The Differences between American English and British English.doc

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1、The Differences between American English and British English美式英语与英式英语的区别 The Differences between American English and British EnglishThe spelling of themn In the United States development of language, spelling have occurred in a similar movement of our simplified characters (The simplified Spelling

2、Movement), delete the word spelling in some of the letters are not pronounced. 1、英语单词中不发音的词尾-me, -ue在美语拼写中被删除。n British American n 公斤 kilogramme kilogramn 方案 programme programn 目录 catalogue catalog n 对话 dialogue dialog n 序言 prologue prolog2、英语中的以-our结尾的单词，在美语中删去了不发音的字母u。n British American 举止、行为 beha

3、viour behavior n 颜色 colour color 特别喜爱n favourite favorite 风味 flavour flavor n 荣誉 honour honor n 劳动 labour labor 3、英语中以-re结尾，读音为2的单词，在美语中改为-er结尾，读音不变。 n British Americann 中心 centre center n 纤维 fibre fiber n 公尺 metre meter 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。 n British Americann 防御 defence defen

4、se n 犯法行为 offence offensen 执照 licence license n 托词 pretence pretense n 剧场 theatre theater 5、英语中以-ise结尾的动词，美语中则拼作-ize。n 例如：n British American n 批评 criticise criticize n 组织 organise organize n 实现 realise realizen 辨认 recognise recognize n 使标准化 standardise standardize 6、英语中以双写-ll-拼写的部分词，在美语中只有一个-l-，例如：

5、n British Americann 地方议员 councillor councilor n 顾问 counsellor counselor n 珠宝商 jeweller jeweler n 奇异的 marvellous marvelous n 包裹 parcelled parceled n 旅行 travelling traveling 7、英语中以- xion-kJ2n结尾的词，美语中拼作-ction，读音不变。 n British Americann 联系 connexion connection n 弯曲 inflexion inflection n 反射 reflexion ref

6、lection 8、除以上几类词的拼写不同外，也还有一些常见的，在英语和美语中拼写各异的无法归类的词。例如： n British Americann 支票 cheque check n 监狱 gaol jail n 路边的镶边石 kerb curb n 小胡子 moustache mustache n 犁 plough plow n 睡衣裤 pyjamas pajamas n 怀疑的 sceptical skeptical n 橡皮 erarer rubberThe different uses of them 一、Noun.l 1、美国英语将其他词类名词化的倾向比英国英语更为明显，特别是那些

7、带介词的短语动词：to cook out a cook-out ;to know how the know-how; to run down the rundown; to be shut in a shut-in; to stop over the stopover等 l 2、集合名词做主语时，英国英语的谓语动词可以是单数形式或者复数形式，美国英语几乎总是用单数形式。例如：BE ：They are a family who has been very influential in the history of this country. AE/BE: The committee has de

8、cided to look into the matter further.名词作定语时，美国英语多用单数形式，而英国英语则常用其复数形式。例如：BE：The worker decided to form a new trades union. AE: The worker decided to form a new trade union. 二、Verb.l 动词 have ,get, make 当动词have有致使之意时，美国用have;英国对上级用get,对下级用make.英语中的to have 是个词性不明确的动词。英国人既把它用作助动词又把它用作实义动词；美国人则一律将它当作实义动词

9、来用。例如：BE: I will get someone come.AE: I will have someone come. 三、Adj.在美国英语中，形容词的比较可以跟在all the 之后，表示强调。而英国英语则使用any 加形容词比较级这一形式来表示强调。例如：BE: Cant you do any better than that? AE: Is that all the better you can do? 四、Simple Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense 表示距现在不远的过去所发生或完成的事情，英国英语常用现在完成时，则美国英语则倾向于使

10、用一般过去时。例如：BE：I have studied your report already.AE：I studied your report already.BE：Now I know what it is! Ive forgotten its name.AE：Now I know what it is! I forgot its name. l 另外：美语与英语在习惯用法上也存在着明显的差异。比如，英国英语在虚拟式中往往要加should，而美语大都不用。表示有或没有的概念，英语用to have/havent got，美语则用to have/dont have；不得不、必须做什么，英语用t

11、o have got to do something，美语只须说to have to do something； Differences in vocabularyn Past Simple/Past Participlesn 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 Eng

12、lish (the first form of the two) and the regular form is more common to American English. n Dreamdreamt OR dreamedn Leanleant OR leanedn Learnlearnt OR learnedn Smellsmelt OR smelledn Spellspelt OR spelledn Spillspilt OR spilledn BurnBurnt OR burned Prepositionsn American English - on the weekendBri

13、tish English - at the weekendn American English - on a teamBritish English - in a teamn American English - please write me soonBritish English - please write to me soon AMERICAN ENGLISHn Buildings in Generaln apartment buildingn second floorn apartmentn first floorn elevatorn Household Furnituren co

14、tn dressern cribn closetn drapesn hutchUSA - UK differencesBRITISH ENGLISHn Buildings in Generaln block of flats n first floor n flat n ground floorn lift n Household Furnituren camp bed n chest of drawers n cot n cupboard n curtains n dresser (for plates, dishes)The pronunciation of them n Differen

15、ces in pronunciation between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) can be divided into:n Differences in accent (i.e. phoneme inventory and realisation). See differences between General American and Received Pronunciation for the standard accents in the United States and Britain; for infor

16、mation about other accents see regional accents of English speakers. n Differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the lexicon (i.e. phoneme distribution). In this article, transcriptions use Received Pronunciation (RP) to represent BrE and General American (GAm) and to represent AmE.Str

17、essate and atoryn Most 2-syllable verbs ending -ate have first-syllable stress in AmE and second-syllable stress in BrE. This includes migrate, placate, prostrate, pulsate, rotate, spectate, striated, vacate, vibrate; in the case of cremate, narrate, placate, the first vowel is in addition reduced t

18、o / in BrE. Examples where AmE and BrE match include create, debate, equate, elate, negate, orate, relate with second-syllable stress; and mandate and probate with first-syllable stress. Derived nouns in -ator may retain the distinction, but those in -ation do not. Also, migratoryA2 and vibratory re

19、tain the distinction. Longer -ate verbs are pronounced the same in AmE and BrE, but a few have first-syllable stress in BrE and second-syllable stress in AmE: elongate, remonstrate. However, some derived adjectives ending -atory have a difference, as stress shifting to -at- can occur in BrE. Among t

20、hese cases are regulatoryB2, celebratoryA2, participatoryB2, where AmE stresses the same syllable as the corresponding -ate verb; and compensatory, where AmE stresses the second syllable.n A further -atory difference is laboratory: AmE /lbrtri/ and BrE /lbrt()ri/.Affixesn -ary -ery -ory -bury, -berr

21、y, -mony Where the syllable preceding -ary,-ery or -ory is stressed, AmE and BrE alike pronounce all these endings /ri/. Where the preceding syllable is unstressed, however, AmE has a full vowel rather than schwa: /ri/ for -ary and -ery and /ri/ for -ory. BrE retains the reduced vowel /ri/, or even

22、elides it completely to /ri/. (The elision is avoided in carefully enunciated speech, especially with endings -rary,-rery,-rory.) So military is AmE /mltri/ and BrE /mltri/ or /mltri/.n Note that stress differences occur with ending -atory (explained above) and a few others like capillary (included

23、above). A few words have the full vowel in AmE in the ending even though the preceding syllable is stressed: library, primaryA2, rosemary. Pronouncing library as /labri/ rather than /labrri/ is highly stigmatized in AmE, whereas in BrE, /labri/ is common in rapid or casual speech.n The placename com

24、ponent -bury has a similar difference after a stressed syllable: AmE /bri/ and BrE /br/ or /br/. The ending -mony after a stressed syllable is AmE /moni/ but BrE /mn/. The word -berry in compounds has a slightly different distinction: in BrE, it is reduced (/bri/ or /bri/) after a stressed syllable,

25、 and may be full /bri/ after an unstressed syllable; in AmE it is usually full in all cases. Thus, strawberry is BrE /strbri/ but AmE /strbri/, while whortleberry is BrE /wtlbri/ -ilen Words ending in unstressed -ile derived from Latin adjectives ending -ilis are mostly pronounced with a full vowel

26、(/al/) in BrE but a reduced vowel /l/ or syllabic /l/ in AmE (e.g. fertile rhymes with fur tile in BrE but with turtle in AmE). This difference applies: generally to agile, docile, facile, fertile, fissile, fragile, futile, infertile, missile, nubile, octile, puerile, rutile, servile, stabile, steri

27、le, tactile, tensile, virile, volatile; usually to ductile, hostile, (im)mobile (adjective), projectile, textile, utile, versatile; not usually to decile, domicile, infantile, juvenile, labile, mercantile, pensile, reptile, senile; not to crocodile, exile, gentile, percentile, reconcile; nor to comp

28、ounds of monosyllables (e.g. turnstile from stile).Related endings -ility, -ilize, -iliary are pronounced the same in AmE as BrE. The name Savile is pronounced with (/l/) in both BrE and AmE. Mobile (sculpture), camomile and febrile are sometimes pronounced with /il/ in AmE and /al/) in BrE. Imbecil

29、e has /al/ or /il/ in BrE and often /l/ in AmE.-inen The suffix -ine, when unstressed, is pronounced sometimes /an/ (e.g. feline), sometimes /in/ (e.g. morphine) and sometimes /n/ (e.g. medicine). Some words have variable pronunciation within BrE, or within AmE, or between BrE and AmE. Generally, Am

30、E is more likely to favour /in/ or /n/, and BrE to favour /an/: e.g. adamantineA2, carbine, crystallineA2, labyrinthine, philistine, serpentineA2, turbineA2. However, sometimes AmE has /an/ where BrE has /in/; e.g. iodineB2, strychnineA2.Weak formsn Some function words have a weak form in AmE, with a reduced vowel used when the word is unstressed, but always use the full vowel in RP. These include: or ; you j; your j.n On the other hand, the titles Saint and Sir before a persons name have weak forms in BrE but not AmE: before vowels, snt and sr; before consonants, sn and s.6