British and American English

PRE-TEXT NOTES

Standard English – нормативный английский

firmly established ,,, – прочно установившийся

are …exposed to… – подвергаются влиянию …

…may be adopted into… – перейти в …/могут быть

восприняты

pilgrim – a religious person who travels a long

way to a holy place (паломник,

пилигрим, странник)

Puritan – a member of a Protestant religious

group in the 16^th and 17^th centuries,

who wanted to make religion simpler

frequency in speech – частота в речи

listening comprehension – понимание речи на слух

…not registered regionally… – не входят в перечень региональных

различий

Received Pronunciation (RP) – нормативное произношение

to take them into account – принимать их в расчет/во внимание

Standard English is not completely uniform. The most firmly established national varieties of Standard English are British and American. American English usually includes the English of both the United States of America and Canada.

British speakers are constantly exposed to American speech and writing through the mass media. It means that many present American usages may eventually be adopted into British English. But at present, there are rules and norms for American English which are independent of the corresponding rules and norms for British English.

The Russian learners of English, especially those who plan to go to the USA to study or to pursue a specific career goal, must be warned against possible misunderstandings due to differences in British and American English. Even native speakers of British English may meet with this sort of difficulty.

The British first came to the American continent at the beginning of the 17th century. The first permanent English settlement was made in 1607 with the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia. In the north-east the first colony of settlers was Plymouth, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrim Fathers, a group of Puritan emigrants. By the middle of the 18th century 13 colonies were established on the Atlantic coast of North America.

As time went on, Americans began to use different words for the same things. For example, instead of “petrol” Americans use “gas”, instead of “child” they use “kid”, instead of “cinema” they use “movie theater” or “movies”, instead of “note” ( a piece of paper money) they use “bill”. Many usages that were originally Americanisms have been fully integrated into British English: “radio”, “immigrant”, “squatter”, “teenager”, “cold war”, “mass meeting”. But many words and expressions are accepted in Britain as Americanisms: “I guess” = I suppose, consider likely, “to check out” = to examine, “to visit with somebody” = to talk socially with somebody.

Many Americanisms never cross the Atlantic, they are practically never used in Britain: sidewalk (AmE) = pavement (BrE), candies (AmE) = sweets (BrE), faucet (AmE) = tap (BrE).

There are differences in spelling between British and American English. Americans stopped using “u” in words like “colour”, “labour”, “honour”, “behaviour”. They spell “color”, “labor”, “honor”, “behavior”.

The grammatical differences between the two varieties of English, though not very great in number, are important because of their frequency in speech. Here is one example.

The use of “have got” is commoner in British than in American English. Some British speakers use “have got” to express the idea of momentary possession (e.g. Have you got a car? = Вы на машине? = Не подвезете ли меня?) as opposed to habitual possession (e.g. Do you have a car? = У вас вообще есть машина?), but the distinction is disappearing under American influence:

Do you have a car? (momentary possession) (AmE)

Do you have a car? (habitual possession).

Among regular pronunciation differences are the following: the back-advanced long vowel [a:] in such words as “class”, “advance”, “fast”, “past”, in British English regularly changes into the front and short vowel [a] in all these words in American English or the short and back vowel [o] in such words as “college”, “stop”, “dollar” in British English is regularly pronounced as the vowel [a:] in all these words in American English. This affects your listening comprehension.

Within the British standard there are regional varieties in pronunciation. One type of pronunciation that is not registered regionally is Received Pronunciation (RP). It is common among educated British speakers, especially in southern England. The American variety of the British RP represents one common accent used by American educated speakers, radio and television announcers and newsreaders as well as prominent public figures.

Very often differences in British and American English are based on the use of a word in certain types of communicative situations. For example, “gas” used especially in informal conversation in AmE means “something funny” while in BrE when used in informal conversation it means “unimportant talk”:

1 His latest movie is a real gas! = Его последний фильм – забавная вещица. (AmE)

2 Don’t pay any attention, it’s all gas! = Не обращай внимания, это все пустая болтовня. (BrE)

While making efforts to improve your English you must be fully aware of the existing differences between British and American English and take them into account.

UNIT 2

TEXT FOR STUDY: The Subject-matter of Economics (TEXT A)

GRAMMAR GUIDE: 1. THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

2. STRUCTURAL PATTERNS WITH THE

PAST PARTICIPLE (V₃)

3. The use of ECONOMICS and ECONOMY as

countable and uncountable nouns

4. FUTURE FORMS

SPEAKING: Topics: 1. Expressing likes, dislikes and preferences.

2. Future plans, intentions and predictions.

Activity: Questions and answers practice.

SPEAKING TASK: Giving a talk on the topic “The Subject-matter of

economics”

READING: Topic: University Life in Russia and in Great Britain.

Skill: Reading for specific information.

WRITING TASK: Practice in writing an essay and doing PROJECT

WORKS 1 and 2 on the topics “My University” and

“I am a student of the Faculty of Economics”.