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

Re: Sentences of Unreal Condition

Cool Breeze — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:23:42 GMT

Vecta
"I would kill myself today if I didn't believe that tyranny and injustice must end."

Is the last sentence correct too?

Yes. Your grammar book must be very old. Some elderly British people may still use should instead of would in sentences like yours, but would is very common even in British English. Some young Americans might consider your sentence wrong!

Should is used in a number of ways but the most common use is this: If you want to catch your train, you should leave now. (= It would be a good idea for you to leave now.)

Re: ear

Taka — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:07:37 GMT

So, with British English, 'to my ears' is OK.

I wonder if other British people here agree on this.Â

Questions about flapping and glottalisation.

Lincoln Punch — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:42:32 GMT

Hello. I'm a student from Korea (South) trying to learn English based on received pronunciation. And it's kind of hard because everyone here tries to learn American English.

Here goes the questions:

1. I reckon Americans often use 'flapped d', but it seems that British people don't flap 'd' sound as much as Americans do.
Is it considered 'lazy' to flap 'd' pronunciation in British English? Like, when you say 'had a', or 'bad eighties'.

2. How about flapping 't' sound in one word? i.e., little, bottle...

3. Using glottalisation is THAT bad? I know it's originated from Cockney accent but I love the sound when 't' is glottalised.
If I glottalised the 't' sound when it's in end of the word, for example, 'I got a', 'about it', would I be considered as a 'lazy' speaker?

4. Am I using 'reckon' properly? :p

Sorry for asking so many questions, but I'm a very curious student.

Thanks for reading. Have a good one!

Re: Difference between European English and US English.

Bokeh — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:14:07 GMT

Nona The Brit wrote:
slum prudery? Interesting turn of phrase.

It's from "My Fair Lady".

Nona The Brit wrote:
I think it is pretty true that a lot of British people don't consider us as part of Europe in quite the same way as other Europeans. Politically, yes.

I think the British people scared to embrace being Europeans are those who believe the imperialistic conservative nonsense that to be British is to be better.

Nona The Brit wrote:
But geographically, no.

Geographically, yes! The UK and Eire sit on the European continental shelf with a sea depth of less than 50 metres right the way around.

Nona The Brit wrote:
No other European countries have English as their native mother-tongue language.

That's true but it is also true that it's not the mother tongue of several million British subjects. (According to Wikipedia 70% of the UK population speak English monolingually.)

Nona The Brit wrote:
I think there are European countries which teach American English rather than the British version so how does that factor in?

Try doing a search on the web for British schools in Europe compared to American ones. Look at translation agencies and see how their FAQs specifically point out that they do British English. Also if you look at style guides for documents translated for the European Union you would see they state spellings and grammar should be British. Lastly it doesn't make sense that mainland Europe should learn US English in place of British English. Trade between the UK and its EU partners far exceeds any trade between the US and mainland Europe.

Re: Difference between European English and US English.

nona the brit — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:14:27 GMT

slum prudery? Interesting turn of phrase. I think it is pretty true that a lot of British people don't consider us as part of Europe in quite the same way as other Europeans. Politically, yes. But geographically, no. We are happy to talk about 'going to Europe'. I'm sure it seems peverse to outsiders but it's a common attitude in all sectors of our society.

No other European countries have English as their native mother-tongue language. It's true there are many speakers of British English - but you can also say that about the American version. Do you think we should stop calling it American English and start calling it something else?

Also, I think there are European countries which teach American English rather than the British version so how does that factor in?

The difference between Ill and sick

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:54:19 GMT

In British English, ill means unwell. Ill is most common in predicative position.

She couldnât come because she was ill.

Before a noun, many British people prefer to use sick.

She spent years looking after her sick husband.

Be sick can mean âvomitâ.

I feel sick. Where is the bathroom?

Re: British English: How to pronounce 'Schedule'

nona the brit — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 07:09:14 GMT

The correct British English way is she-jul but you'll find a lot of British people use the American pronounication of ske-jul.

Re: "Updates" to language

Kooyeen — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:18:42 GMT

Hi everyone,
this thread is cool. Yeah, it's cool because I was just thinking of that "updating" and I thought it would be funny. Americans receive updates from England:

Grammar Geek is at her computer, and sees a pop up, "Your database is pretty old, your vocabulary may not be up-to-date." Oh my, she says, and clicks on "update it now"... done! "Thank you for upgrading your English! You got a new word: aubergine."

Now, I would say that it's British people who are somehow upgrading thier English... This would be more likely:

Nona the Brit is at her PC, she's upgrading her English... "Thank you for upgrading your English from the new Hollywood database. You got a new word: dude."

Hahahah, funny.
Seriously now, I think it's not possible to control a language. Languages evolve, change, merge and die. If there was only a variety of English, don't you think it would be a dull language? It would be simple to learn and it would be understood everywhere, yes, but that would be dull. The only thing I hope is that English varieties won't diverge too much, to the point they will actually be separate languages. I don't think that will happen, mainly because of the Internet, Hollywood and mass-media in general. But if the Americas had been discovered 5000 years ago (thousands of years without media, heh), I believe American English and British English would now be two completely different languages.
That's all.

Re: is American English dialect of British English?

Marius Hancu — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:07:52 GMT

Nona The Brit wrote:
Less than 5% of British people speak RP.

Stephen Fry, for one ("Jeeves").

Re: is American English dialect of British English?

nona the brit — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:16:51 GMT

This is a bit of a myth.

There was never a single British accent for American to be 'nearer' to. The short a sound still features in a lot of English accents. Less than 5% of British people speak RP.