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

Re: 1400 = one thousand four hundred

Clive — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:30:38 GMT

Hi GG,
To me, that use of 'through' is or at least used to be a uniquely American English expression.

Clive

Re: eye sights

Abil — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:14:13 GMT

Hi Ray,

Thanks. My dictionary gives two meanings to the word "far-sighted". I am citing the one related to the context I have given.

Far-sighted = In American English, far-sighted people cannot see things clearly that are close to them, and therefore need to wear glasses. The usual British expression is long-sighted.

My question is: am I near-sighted or long-sighted / far-sighted? I cannot see things clearly that are close my my eyes.

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: jump the queue

Yankee — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:03:36 GMT

In American English, we don't say 'jump the queue', however I think that expression is used in BE. We'd use something such as 'cut in line' in AmE.

Otherwise, the wording of your sentence sounds a bit odd to me because it suggests that 'jumping the queue' was only rude just now, but might be perfectly polite at some other time.

Re: Is American English lazy English?

Brazilian clown — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:16:09 GMT

All I know is that British accent sounds better but surprisingly...however, I'd rather to speak the American one because words come out easier regarding the pronounciation..of course sometimes when I watch some American movies is unavoidable to dislike some colloquial expressions...some used by rappers, for instance..

conservation area - listed building

Tanit — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:31:35 GMT

Hi!

Are the expressions "conservation area" and "listed building" used in American English?
If not, what's the AmE equivalent?
Would they be understood by a specialized audience?

Many thanks!

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:54 GMT

They won't smoke ever since they saw a film on lung cancer.

What does "won't" mean here?

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:49 GMT

http://forums.eslcafe.com/student/viewtopic.php?t=22113&highlight=

Re: got/gotten

Yankee — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:42:30 GMT

Fandorin
Hi. Yes, both of the words may be used. Simply "have(has) got" tend to be used side by side with have (has,had).
have(had,has) got = have(has,had). But the expression "had got" is rarely used in contemporary grammar.

Hi Fandorin

You seem to be mixing things up.

Angliholic's sentence is not an example of the idiomatic "to have got", which means basically the same thing as "to have" or "to possess".
In that idiom, it is not possible to change the word 'got' to 'gotten' -- not even in American English. It would be unusual to find "to have got" used in the past tense (i.e. had got).

Angliholic's sentence uses the verb "to get" in the past perfect. To form the past perfect of the verb "to get", you need had+gotten in AmE or had+got in BE.
The past perfect of the verb "to get" is in current use and is used just as often as the past perfect of any other verb.