Главная страница | Контакты | Случайная страница Автомобили Астрономия Биология География Дом и сад Другие языки Другое Информатика История Культура Литература Логика Математика Медицина Металлургия Механика Образование Охрана труда Педагогика Политика Право Психология Религия Риторика Социология Спорт Строительство Технология Туризм Физика Философия Финансы Химия Черчение Экология Экономика Электроника

C. Use of auxiliaries and modals

In British English, the auxiliary do is often used as a substitute for a verb when replying to a question, e.g.:

· A: Are you coming with us?

· B: I might do.

In American English, do is not used in this way, e.g.:

· A: Are you coming with us?

· B: I might.

In British English needn't is often used instead of don't need to, e.g.:

They needn't come to school today.

They don't need to come to school today.

In American English needn't is very unusual and the usual form is don't need to, i.e.:

They don't need to come to school today.

In British English, shall is sometimes used as an alternative to will to talk about the future, e.g.:

I shall/will be there later.

In American English, shall is unusual and will is normally used.

In British English shall I / we is often used to ask for advice or an opinion, e.g.:

Shall we ask him to come with us?

In American English should is often used instead of shall, i.e.:

Should we ask him to come with us?

d. Use of prepositions

In British English, at is used with many time expressions, e.g.:

at Christmas/five 'o' clock

at the weekend

In American English, on is always used when talking about the weekend, not at, e.g.:

Will they still be there on the weekend?

She'll be coming home on weekends.

In British English, at is often used when talking about universities or other institutions, e.g.:

She studied chemistry at university.

In American English, in is often used, e.g.:

She studied French in high school.

In British English, to and from are used with the adjective different, e.g.:

This place is different from/to anything I've seen before.

In American English from and than are used with different, e.g.:

This place is different from/than anything I've seen before.

In British English to is always used after the verb write, e.g.:

I promised to write to her every day.

In American English, to can be omitted after write, i.e.:

I promised to write her every day.

e. Past tense forms

Below is a table showing verbs which have different simple past and past participle forms in American and British English. Note that the irregular past forms burnt, dreamt and spoilt are possible in American English, but less common than the forms ending in -ed.

.

Letters "L", "U", "Z" usage

The spelling differences between American English and British English are likely to be among the most common noticed in every day life. The good news about these differences is that more often than not they follow a recognisable pattern, if not in fact a strict rule. A lot of these patterns are centred around four particular letters in the alphabet: l, s, u and z. The differences in these instances of course are also likely to be but a minor irritation at worst and almost never actually lead to a misunderstanding of the meaning of any particular word.