3. The grammar system of American English.
The dissimilarities in grammar are scarce.
1. The first distinctive feature is the use of the auxiliary verb will in the first person singular and plural of the Future Indefinite Tense. In British English in this case normative is shall. However, shall is becoming less common than will in British English too. The American I will go there does not imply modality, as in the similar British utterance where it means I am willing to go there, but pure futurity.
2. The second distinctive feature is a tendency to substitute the Past Indefinite Tense for the Present Perfect Tense, especially in oral communication. Thus, in American English, when people talk about something that happened in the past and now is finished, but still has the influence on the present situation they often use Simple Past instead of the Present Perfect, e.g. I lost my key. Can yon help me look for it?
Similarly, the Past Perfect Tense is seldom heard in the USA, it is also replaced by the Past Simple Tense.
This feature is also rather typical of some English dialects.
3. The third prominent distinctive feature is usage of the old forms of the Past Participle of the verb to get: to get-got-gotten, the verb to prove: to prove - proved - proven.
Some other verbs also have different forms of irregular verbs. They are the following:
British English |
American English |
dive-dived – dived fit – fitted – fitted kneel –knelt – knelt quit – quitted – quitted sneak – sneaked – sneaked spit – spat – spat spring – sprang – sprung wake – woke – woken wet – wetted - wetted |
dive – dove – dived fit – fit – fit kneel – kneeled – kneeled quit - quit – quit sneak – snuck – snuck spit – spit – spit spring – sprung – sprung wake – waked – waked wet – wet - wet |
The fourth grammatical peculiarity is that from the two forms that express possession in English the forms have got (have you got, she has got, etc.) are generally preferred in British English on informal occasions while most speakers of American English employ the have (do you have, he does not have, etc.). 'Have' is the only form to be used in formal writing.
There are also a few differences in preposition use including the following:
British English |
American English |
at the weekend Monday to Friday please write to me soon check something do something again fill in a form visit somebody stay at home on behalf of apart from different from |
on the weekend Monday through Friday please write me soon check something out do something over fill out a form visit with somebody stay home in behalf of aside from different than |
There are some other minor divergencies in grammar of American English and British English.
The grammatical system of both variants is actually the same with very few exceptions.
All said above brings us to the conclusion that the language spoken in the USA is in all essential features identical with that spoken in Great Britain.
Thus, the language spoken in the USA can be regarded as a regional variety of English.
Canadian, Australian and Indian English (the English spoken in India) can also be considered regional varieties of English with their own peculiarities.