Search results for 'tag:Difference between tag:American English' matching tags 'Difference between' and 'American English'

Re: Difference between "lately" and "recently" ?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:12:10 GMT

There is a difference in sentence position, it seems. At least in American English, "lately" does not seem natural between the subject and the verb, whereas "recently" sounds fine there.
For example: I've recently been studying Norwegian in earnest. (sounds okay)
                    I've lately been studying Norwegian in earnest. (weird)
Both can stand at the beginning and end of these sentences.
Also "lately" doesn't work in simple past sentences.
For example: Recently, I began studying Norwegian. (okay)
                    Lately, I began studying Norwegian. (weird)
The two words seem equal in the perfect tenses, except for the positional problem that "lately" has before the main verb.

Re: Mimicking an actor's accent

Kooyeen — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:27:59 GMT

Hi,
yes, I remember you asked about him. I'm not an expert at all, but I can tell you my opinion, as a learner.
I agree it's a good accent for those who are interested in British English. I don't find any annoying features in his accent (=features I don't like). It doesn't sound posh to me, his intonation seems to be normal and not exaggerated like in annoying posh accents.

3:54 - That is strange, yes. <-- Tapped T in "that is". I don't know how many accents have this feature and to what extent because I don't really know enough about British English.
3:57 - Yeah, that's a little weird <-- Glottal stops in "little". But they are not everywhere... either he's changing hir accent while he speaks, or those glottal stops are only found in certain special cases in his accent.
He doesn't release final T's. - Notice the difference between his final consonants and the hosts' ones, especially the woman's (the hosts sound like they overpronounce final consonants to me, since I'm mainly used to American English).

Just my non-native opinion, though. I don't know how difficult it is for a learner to pick up such an accent, because I don't know how widespread those kinds of accents are in the UK and in the media in general. Good luck.

"I don't agree with you!/I can't agree with you!"

beginnerbird — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:26:47 GMT

Thank you optilang.
But when I said to my friend "I don't agree with you!" he told me that it sounds odd, that people usually say "I can't agree with you!"
Maybe there is some difference between spoken and written language?
Maybe this is because of differences between British and American English?

Re: Please help

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:54:59 GMT

Thank you. I told the same to my friend but he said sounds odd, that people usually say "I can't agree with you!"
Maybe there is some difference in written and spoken language?
Or maybe there is difference between British and American English?

Re: Football / Ice hockey results and scores: How to write and talk

optilang — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:13:17 GMT

That is interesting indeed and I agree with you Old Man Gordon. I am from Finland and according to my Finnish-English dictionary I should say "Finland is leading 2-0" without using the plural verb and
"The Finns are leading 2-0" when using a plural expression. But I guess this is just a difference between British and American English.

I guess so. I am not from America or Finland.

Re: Football / Ice hockey results and scores: How to write and talk

EagerSeeker — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:04:46 GMT

Old Man Gordon

Optilang-

Is that how it is said on sportscasts in England? The team uses a plural verb, even if the noun (England/Manchester United/etc.) is singular? In the US, we'd use the plural only when talking about the team name which is usually plural, eg The Yakees are losing./ New York is losing.

It gets confusing with the modern innovation of uncountable team names. The Detroit Shock is winning (are winning?).

Re: have/must/need

Kooyeen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:24:47 GMT

I have to go / I've got to go / I('ve) gotta go => Normal, most common
I must go => same as "have to", but much less common in American English.
I need to go => ok. It says "going somewhere" is a need you have, for some reason. I wouldn't know how to explain the difference between this and the others, but I guess in many contexts it probably sounds a little but less "strong" than the others.

Just my non-native opinions, anyway.

'Has' or 'did'?

pjrydo — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:53:04 GMT

Are either 'has he moved in yet?' or 'did he move in yet?' grammatically incorrect. I'm trying to identify the difference between the two sentences but as of yet have been unable to find differences in meaning. 'Did he move in yet?' sounds more American English. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance

Re: Some more

Kooyeen — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:18:55 GMT

Belly
1) What is the difference between college and university in American English? (Ex: Princeton Uni., Harvard college etc.)
2) Anyone know how to meet standard to famous universities in the US? Any SAT scores requirements in the past few years, please help me

3) And do you know what is the difference between PSAT and SAT?

1) I think they are the same. University is more specific and formal, college is used in casual speech.
2) I think you'd better check on the Universities' websites. I also think Wikipedia might be your friend.
3) Wikipedia has articles on them.

Some more

Belly — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:56:22 GMT

1) What is the difference between college and university in American English? (Ex: Princeton Uni., Harvard college etc.)

2) Anyone know how to meet standard to famous universities in the US? Any SAT scores requirements in the past few years, please help me

3) And do you know what is the difference between PSAT and SAT?