About the differences between English and American English

1. Differences in word spelling between American English and English

There are two main differences in word spelling between American English and English: one is that the words change so that individual letters Not the same, the other is that American English words are more simplified. The former is like inquire (English) and inquire (American). The first letters of these two words are different. But before the transaction of goods, one party inquires from the other party about the price, quantity, delivery time and payment terms of the goods; the English word for "tire" is tire in the UK and tire in the United States; "pajamas" In British English, it is pajamas, while in American English, it is pyjamas; in British English, "license" and "franchise" are called license, while in American English, "license" is used. These words differ only by one letter, and some have the same pronunciation, while others are similar.

American English words are generally simpler than English words. In recent years, American English has become more and more simplified, fully reflecting the modern characteristics of Americans' efficient and fast life and work. Most of these simpler words originate from English, and a large number of words still maintain their original appearance in English. After entering American English, these words gradually become simpler, making them more convenient to use. For example, the more common word colour, in American English, is spelled color, missing a "u" letter; refrigerator, in American English, is spelled fridge, which is much simpler than the original word in American English. The simplification phenomenon of American English words is the main manifestation of the difference in word spelling between American English and English.

2. Differences in expressions of dates and numbers between American and English

In terms of dates, there are differences in the expressions of dates in American and British English. The British style is to put the day first and the month second. The American style is the opposite, with the month first and the date second. For example, March 2, 1996 is written as follows:

2nd March, 1996 (UK)

March 2, 1996 (US)

In American In the writing method of 1st, 2nd and 3rd, st, nd and rd are not used. Due to the different written expressions of dates, the pronunciation is also different. For example, April 20, 1987, the British way of writing is 20th April, 1987, is pronounced the twentieth of April, nineteen eighty-seven; the American way of writing is April 20, 1987, is pronounced April the twentieth, nineteen eighty-seven . Similarly, there are differences between Britain and the United States when expressing dates entirely with numbers. May 6, 1998 should be written as 6/5/98 in British style, but 5/6/98 in American style; 01.08.1998 is August 1, 1998 in British style, but in American expression it is January 8, 1998, August 1, 1998 in the United States should be written as 08,01,1998.

There are also differences between the two countries in terms of verbal expression of numbers. $175 (175 U.S. dollars) is pronounced as a (one) hundred and seventy five dollars in English, and one hundred seventy five dollars in American English, and is often omitted; when expressing consecutive numbers with the same number, double or triple is used in English, but this is generally not the case in American English. For example, the phone number 320112 is pronounced as three two zero, double one two in English, while in American English it is pronounced as three two zero one one two, 999 234 in English as nine double nine (triple nine) two three four, and in American English it is pronounced as nine Nine nine two three four, but Americans also pronounce three consecutive identical numbers as three plus the plural form of this number, such as 999 as three nines.

3. The difference between American English and English in correspondence

Business or Commercial English Correspondence refers to the communication used in transactions. In the United States, Business writing is commonly used, which includes letters, telegrams, telephone calls, telexes, reports, postcards, etc.

There are certain differences in letter styles between English and American English, such as letterheads and salutations, letter formats, word choice, and ending politenesses. Generally speaking, British letters are more conservative, and many British people like to use old-fashioned epistolary style with more formal and rigid words, while American letters have a very lively and energetic language, and the format is relatively simple. Therefore, when we are writing to the United Kingdom or its old colonial countries, we must use Standard English Queens English; if we are writing to the United States or an area within its sphere of influence, we must use American English.

Of course, British language and culture have also changed in recent years, but overall, the differences between the two are obvious.

Business English letters are generally required to be printed neatly with a typewriter or computer. Each line on the left starts vertically, which is called vertical or block style. This format is commonly used in the United States; each paragraph The first word is indented, which is called indented style or indented style. This format is commonly used in the UK. Vertical job titles and signatures are bounded by the left sidebar. This format has been commonly used by American companies that highly respect work efficiency.

Formal business English letters should include the name and address of the recipient company or the full name, position and address of the recipient above the title, which is called the inside address. There are also two ways to write addresses in letters: vertical and indented. The vertical and American styles put the lines side by side, and the indented or British style puts the lines in sequence. However, the author has noticed that in recent British business letters, the addresses in the letters are not indented sequentially, which seems to be the same as the American style. In addition, there is also a popular way of writing ordinary recipient addresses in the United States, which is to omit the house number and street name in the Inside Address of the letter.

In English letters, honorifics should be used. The most common honorifics are Mr, Mrs and Miss (used for unmarried women). The British often use Esq. (the abbreviation of Esquire) after a male's name, but in business, they are slowly using Mr. Mmes. (the plural form of Madam) for more than two ladies. Messrs (plural form of Mr) is used for more than two men, or for a company or group composed of more than two men. In British English letters, Mr, Mrs, and Messrs are not abbreviated with periods. On the contrary, American English that tends to be more progressive and liberal uses abbreviations with periods, such as Mr., Mrs., Messrs.

4. In terms of titles, the two most common ones in business are Gentlemen (American style) and Dear Sirs (British style), which are equivalent to our country's "Yours sincerely" or "Yours sincerely". If the letter is written to various company units and not to a specific person, use Gentlemen (plural form) in American English and Dear Sirs in English. If there is only one person in the other company, Sir/Dear Sir must be used. Punctuation marks are generally used after the salutation. The British style uses a comma (comma) and the American style uses a semicolon (colon).

There are many complimentary closes at the end of letters, which are equivalent to the sentences such as "salute", "salute", and "shunan" used at the end of letters in my country. The most typical American expressions are Sincerely and Best regards. The typical British expressions are Yours sincerely (acquaintance or know the other person's name), Best wishes, kind regards and yours faithfully (unknown name). In addition, there are special polite formats for British polite expressions, but these are no longer used except in special circumstances.

5. Differences in idioms between American English and English

There are also obvious differences in idioms between American English and English. For example, British English often adds should in the subjunctive tense, while American English mostly does not. To express the concept of "have" or "not", English uses to have/haven't got, and American English uses to have/don't have; "have to" or "must" do something, English uses to have got to do something, in American English just say "to have to do something"; "holiday temporary work" in English is holiday jobs, and American English uses summer/temporary jobs; "renting a computer" in English is computer hire, and in American English is computer rental; "from a certain school" "Graduation" has different expression habits in Britain and the United States. In American English, the word "graduate" can be used for any kind of school, such as graduate from university/school, etc., while in English, graduate is limited to university graduation, and leave is used for high school graduation. ; When talking about a company's low pay, the usual English expression is It was badly paid, while the American English expression is It didn't pay very much; the English expression "I get along very well with my boss" is I got ort very well with my boss, but in American English, "got along" is used to replace "got on" in the sentence; "raise prices" in English is put up prices, and American English is used to raise prices; "on a computer course" in English is "go on a computer course" , in American English we say take a computer course.

6. When talking on the phone, the United Kingdom and the United States also have different ways of expressing themselves. If we are a secretary or operator in an office and are not the person the other party is looking for, we often say "Please wait." , the customary expression in English is hold the line, please, and American English usually uses hold on; if you ask the other party (such as an operator) to transfer to the manager, the English expression is Could you connect me with the manager? American English usually uses the preposition "to" to replace the preposition "with" in the sentence.

1. In terms of words, this mainly means that when English and American English use different words to express the same thing, or the same words are used in English It has different connotations than in American English, and also refers to the difference in usage of the same words. The words used in English and American English are different and involve many small aspects of life. Another example is that in education, the British call it public school. , in the United States, it is called prep school, which refers to a private school sponsored by private individuals, mostly attended by children from wealthy families. Its purpose is to prepare students to enter higher education in the future. Public schools funded by the government in the United States are called council schools in the United Kingdom. , because this type of school is under the jurisdiction of the Education Committee of the County Council. Classes in British schools are called form, while in American schools, boys are called university men. They are called college boys. Teachers in British universities are collectively called dons, while in American universities they are called faculty. In the United Kingdom, sidewalks are called sidewalks. In the United States, wallets are called purses or wallets. Americans call it a pocketbook, while the British call it a memorandum book. Americans call the last dish of a meal dessert, while the British only call the fruit dessert, and the rest are called pudding. . The English and American terms for a joint stock company are also different. In the UK, it is called limited liability, written as Ltd., such as Matsushita Electric Trading Co., Ltd. In American English, it is called incorporated, written as Inc., such as Tandem Manufacturing Inc. and above. These are just a few examples.

2. Pronunciation The difference in pronunciation between English and American English is mainly reflected in the different pronunciations of the vowels a, o and the consonant r

1. In words like ask, can't, dance, fast, half, path, the British pronounce the letter a as [a:], while the Americans pronounce it as [?], so These words become [?sk][k?nt][d?ns][f?st][h?f] and [p?] in the American population.

2, in box. In words such as , crop, hot, ironic, polish, and spot, the British pronounce the letter o as [)], while the Americans pronounce the o as [a], which sounds similar to [a:]. So these words are pronounced [baks][krap][hat][ai‘ranik][paliJ] and [spat] in Americans.

3. Whether the consonant letter r is pronounced in a word is another obvious difference between English and American English. The r syllable in English does not contain the retroflex sound [r], while the r syllable in American English contains the retroflex sound [r]. For example, the following words have different pronunciations in English and American English:

English Pronunciation American pronunciation

car [ka:] [kar]

door [d):] [dor]

river ['riv2] ['riv2r]

party ['pa:ti] ['parti]

board [b):d] [bord]

dirty ['d2ti] ['d2rti ]

morning ['m):ni9] ['morni9]

In English, the letter r is only obvious in the consecutive readings such as far away, for ever, far and wide. is pronounced as retroflex [r]: [fa:r2'wei][f2'rev2][far2ndwaid].

4. In polysyllabic words ending with -ary or -ory, British people usually weakly pronounce a or o, while Americans not only do not weakly pronounce the syllable where a or o is located, With the addition of secondary stress, these words not only have different pronunciations in English and American English, but also obviously different rhythms, for example:

English pronunciation and American pronunciation

dictionary ['dikJ2n2ri] [' dikJ2nori]

laboratory [le'b):r2tri] ['l?br2,tori]

necessarily ['nesis2rili] [,nesi'serili]

preparatory [pri'p?r2t2ri] [pri'p?r2,tori]

secretary ['sekr2tri] ['sekr2,tori]

5, and with -ile In another type of words at the end, British people pronounce the letter i in the final syllable as a long sound [ai]; while Americans pronounce it weakly as [2], for example:

English pronunciation and American pronunciation< /p>

docile ['dousail] ['das2l]

fertile ['f2tail] ['f2rtl]

fragile ['fr?d3ail] ['fr?d32l ]

hostile ['hostail] ['hastl]

missile ['misail] ['mis2l]

In addition, there are some that are difficult to return to The pronunciation of words in this category is also different in English and American English:

English pronunciation and American pronunciation

clerk [kla:k] [kl2rk]

either [ 'ai92] ['i:92r]

figure ['fig2] ['figj2r]

issue ['isju:] ['iJu:]

leisure ['le32] ['li:32r]

neither ['nai92] ['ni:92r]

schedule ['Jedju:l] ['sked32l]

3. In terms of spelling, Americans are a nation that values ??practicality, and they also adopt a pragmatic attitude when it comes to the spelling of their characters. During the development of American English, there was also a spelling movement similar to the Simplified Spelling Movement in my country, which deleted certain letters that were not pronounced in the spelling of words. The difference in spelling is another difference between English and American English. To sum up, there are the following situations.

1. The silent endings -me and -ue in English words are deleted in American spelling.

English spelling American spelling

Kilogram kilogramme kilogram

program program program

catalogue catalog

Dialogue dialog dialog

Prologue prolog

2. For words ending in -our in English, the silent letter u is deleted in American English.

English spelling and American spelling

behaviour behavior

color color

favorite favorite