Search results for 'tag:British English tag:American English' matching tags 'British English' and 'American English'

Re: Was or Were?

richard_s — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:57:18 GMT

According to Swan (Practical English UsageÂ (p519) - a fairly accurate source), in British English collective nouns can be either singular or plural. Â 'Plural forms are common when the group is seen as a collection of people.' Â This fits with the usage that I hear in Australia. Â It seems that in American English, collective nouns are usually considered singular.

Re: Was or Were?

richard_s — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:50:45 GMT

According to Swan (Practical English Usage (p519) - a fairly accurate source), in British English collective nouns can be either singular or plural. Â 'Plural forms are common when the group is seen as a collection of people.' Â This fits with the usage that I hear in Australia. Â It seems that in American English, collective nouns are usually considered singular.

Re: Was or Were?

richard_s — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:32:15 GMT

Personally, I would use 'was', but I seem to remember once reading that British English favoured one and American the other, particularly in situations like 'my family is crazy' or 'my family are crazy'. Â Unfortunately, I can't remember which one is British and which is American. Â Here in Australia, we tend to follow British more than American English, suggesting that treating groups as singular nouns is British.

Re: British/American Spelling for Realize/Recognize

Sausages — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:09:14 GMT

The words you mention are all words that are spelled differently in British English and American English. There are quite a few of them (color/colour, theater/theatre, realize/realise etc.) If you are concerned with using a specific spelling standard, I would advise you to google "british american spelling" or something of the sort, to aquire some basic knowledge in the matter. Also, be sure to set your spell checker to the correct standard in your word processor.

To answer your specific question, British English uses the -ise forms in both present and past tense.

Re: For those ESL teachers...

seme — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:44:10 GMT

Well there's a big problem here ... which grammar rules? :D :D :D

There is no strict code in English of RULES, three textbooks can give three completely different "rules" for the same point of grammar, the "rules" taught in beginner levels often have to be unlearned later on (for example every single one of my Korean students has been taught that a gerund follows a preposition. There's no such rule in English, it's total nonsense ... plus it means they all come into class saying things like "I came here for studying English" which drives me nuts), then there are major differences between what is grammatically correct and what is common in spoken English, not to mention a few minor grammatical differences between British English and American English. It's absolutely impossible for any English teacher to know them all :)

Non-native speaking teachers tend to hold on to whatever rules they were taught when they learned English, while natives tend to play it more by ear. Most of us, through experience, know the important rules and then we just go by how it sounds. If a student asks me a question I usually ask for an example sentence to make it less about the "rule" and more about how to say what he or she wants to say correctly.

But there are also major disagreements about grammar among English teachers. Here's a good example:

The mountains that are covered in snow are safe to ski on.

The mountains, which are covered in snow, are safe to ski on.

When I was in school I was taught that 'that' and 'which' had different functions and different meanings. I like this "rule" because it's simple and functional. However at the last English school I taught at the Head Teacher disagreed and believed that 'that' and 'which' had the same meaning and that the commas were what changed the meaning of the sentence. We had a HUGE fight about this with both of us bring in multiple reference books that supported our opinion :)

Re: round him, to get

Kooyeen — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:03:33 GMT

Hi,
"round" can be used as an adverb in British English, as fas as I know, and it is the same as "around", which is the usual one in American English.

I put my arm round him to comfort him. = I put my arm around him to comfort him.

If we put the chairs a bit closer together (= move them nearer to each other), we should be able to get another one round the table. = I think here it means "to make another chair fit around the table".

Re: usgae of "was"..correct??..pls explain?

Sausages — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:56:52 GMT

The plural verb is apparently a feature of British English, where American English users opt for using chiefly the singular.

But, being native to neither language, I guess my hands are free :)

I have a theory, that if I were to speak this sentence, I would use 'were', whereas if I were to write it, I'd use the singular 'was'. Does that make sense?

Re: Did you ever have a girlfriend?

Hector9 — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:57:59 GMT

Sorry Jackson but, why did you write "Did you ever have.."? Why not "Have you ever had.."?

Are both correct?

They're OK to me. The first one is in American English and the second one in British English, they're only different ways to say the same thing.

Did you ever have..? AmE

Have you ever had..? BrE

To be sure, wait for a native speaker.

The same happens with "Do you have.." (American) and "Have you got.." (British).

Re: How to change my accent?

Kooyeen — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:04:20 GMT

sanycool4
Am really struggling with my accent...English people can't really understand some words what am saying...So any body advice me how to change my accent?

You might need an accent reduction course. Learn the sounds, learn how to connect words, learn to use a decent intonation, etc. It depends on the variety you want to learn though. For American English, I once read "American Accent Training" by Ann Cook. I found it vital for my English, learned a lot of things and I improved a lot. I can't say anything about British English or other dialects though. Good luck. :)

Re: Changing from American to British accent.

Lincoln Punch — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:39:35 GMT

I tried, but failed.

It's really difficult even though English is not my first language.

I love how British English sounds, but I feel more comfortable and confident when I speak in American English.

Besides, some vowels, like British 'short o' sound is really hard for me to pronounce.

It's probably because I learned American English first.