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  • 2) Answer the questions:

a) When did the slave trade begin?

b) When was the slave trade forbidden in the USA?

c) Why did the pidgins develop?

d) How did the pidgins turn into Creole languages?

  • 3) Match these synonyms to the words in italics in the text: fast, products, to appear, history, cruel, to plan.

  • 4) Make a summary of the text.

1.7 Differences between american and british english

  • 1) Use the examples from the text and disagree with / prove the statement: “American English and British English are mutually incomprehensible.”

Which variety of English do you use, American English (AmE) or British English (BrE)? Whatever your choice is, the most important rule is to be consistent in your usage. For example in the sentence “The color of the orange is also its flavour,” “color” is American spelling and “flavour” is British. The following guide points out the principal differences between these two varieties of English.

Present Perfect and Past Simple. In BrE 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 lost my key. Can you help me look for it?” In AmE the following is also possible: “I lost my key. Can you help me look for it?” In BrE this would be considered incorrect. However, both forms are generally accepted in standard AmE.

Other differences include the use of “already,” “just,” and “yet.” In BrE people say “I’ve just had lunch. I’ve already seen that film. Have you finished your homework yet?” In AmE these sentences can be equally used with these ones: “I just had lunch. I already saw that film. Did you finish your homework yet?”

Have” and “Have got.” There are two forms to express possession in English, and both of them are correct. However, “have got” is generally the preferred form in BrE (Have you got a car? He hasn’t got any friends.) while most speakers of AmE employ the form “have” (Do you have a car? He doesn’t have any friends.)

Prepositions.There are also a few differences in the use of prepositions (the first preposition is BrE, the second is AmE): “at / on the weekend,” “in / on a team,” “write to me soon / write me soon.”

One Vocabulary – Different Meanings.Probably the major differences between AmE and BrE are in the choice of vocabulary. Some words mean different things in the two varieties, for example:

BrE

Word

AmE

person of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi origin

Asian

person of Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Philippine origin

amount to pay for a service

bill

a piece of paper currency

person from the Caucus republics: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan

Caucasian

white person

person from the Indian sub-continent

Indian

indigenous American

pleasant

homely

ugly

worn under trousers

pants

worn over underwear

soon

presently

now

fee-paying school

public school

state school

well dressed

smart

clever

drink served hot with milk

tea

drink served cold with lemon

Spelling.American spelling is often simplified, as can be seen from the examples in which the first word is BrE and the second is AmE: colour / color, favourite / favorite, theatre / theater, realise / realize, dialogue / dialog, traveller / traveler, cheque / check, jewellery / jewelry, tyre / tire, and more.

One Meaning – Different Vocabulary.Many words are also used in one form and not in the other. Here are some examples:

BrE

AmE

BrE

AmE

aubergine

eggplant

bureau de change

currency exchange

biscuit

cookie

solicitor

lawyer, attorney

sweets

candy

policeman, bobby

cop

Black or white? (coffee)

With or without?

postman

postal worker / mailman / mail carrier

car park

parking lot

cashier

teller

lorry

truck

Macintosh, Mac

raincoat

petrol station

gas station

Wellington boots

galoshes

block of flats

apartment building

trainers

sneakers

chemist

drugstore

swimming costume

bathing suit

Past Simple / Past Participle Verb Forms. Some English verbs have two acceptable forms of the Past Simple / Past Participle. In BrE, however, the irregular form is generally more common: “burnt, dreamt, leant, learnt, smelt, spelt, spilt, spoilt.” The regular verb form is more common to AmE: “burned, dreamed, leaned, learned, smelled, spelled, spilled, spoiled.”

Get.”The Past Participle of the verb “get” is “gotten” in AmE, for example “He’s gotten much better at playing tennis.” In BrE the Past Participle would be “got” as in the example “He’s got much better at playing tennis.”

As you can see, there are really very few differences between standard BrE and standard AmE, the largest difference being probably the choice of vocabulary.

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