American English and British English

American English and British English

The main differences between American English and British English:1.Pronunciation2. Word 3.Different usage

Part 1.Pronunciation Situation:An American comes to visit an Englishman, and

they talk about their school life .

The American says : “The students always play basketball after class.”The Englishman can’t understand his words.

Because there are some differences between their pronunciationsThe students always play basketball after class. In America: [æ ] In England : [ɑ:]

Pronunciation:英语和美语在读音上的差异主要反映在元音字母a, o 和辅音字母r的不同读音上。 1. 元音a:In some words like”ask, can‘t, dance, fast, half, path” Englishmen pronounce [a:],but Americans pronounce [æ] . 2. 元音o:In some words like”box, crop, hot, ironic, polish, spot” Englishmen pronounce [ : ], but Americans pronounce [a]。 So Americans read these words[baks][krap][hat][ai‘ranik][paliJ] 和[spat]。

Pronunciation:3.辅音 r:”r” is the main difference between American English and British English。There is no retroflex(卷舌音) in British English。e.g: car [ka:] [kar]door [d):] [dor]

party [‘pa:ti] [‘parti]board [b):d] [bord]

Let’s see some other words American:

British: Advertisement (ædv r ta zm nt) – Advertisement ( d v :t sm nt) Capillary ( kæp leri) – Capillary (k p l ri) Dynasty ( da n sti) – Dynasty ( d n sti) Dictionary ( d k neri ) – Dictionary ( d k nri ) Garage (g rɑ: ) – Garage ( gærɑ: ) Ghastly ( gæ stli) – Ghastly ( gɑ:stli) – Kilometer ('k l mi:t ) Kilometer (k lɑm t ) Mom (mɑ:m) – Mum (m m) Privacy ( pra v si) – Privacy ( pr v si) Progress ( prɑ:gres) – Progress ( pr gres) Respiratory ( resp r t :ri) – Respiratory (r sp r tri) Schedule ( sked u:l) – Schedule ( edju:l) Tomato (t me to ) – Tomato (t mɑ:t )

Part 2. Words1. DIFFERENT WORDS - SAME MEANING British elevator automobile cookie president freeway soccer American lift car biscuit chancellor motorway football

电梯 汽车 饼干大学校长 高速公路 足球

2.SAME WORD - DIFFERENT MEANINGBritish Fag Period To table sth.a colloquial word for a cigarette menstruation, not a full stop. e.g. to table a motion. To bring an idea or issue up, to suggest it to one's fellows, to put it on the table so that everyone can see it and start to deal with it.

Americana derogatory word for a homosexual man a full stop, (also a length of time or the hour-long lessons into to put an issue or problem aside for later, usually because it's too difficult to deal with.

Tea

often said to mean the evening meal, but also a drink (with jam and bread).

the drink, not a meal.

3.SPELLING

Basically the Americans like to make it as simple as possible - it doesn't take much imagination to figure out why. The British

are more traditional - they like their old fashioned spellings that make things as difficult as possible.

① 英语单词中不发音的词尾：-me,-ueAmerican公斤 kilogram

Britishkilogramme

目录方案

catalogprogram

catalogueprogramme

对话

dialog

dialogue

② 英语中的以-our结尾的单词，在美语中删去了 不发音的字母uAmerican举止 behavior

Britishbehaviour

颜色最爱

colorfavorite

colourfavourite

风味

flavor

flavour

③ 英语中以-re结尾，读音为 /e/ 的单词， 在美语中改为–er结尾，读音不变American 中心 center British centre

纤维公尺

fibermeter

fibremetre

剧场

theater

theatre

④ 英语中某些以-ence为结尾的单词， 在美语中改为-ense结尾，读音仍为 /ns/ American 防御 执照 犯法行为 托词 defense license offense pretense British defence licence offence pretence

⑤英语中的-ise动词在美语中拼写为-ize

American组织 实现 意识到 organize actualize realize

Britishorganise actualise realise

4.Past Simple/Past Participles The following verbs have two acceptable forms of the past simple/past participle in both American and British English; however, the irregular form is generally more common in British English (the first form of the two) and the regular form is more common in American English. British American Burnt OR Burned Burn Dreamt OR Dreamed Dream Leant OR Leaned Lean Learnt OR Learned Learn Smelt OR Smelled Smell Spelt OR Spelled Spell Spilt OR Spilled Spill Spoilt OR Spoiled Spoil