In Tenses^x, American English^x

Learned and learnt are basically the same. They are both used as the past tense form and past participle of "learned". I made a Google search for both the words and the results are: EDU(USA) sites : I learned/learnt 611,000/12,300 I have learned/learnt 162,000/52,100 learned man/learnt...

Anonymous, I think Couchpotato is referring to duration when he says "long". In addition to taking stress, the "ir" in "bird" actually lasts longer than the "er" in "winner". In American English, these are the only differences. (In British English, there is an additional difference: the...

This is more than you asked for. Use what you can! Tense (long) vowels, diphthongs: Lake, leaf, pine cone, cool brown soil. pay day deep freeze dry rye rowboat blue moon downtown boys' toys Lax (short) vowels: Fat pet pig got drunk -- took walk. rat trap red neck chip...

Hmm.. Luigio, you are right! It IS spelt like that in other countries! Well done!!! There's a big BIG world out there to explore, and rather a lot more countries use British English than use American. This is what askoxford.com has to...

... would you please tell me how would you pronounce "ship" ? would it be like " shape" The vowel sound in "ship" is completely different in American English from the vowel sound in "shape". __________ I'm not aware of any difference in the pronunciation of the "e" in "marketing" whether...

Thanks, Abbie -- finding that word was a satisfying moment yesterday (not unlike immediately finding the olive green thread and 1/2-inch elastic that my sister asked for, depite the fact that my house always looks like a tornado just hit and deposited the contents of several other houses in it). ...

CJim wrote: One big difference is that you can add information about the exact time of the event when you use "He didn't come", but not when you use "He hasn't come". JTT: I'll suggest that that points up one of the PP's characteristics. It's used to set up a "hot topic" but it isn't used to...

Hello just the truth, Is it true that in American English, there is a tendency to use the past tense instead of the present perfective, for example: 'Did you go there.' instead of 'Have you gone there' or 'you told me already' for 'You have told me already' Thank you

I can't agree more with you, Casi. Purists may call this speech pattern non-standard English, but all said and done, it is English. All varieties of English, any language for that matter, including this one, have their own set of established standards and are governed by their linguistic and...

1. Use of present perfect tense and simple past tense Speakers of American English generally use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less than speakers of British English. In spoken American English it is very common to use the simple past tense as an alternative in...