susan disapproved. After dessert and coffee we paid the check and left. It had stopped raining, but the sidewalks were still wet. Susan gave me a ride home, then I did a history assignment for the next day, watched a movie on TV and went to bed around 11.30. I was pooped!

Eileen (Great Britain):

I got up at half past seven. I put on my dressing gown, went into the bathroom and turned on the bath taps. After my bath I had breakfast with my parents on the terrace. Our flat's on the fifteenth floor, so the view's terrific. At eight o'clock my mum and I took the lift to the car park under our block of flats. First we stopped for petrol, and then she drove me to school. The motorway was really busy — cars everywhere. When I got to school it was raining. Luckily I'd brought my Wellington boots and an umbrella, so I didn't get wet.

School was OK, except that we had a maths exam be­fore break. I think I failed it. Anyway, after school I took a bus to the city centre to meet my sister, Susan. She be­came a primary school teacher after she left university last year. We went out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant. Personally I don't like rice, so I ordered chips instead. Su­san disapproved. After sweet and coffee we paid the bill and left. It had stopped raining but the pavements were still wet. Susan gave me a lift home, then I did some history homework for the next day, watched a film on the TV and went to bed at about half past eleven. I was really tired!

Ex.2. In the following sentences find the examples of words which are characteristic of American English. Take note of their spelling peculiarities.

As the elevator carried Brett downward, Hank Kreisel closed and locked the apartment door from in­side. 2. A raw fall wind swirled leaves and dust in small tornadoes and sent pedestrians scurrying for in­door warmth. 3. Over amid the bungalows a repair crew was coping with a leaky water main. 4. We have also built, ourselves, experimental trucks and cars which are electric powered. 5. In a plant bad news trav­elled like burning gasoline. 6. May Lou wasn't in; she had probably gone to a movie. 7. The bank was about equal in size to a neighbourhood drugstore, brightly lighted and pleasantly designed. 8. Nolan Wainwright walked towards the apartment building, a three-storey structure probably forty years old and showing signs of disrepair. He guessed it contained two dozen or so apartments. Inside a vestibule Nolan Wainwright could see an array of mail boxes and call buttons. 9. He's a barber and one of our bird dogs. We had twenty or so regular bird dogs, Smokey revealed, in­cluding service station operators, a druggist, a beauty-parlor operator, and an undertaker. 10. Barbara put a hand to her hair — chestnut brown and luxuriant, like her Polish Mother's; it also grew annoyingly fast so she had to spend more time than she liked in beauty sa­lons. 11. He hadn't had an engineering degree to start, having been a high school dropout before World War II. 12. Auto companies regularly invited design school students in, treating them like VIP's, while the students saw for themselves the kind of aura they might work in later.

Ex.3. Read the following extract. Explain the difference in the meanings of the italicized words in American and Brit­ish English.

In America just as in English, you see the same shops with the same boards and windows in every town and village. Shopping, however, is an art of its own and you have to learn slowly where to buy various things. If you are hungry, you go to the chemist's. A chemist's shop is called a drugstore in the United States. In the larger drugstores you may be able to get drugs, too, but their main business consists in selling stationery, candy, toys, braces, belts, fountain pens, furniture and imitation jewellery. You must be extremely care­ful concerning the names of certain articles. If you ask for suspenders in a man's shop, you receive a pair of braces, if you ask for a pair of pants, you receive a pair of trousers and should you ask for a pair of braces, you receive a queer look.

I should like to mention that although a lift is called an elevator in the United States, when hitch-hiking you do not ask for an elevator, you ask for a lift. There's some confusion about the word flat. A flat in America is called an apartment; what they call a flat is a puncture in your tyre (or as they spell it, tire). Con­sequently the notice: 'Flats Fixed' does not indicate an estate agent where they are going to fix you up with a flat, but a garage where they are equipped to mend a puncture.

(From How to Scrape Skies by G. Mikes)

Ex. 4. Look through the following list of words and state what spelling norms are accepted in the USA and Great Britain so far as the given words are concerned.

1. favour — favor

honour — honor

colour — color

2. centre — center

metre — meter

fibre — fiber

3. to enfold — to infold

to encrust — to incrust

to empanel — to impanel

4. Judgement — judgment

abridgement — abridgment

acknowledgement — acknowledgment

5. marvellous — marvelous

woollen — woolen

jewellery — jewelry

6. cheque — check

catalogue-catalog

programme — program

Ex.5. Write the following words according to the British norms of spelling.

Judgment, practise, instill, color, flavor, check, program, woolen, humor, theater, traveling

Ex.6. Write the following words according to the Ameri­can norms of spelling.

Honour, labour, centre, metre, defence, offence, catalogue, abridgement, gramm, enfold, marvellous.

Ex.7. Translate the following words giving both the British and American variant

Каникулы, бензин, квартира, осень, трамвай, консервная банка, печенье, лифт, тротуар, грузовик, кроссовки, расписание, конфеты, метро, мусор, почта.

Ex.8. Read the following passage. Give some more exam­ples illustrating the differences in grammar between the two varieties of English.

Q: I thought Americans always said gotten when they used the verb get as a full verb. But you did say I've got your point, didn't you?

M: Yes, I did. You know, it's a common English belief — almost a superstition — about American us­age, but it does turn out on examination, as many other things do, that we are closer together than ap­pears on the surface. Actually, we, Americans, use got­ten only when our meaning is "to acquire" or "to ob­tain". We've gotten a new car since you were here last. Now, when we use get to mean "possess" or "to be obliged to" we have exactly the same forms as you do. I've got a pen in my pocket. I've got to write a letter.

(From A Common Language by A. H. Marckwardt and R. Quirk)

Ex.9. Dramatize the dialogue. What differences in British and American English did you find?

Before she left Great Britain Betty wanted to buy some presents

and souvenirs. So she and the others went to a store in Luton.

Roger: Why didn't you go to Mrs Harper's shop?

Betty: Well, I want to buy her and Mr Harper something, too. But I want it to be a secret.

Sheila: What are you going to buy them? Betty: A new pair of scissors.

Michael: What about your own family?

Betty: I thought a scarf for ray mother and a tie for my brother. But I don't know what to get for my father.

Roger: Why don't you buy him some cigarettes - or a new pipe?

Betty: He doesn't Smoke.

Alice: What about a new pair of slippers?

Betty: That's a good idea.

Simon: Betty, you go and do your shopping. We can meet you in hall an hour by the lift on the first floor. Betty: The lift? Oh, the elevator, you mean. Fine.

Sheila: Now we must Choose a present to give to Betty.

Alice: I know what she wants - a blouse. Orange is her favorite color

(After half an hour they went to meet Betty. But she didn't come till twenty minutes later.)

Betty: I thought you said the first floor. I've been waiting downstairs

Simon: That's the ground floor - this, is the first floor.

Betty: Oh, in America this is the second floor.

Ex.10. Make up your own dialogue showing the differences of British and American English