English, as a common language, has different branches, among which Britain and the United States are the most influential. Generally speaking, neither is necessarily correct. In fact, more and more British young people are beginning to accept and use the habit of American English, which is very obvious in their oral expression.
I don't think it's important to choose what English to learn. China used to be dominated by American English, but now more and more people are learning British English. However, it is important that once you decide to use American English or British English, you should refer to their rules in grammar spelling instead of creating differences between American English and British English, especially the pronunciation and spelling of some words.
Present perfect tense (present perfect tense)
In British English, the present perfect tense means that an action has just happened and has an impact on the present moment. For example:
I lost my bag. Can you help me find it?
In Bel Canto, it may be manifested as:
I lost my bag. Can you help me find it?
But this is not allowed in Britain, and both are recognized in the United States. In English, just and yet are the present perfect tense, while in America they are simple past tense.
British
I just had lunch.
I have seen that movie.
Have you finished your homework?
Americans
I just had lunch.
I always watch that movie.
Have you finished your homework? Or have you finished your homework?
get
The past participle of Get is Get in American and Get in English.
preposition
There is little difference between prepositions, as follows:
Weekend-we
Weekend-UK
In a team.-us
In a team-England
Please write to me as soon as possible.
Please write to me as soon as possible-England
Past tense and past participle
The following past tense and past participle are allowed in both English and American, but English is relatively irregular and American is usually regular.
burn
To burn or scorch
dream
Dream or dream?
slanting
Tilt or tilt
study
Did you learn or did you learn?
smell
Smell or smell
spell
Spelling or spelling
spill over
Spill or overflow
corruption
Spoiled or spoiled?
spell
Words end with or (American) -our (British) color, color, humor, wit, flavor, taste, etc.
The word ends with ize (USA) ise (UK) recognize, recognize, patronize, Patroni see, etc.
Also, some words in the United States end in er, while in Britain they are re, such as center and centre.
I saw some posts about American English and English on the Internet and posted them together for your reference.
1. Syntax
① articles
When English people use articles, Americans don't.
It was Tuesday and he didn't come back to work until Wednesday.
Americans use articles, but British people don't.
I've been out of the hospital for six weeks.
② Preposition
Britain on weekends
America on weekends
Some parents in Britain are talking about not letting their children go to school.
Some parents in America are talking about not letting their children go to school.
Step 4 talk
In daily vocabulary, "British English" and "American English" have their own expressions, which we can see from the comparison table.
American English British English American English British English
Elevator lifts car compartment.
Biscuits, President of Picasso University.
Football on the highway Football on the highway
Umbrella Umbrella brolly Holiday
Gasoline gas stove
3. spelling.
Americans are a pragmatic people, and they also take a pragmatic attitude in spelling words. In the development of American English, there was a movement similar to China's simplified spelling movement, in which some silent letters were deleted from the spelling of words. The difference in spelling is another difference between English and American English.
① Silent suffixes in English words: -me, -ue.
American English British English American English British English
Kilogram
Program program dialogue dialogue dialogue
Preface Preface
② For English words ending in -our, the silent letter U has been deleted from American English.
American English British English American English British English
Behavior, behavior behavior color
Favorite flavor flavor flavor flavor flavor flavor flavor flavor.
honour
③ In English, words ending in -re and pronounced as /e/ are changed to ending in -er in American, with the same pronunciation.
American English British English American English British English
Central fiber fiber fiber
Mimi theatre theatre theatre
(4) Some words ending in nce in English are changed to end in ense in American English, and the pronunciation is still /ns/.
American English British English American English British English
National defense license license license license license
Offense, excuse, excuse, excuse
The verb -ise in English is spelled -ize in America.
American English British English American English British English
Organization, organization, realization, realization.
Realize the organizational structure
PS (background): These words are still from French, namely, organiser, realiser and réalizer (but due to the evolution of language, the meanings of these words in French are not exactly the same as those in English. For example, Actualize now means "realization", while Actualize means "upgrade and make it obsolete"; Realize now means "realize", while réalizer becomes "realize").
4. pronunciation.
The differences in pronunciation between English and American English are mainly reflected in the different pronunciations of vowel letters A and O and consonant letter R.
① Vowel
(1) A: In English, voiced vowels often appear in some unstressed short sounds [a] (such as about) and short sounds (such as computer). Er in American English is rarely voiced, and sometimes voiced vowels are used for short sounds I (such as sentimental and realistic) and U (such as wuss), and even short sounds oo (such as hooker). (The pronunciations of these four examples in English are [i], [i], [u:] and [u] respectively. The pronunciation of voiced vowels is uncertain, but it sounds almost like a hurried pronunciation between "Russia" and "ah". The most representative difference between English and American English is the pronunciation of er. In English, the short voiced er is the voiced vowel mentioned above, while the long voiced er is just an elongated voiced vowel, which sounds like an exaggeration between "Russian" and "ah". In American English, er sounds like "er" (except for vowels in some common sayings). Ar: Except for short sounds (such as singular) and vowels followed by vowels (such as clarity), All English Ars are unified long sounds [a:], while in American it is "al". In fact, whenever there is an R at the end of a syllable, American and British pronunciations are usually different, such as tour (English: spit, beauty: spit), tear (English: kick, beauty: kick) and pair (English: pe, beauty: pe). Even in the clarity just mentioned, English ['kleriti] and America [' kler(er)ti].
O: There is another important difference in the pronunciation of vowels. First, [O] sound: The short sound of O (such as oft) is pronounced as the shortened long sound of O (such as or) in English, while the short sound of American O sounds very similar to the short sound of English [/\]. At the same time, if the long sound of o is followed by r, it is usually children's as mentioned in the previous paragraph, and if it is not (such as plain, apply), it will automatically become.
② Consonants
R: The letter R simply represents all the differences between Britain and America. It is everywhere. When pronouncing consonants, the difference is that when R is at the end of the first word and the second word begins with a vowel, English takes R as a vowel, while American takes R as the consonant of the initial vowel of the next word. For example, the phrase "clear animation" is pronounced as "clear animation" in English and "clear animation" in America.
5. Date and number expressions
In terms of dates, Britain and the United States have different expressions. Take the sun first, then the moon, which is British; On the other hand, the American style records the month first and then the date. As1March 2, 996 wrote:
February 2, UK, 1996
March 2, USA 1996
① writing method
In American writing, 1ST, 2nd and 3rd are not used. Because the written expression of the date is different, the pronunciation is different. For example, April 20 1987, written in Britain as 20 April 20, 1987, pronounced as April 20, 1987; The American expression is1April 20th, 987, and the pronunciation is1April 20th, 987. Similarly, when all dates are expressed in numbers, there are differences between Britain and the United States. 1May 6, 998 should be written as 6/5/98 for English and 5/6/98 for American; 0 1.08. 1998 is British 1998 August 1, but according to American expression, it is 1998 June 5438+0, American1998 August/kloc-.
② reading method
$ 175 (US$ 175) is pronounced as a (1) married seven or five dollars in English and as a (1) married seven or five dollars in the United States, often omitting and; When using the same number to represent numbers continuously, English is used to using double or triple, but Americans generally don't. For example, the telephone number 320 1 12 is pronounced as three two zero, double one two, and American is pronounced as three one two two. 999 234 is pronounced as triple nine two three four in English and nine nine nine two three four in America, but Americans also pronounce three consecutive identical numbers as three plus this number, for example, 999 is pronounced as three nines.
6. letter
English letters are conservative, many British people like to use old-fashioned letters, and their words are more formal and rigid, while American letters are very lively, energetic and simple in format. Therefore, when we write to Britain or its old colonial countries, we should use standard English. If this letter is addressed to the United States or its areas of influence, we should use American English. Of course, the English language and culture have also changed in recent years, but on the whole, the differences between them are obvious.
① format
In British English, the first word of each paragraph is indented, which is called indentation or sawtooth.
American business English letters are generally required to be printed neatly by typewriter or computer, and the left line is vertical, which is called vertical or horizontal. The vertical position and signature are in the left column. This form has been widely adopted by American companies that attach great importance to work efficiency.
② honorific words
Use honorifics in English letters. The most common honorifics are Mr, Mrs and Miss (for unmarried women). English people often use esq. (short for esquire) after men's names, but in business, for more than two women, they are gradually changing into Mr. MMEs (plural form of madam). Messrs (plural form of Mr) is used for more than two people, or for companies or groups composed of more than two people. In British English letters, Mr., Mrs. and Mr. don't need to abbreviate periods. On the contrary, American English, which tends to be progressive and free, uses abbreviations such as Mr, Mrs and Messrs
③ appellation
It is equivalent to "honest people" or "honest people" in China.
(1) If the letter is addressed to each company unit, not to a specific person.
Dear gentlemen of England
American gentleman (plural)
(2) If there is only one person in the other company, you must use Sir/ Dear Sir, and punctuation marks are usually used after the address.
British comma (comma)
American semicolon (colon)
4 the ceremony is at the end.
It is equivalent to "salute", "salute" and "Shun 'an" used at the end of Chinese letters.
English Yours Sincerely (knowing or knowing each other's name), Best wishes, cordial greetings and yours faithfully (unknown name).
Sincere and best regards from America.
style
British English often adds should to virtual forms, while American English mostly doesn't. In English, have/have not got and in America, have/not have are used to express the meaning of "yes" or "no". What "have to" and "have to" do, in English, is to do something, while in America, it just means to do something; ; Holiday jobs is used for English and summer/temporary jobs; Used in American English. The English expression of "renting a computer" is computer hire, and the American expression is ComputerRental. "Graduated from a certain school" has different expressions in Britain and America. In the United States, the word "graduate" can be used in any kind of school, such as university/school graduation, while in English, graduate is limited to university graduation and leaving; It's for high school graduation. When talking about the low salary of a company, the usual expression in English is that its salary is very low, while the expression in the United States is that its salary is not very high; ; The English expression "I get along well with my boss" means that I get along well with my boss, but American English uses got have instead of got on. "raise prices" in English means put up prices and raise prices in the United States; The English expression of "taking a computer course" means taking a computer course, while the American expression means taking a computer course.
⒏ made a phone call
(1) If you are a clerk such as an office secretary or an operator, and you are not the person the other party is looking for, we often say "please wait a moment".
Englishman, please hold on.
America, hold on.
(2) If you ask the other party (such as the operator) to transfer to the manager.
Can you put me through to the manager?
American, can you put me through to the manager?
(9) Tone
English people in Britain speak in a cadence and high tone, which is quite similar to French (but they will not admit it), and laugh at Americans for speaking weakly, loosely and irregularly.
American-Americans speak in a steady and low voice, and sentences are usually in a falling tone and slow. On the other hand, Americans like to laugh at the hysterical and feminine tone of the British.
The pronunciation difference between English and American English is mainly reflected in the different pronunciation of vowel letters A, O and consonant letter R.
1, in the words ask, can, dance, fast, half and path, the British read the letter a as [a:] and the Americans read it as [? ], so these words become [? sk][k？ nt][d？ ns][f？ st][h？ F] and [p].
2. In box, crop, hot, iron, polish, spot and other words, the British read the letter O as [)], and the Americans read it as [a], which sounds similar to [a:]. So when Americans read these words, they become [baks] [krap] [hat] [ai 'ranik] [palij] [spat].
3. Whether the consonant R is pronounced in words is another obvious difference between English and American English. There is no retroflex in English R syllables, but there is retroflex in American R syllables. For example, the following words are pronounced differently in English and American English:
English pronunciation American pronunciation
automobile
Door [d]:][ multiple]
river
Party, party
Board of directors [b]:d][bord]
dirty
Morning, morning
In English, the letter R is pronounced as rolling tongue [R]: [FA: R2' wei] [F2' rev 2] [Far2ndwaid] only when it is read continuously in the distance, forever, far and wide.
4. In polysyllabic words ending in -ary or -ory, British people usually read A or O weakly, while Americans not only don't read it weakly, but also add secondary stress to the syllables where A or O is located, so these words are not only pronounced differently in English and American English, but also have obviously different rhythms, for example:
English pronunciation American pronunciation
dictionary
Laboratory [le' b]:r2tri][' l? br2，tori]
Inevitably; inevitably; inevitably.
Prepared? r2t2ri] [pri'p？ r2，tori]
Secretary, secretary
5, and in another word ending in -ile, the British pronounce the letter I in the last syllable as long sound [AI]; While Americans are as weak as [2], such as:
English pronunciation American pronunciation
toward
fertile
Fragile? d3ail] ['fr？ d32l]
hostile
missile
In addition, some words that are difficult to classify have different pronunciations in English and America:
English pronunciation American pronunciation
clerk
Either ['ai92] ['i:92r]
Figure 2
Question ['isju:] ['iJu:]
Leisure, leisure [Li: 32r]
Neither
Timetable, timetable
The above comparison of English and American pronunciations is only based on most people's pronunciations or standard pronunciations, regardless of the influence of regions or dialects.
In spelling, Americans are a pragmatic people, and they also take a pragmatic attitude when spelling words. In the development of American English, there was a movement similar to China's simplified spelling movement, in which some silent letters were deleted from the spelling of words. The difference in spelling is another difference between English and American English. To sum up, there are the following situations.
1, the silent suffix -me, -ue in English words has been deleted in American spelling.
English spelling American spelling
Kg kg
Program program
catalogue
Dialogue dialogue
Preface Preface
2. For words ending in -our in English, the silent letter U has been deleted from American English.
English spelling American spelling
behavior
Color color
favorite
Flavor essence
Honor honor
Labor labor
3. Words ending in -re and pronounced as [2] in English are changed to ending in -er in American English, and the pronunciation remains unchanged.
English spelling American spelling
Center center
Fiber fiber
Mimi
Theater theater
4. Some words ending in -ence in English are changed to -ense in American English, and the pronunciation is still [ns].
English spelling American spelling
Defense defense
illegal activities
Permit license
pretend
Verbs ending in -ise in English are spelled -ize in America. For example:
English spelling American spelling
Criticism criticism
Organization organization
Realize, realize, realize
Recognize, recognize, recognize
standardization
6. Some words spelled with double -ll- in English have only one -l- in American English. For example:
English spelling American spelling
Local councillor
Counselor
jeweller
inconceivable
Packaged
Travel travel travel.
7. Words ending in -xion[-kJ2n] in English are spelled as-action in the United States, with the same pronunciation.
English spelling American spelling
Contact connection
Bending inflection point
reflect
In addition to the different spellings of the above words, there are also some common unclassified words with different spellings in English and American English. For example:
English spelling American spelling
cheque
Prison in prison
The kerb of the road.
moustache
Plough
Pajamas, pajamas, pajamas.
sceptical
In addition to the above differences, English and American English have different temperament when speaking, and each has its own characteristics in tone, intonation and rhythm. Most British people will think that Americans have harsh voices and lack a sense of music; Americans, on the other hand, think that the British voice is choking and giggling. To a third party, the English people seem to be too artificial to speak, and they have the feeling that Peking Opera actors speak frankly, while Americans speak easily, giving people a natural and generous feeling. This may be why so many people are eager to learn American English.