Презентация "Британский и американский английский".

МБОУ «Гимназия №44» г. Курска

«А «Американский и Британский английский».

Авторы работы: Гожко Максим и Кондратенко Ульяна.

5-а класс,

МБОУ «Гимназия №44» г. Курска

Руководитель: Семёнова Марина Юрьевна,

учитель английского языка,

МБОУ «Гимназия №44» г. Курска.

BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH

Is there any difference between British and American English?

The History of British and American English

The English language was introduced to the Americans through British colonization in the early 17th century and it spread to many parts of the world because of the strength of the British empire. Over the years, English spoken in the United States and in Britain started diverging from each other in various aspects. This led to two dialects in the form of the American English and the British English.

American vs British accent

Prior to the Revolutionary War and American independence from the British in 1776, American and British accents were similar. Both were rhotic  i.e. speakers pronounced the letter R in hard. Since 1776 the accents diverged, but English accent in America has changed less drastically than accents in Britain.

Differences in American and British English  

Differences in Vocabulary

Differences in Vocabulary

British English

American English

flat

apartment

lawyer

attorney

luggage

baggage

milliard

billion

taxi

cab

company

corporation

city/town centre

downtown

chemist’s

lift

drugstore

elevator

autumn

fall

petrol

gas

motorway

highway

cross-roads

intersection

living room

drawing room

coach

long-distance bus

British English

cinema

American English

movies

trousers

pants

railway

shop-assistant

railroad

time-table

salesman, clerk

schedule

football

underground

soccer

booking office

subway

to be sick

ticket office

advocate

to be ill

lorry

trail lawyer

boot

truck

ground floor

trunk

first floor

first floor

second floor

second floor

third floor

Differences in use of tenses

In British English the present perfect is used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present moment. For example: I've misplaced my pen. Can you help me find it? In American English, the use of the past tense is also permissible: I misplaced my pen. Can you help me find it? In British English, however, using the past tense in this example would be considered incorrect.

Other differences involving the use of the present perfect in British English and simple past in American English include the words already, just and yet.

British English: I've just had food. Have you finished your homework yet? American English: 

I just had food. OR I've just had food. I've already seen that film. OR I already saw that film.

Differences in Verb usage

American and British English may also use a base verb in different manners. For example: For the verb " to dream ", Americans would use the past tense  dreamed  while the British would use  dreamt  in past tense. The same applies to " learned " and " learnt ". Another example of differing past tense spellings for verbs in American and British English is " forecast ". Americans use  forecast  while the British would say  forecasted  in simple past tense.

AMERICANISMS IN BRITISH ENGLISH

British English is changing under influence from American so you may occasionally hear Brits using the second forms above rather than “have got”. However, Brits would not use American mixed forms like: “They’ve got a new house. They do?” (Brit. Have they?).

Differences in Grammar

I’ve got a book.

I suggest he should see the oculist.

I’ve gotten a book.

I suggest (that) he see an oculist.

He didn’t eat at all.

He didn’t eat any.

at the weekend

on the weekend

Monday to Friday

Monday through Friday

different from/to

different from/than

stay at home

stay home

write to somebody

write somebody

Differences in pronunciation

Pronunciation - the most significant difference. Students with knowledge of the English language are often faced with the difficulty of the characteristic at the first contact with the Americans. The problem is, however, not even in the language, and the pronunciation. Apart from the quality of American speech, there is a set of basic differences between British and American pronunciation. Americans often say [r] in a position where it is not pronounced in British English: car, hare, port. Americans pronounce the sound of "a" as [x] instead of [a:] in the words: ask, answer, past, can not, half, after, example, and others.

Differences in pronunciation

In such words as news, dew, duke American pronunciation is so: [nu: z], [du:], [du: k]. Americans pronounce [hΛt], [nΛt], [tΛp], ['kΛmon], [Λn] in the words hot, not, top, common, on. Words better, butter, city pronounced as ['bedər], [bΛdə], [' sidi]. Tomato, address and schedule also pronounced differently: [tə'meitəu], ['zhdres], [' skedju: l]. Words ending - ary and - ory have an accent on the last syllable following the American language: secretary, laboratory. Omitted [h], usually in the beginning of the word: his, him, her, humor, humidity, history and others.

Differences in Spelling

British English

American English

-ll- travelled cancelling dialled

-l- traveled canceling dialed

-me, -ue programme catalogue monologue dialogue

- program catalog monolog dialog

-s- organisation analyse

-z- organization analyze

-ce defence licence practice offence

-se defense license practise offense

-re centre theatre litre fibre metre

-er center theater liter fiber meter

-our honour labour colour splendour

-or honor labor color splendor

We asked some students of the 5 th and 8 th forms to write down words that have spelling differences. Many of them used the American variant

The most common mistakes pupils made in such words as…

British English

American English

Organi z e

Reali z e

Catalog …

Hon o r

Cent er

Met er

Organi s e

Reali s e

Catalog ue

Hon ou r

Cent r e

Met er

We also looked through the students’ notebooks and found common mistakes in such words as color, humor, programs and many others.

We conducted a survey among the students in our class and asked them the question, "Why do people use American English rather than British?" Here are the answers of some students.

• Thus, most pupils believe that American English is becoming more common, because
• It is easier , it has simple spelling, grammar, vocabulary and phonetics.
• the global impact of the American culture is great
• the difference between American and British English is not big

American English has become the leading language in the world. We can come across American English everywhere

Conclusion

Despite the fact that American English is not significantly different from British English, for successful communication it is necessary to bear in mind the differences in vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, intonation, word stress and grammar.

thanks for your attention