Difference between British English and American English.docx

Difference between British English and American English.docx

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DifferencebetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish

ThedifferencesbetweenAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglish

Abstract：

BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglisharethetwomajorvarietiesofEnglishintheworldatpresentandtherearemanydifferencesbetweenthem.ThispapertalksaboutthedifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.Thepapermainlyconsistsoffiveparts.Thefirstpartisintroduction.IwillintroducetheoriginanddevelopmentofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglish.Parttwotofouristhemainbody,whichcanbedividedintothreechapters.ThispaperistointroducethespecificdifferencesbetweenBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishinwords,grammar,andpunctuation.Thefinalpartofthearticleisconclusion.ItsummarizesthedifferencesbetweentheBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishandthentalksaboutthesignificantofthispaper.

Keywords:

BritishEnglish;AmericanEnglish;differences;usage;expression;pronunciation

美式英语和英式英语的区别

摘要：

英式英语和美式英语是目前世界上英语的主要两个种类，而两者之间又有许多差别。

本文主要讲述英式英语和美式英语之间的区别。

本文主要由五个部分组成。

第一部分是引言，主要介绍英式英语和美式英语的起源和发展。

第二部分是文章的主体，介绍英式英语和美式英语在词汇，语法和标点方面的具体差异。

最后一部分结论对文章进行总结，并阐释了本文的重要性。

关键词：

英式英语；美式英语；区别；用法；表达法；语音

Contents

NumberofPages:

11

1Introduction.................................................................................................................1

2TheDifferencesinWords............................................................................................

2.1DifferentMeaningsandWordCounterpart..........................................................

2.1.1DifferentWordswithSameMeaning..........................................................

2.1.2SameWordwithDifferentMeanings.........................................................

2.2Spelling.................................................................................................................

2.2.1Suffix...........................................................................................................

2.2.2DifferentSpellingSourcesofCertainWords..............................................

2.3Pronunciation.......................................................................................................

2.3.1Vowels........................................................................................................

2.3.2 Consonants..................................................................................................

2.3.3StressandRhythm......................................................................................

2.3.4Differences inIntonation............................................................................

3TheDifferences in Grammar ..................................................................................... 

3.1Differences in Verbs............................................................................................

3.1.1TheUseofTenses......................................................................................

3.1.2TheUse ofConjunction.............................................................................

3.1.3TheUse ofPreposition..............................................................................

3.1.4TheUse ofPronoun..................................................................................

3.2Differences in TagQuestion................................................................................

4TheDifferences inPunctuation................................................................................

4.1FullStopsandPeriodsinAbbreviations...........................................................

4.2PunctuationforRestrictiveandNon-restrictiveModifiers................................

4.3QuotationMarks.................................................................................................

5Conclusion.................................................................................................................

References.………………………………………...……….……....

ThedifferencesbetweenAmericanEnglishandBritishEnglish

1Introduction

TheearlyinhabitantsoftheislandwenowcallEnglandwereCelts（alsocalledBritons）.In55B.C.BritainwasinvadedbytheRomanconquerorJuliusCaesar.Until410A.D.alltheromantroopsreturnedtothecontinent,thusendingtheRomanoccupationofBritain.Lateron,threetribesfromtheNorthernEuropeinvadedBritainandsettleddownontheisland:

Angles,SaxonsandJutes.

ThehistoryoftheEnglishLanguageisdividedintothreeperiods:

Theperiodfrom450to1150isknownastheOldEnglishorAnglo-Saxonperiod.Itisdescribedastheperiodoffullinflections,sinceduringmostofthisperiodthecaseendingsofthenoun,theadjective,andtheconjugationoftheverbwerenotweakend.

Theperiodfrom1150to1500isknownastheMiddleEnglishperiod.Duringthisperiodtheinflections,whichhadbeguntobreakdowntowardstheendoftheOldEnglishperiod,becamegreatlyreduced,anditisknownastheperiodofleveledinflections.

Theperiodfrom1500tothepresentdayiscalledthemodernEnglishperiod.Alargepartoftheoridinalinflectionalsystemhasdisappeared,anditisknownastheperiodoflostinflections.

Bythemorethan1500years’changes,theEnglishLanguagehasdevelopedfromalocallanguagespokenbyasmallnumberofpeopleinGermanictribestoitspresentpositionasaveryimportantlanguagespokenbyalargenumbersofpeopleallovertheworld.ThewidespreadofEnglishcanduetothedevelopmentofthepolitics,economyandthesociety.

Atthebeginningof17thcenturytheEnglishlanguagewasbroughttoNorthAmericabycolonistsfromEngland.TheBritishpeopleusedthelanguagespokeninEngland,thatis,ElizabethanEnglish,thelanguageusedbyShakespeareandMiltonand

Bunyan.Sincetheseventeenthcentury,thetimeofAmericancolonization,EnglishhasbeenthelanguageoftheUnitedStates.

ThedevelopmentoftheAmericanEnglishcanbesimplyseparatedintothreeperiods:

ThefirstperiodextendsfromthesettlementofJamestownin1607totheendofcolonialtimes.Thistimemaybeputat1787,orat1790.InthisperiodthepopulationinAmericanumberedaboutfourmillion,90percentofwhomcamefromBritish.Thesecondperiodcoverstheexpansionoftheoriginalthirteencolonies.ThisperiodwasmarkedbythearrivalofthenewimmigrantsfromIrelandandGermany.Thethirdperiod,theperiodsincetheCivilWar,ismarkedbyanimportantchangeinthesourcefromwhichtheEuropeanimmigrantscame.ComparingwithBritishEnglish,AmericanEnglishisaspecificdefinitionwhichreflectsAmericanculture,historyandsociety.ItisnotanindependentlanguagebutavarietyofEnglish.

2TheDifferencesinWords

MostofthedifferencesinlexisorvocabularybetweenBritishandAmericanEnglishareinconnectionwithconceptsoriginatingfromthe19thcenturytothemid20thcentury,whennewwordswerecoinedindependently.Thedifferencesmostlikelytocreateconfusionarethosewherethesamewordorphraseisusedfortwodifferentconcepts.Regionalvariations,evenwithintheUSortheUK,cancreatethesameproblems.Fromthemid-20thcentury,moviesandtelevisionhavespreadnewwordsinbothcountries,usuallyfromtheUStotheUK.

2.1DifferentMeaningsandWordCounterpart

Thedifferencesmostlikelytocreateconfusionarethosewherethesamewordorphraseisusedfortwodifferentconcepts.Regionalvariations,evenwithintheUSortheUK,cancreatethesameproblems.Fromthemid-20thcentury,moviesandtelevisionhavespreadnewwordsinbothcountries,usuallyfromtheUStotheUK.

2.1.1DifferentWordswithSameMeaning

BritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishusedbythemajorityofthemeaningofthetermsisthesame,buttherearesomewordsinthereisalargermeaningthedifference.Forexample,thesamethingsinBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishondifferentwordstoexpress.

2.1.2SameWordwithDifferentMeanings

AfterthehistoryofevolutionanddevelopmentofEnglishvocabularyhasbecometheworld'smostabundant,theabilitytoexpressoneofthestrongestlanguages.Englishwordshavetheirowncharacteristics;

2.2Spelling

TherearesetsofregularspellingdifferencesthatexistbetweentheBrEandAmE.SomeareduetoAmericaninnovationsortoovertattemptsatspellingregularization.OtherssimplyreflectthefactthatEnglishspellingwasvariableinearliertimesandthetwovarietieschosedifferentvarietiesastheirstandard.Belowisalistshowingthemajorspellingdifferences..

2.2.1Suffix

Theending-yseisBritishand-yzeisAmerican.Thus,inBritishEnglishanalyse,catalyse,hydrolyseandparalyse,butinAmericanEnglishanalyze,catalyze,hydrolyzeandparalyze.

2.2.2DifferentSpellingSourcesofCertainWords

The -ize spellingisoftenincorrectlyseenasanAmericanisminBritain.However,the OxfordEnglishDictionary （OED）recommends -ize andnotesthatthe -ise spellingisfromFrench:

"Thesuffix...whatevertheelementtowhichitisadded,isinitsorigintheGreek -ιζειν,Latin -izāre;and,asthepronunciationisalsowith z,thereisnoreasonwhyinEnglishthespecialFrenchspellingshouldbefollowed,inoppositiontothatwhichisatonceetymologicalandphonetic."The OED liststhe -ise formseparately,asanalternative.

2.3Pronunciation

TherearesetsofregularPronunciationdifferencesthatexistbetweentheBrEandAmE.SomeareduetoAmericaninnovationsortoovertattemptsatPronunciationregularization.OtherssimplyreflectthefactthatEnglishPronunciationwasvariableinearliertimesandthetwovarietieschosedifferentvarietiesastheirstandard.BelowisalistshowingthemajorP