Lexical differences
Lexical difference of American variant highly extensive on the strength of multiple borrowing from Spanish and Indian languages, what was not in British English.
American variant
|
British variant
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Translation
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Subway
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Underground
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Метро
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the movies
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The cinema
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Кинотеатр
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Shop
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Store
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Магазин
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Sidewalk
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Pavement
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Тротуар
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Line
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Queue
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Очередь
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Soccer
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Football
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Футбол
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Mailman
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Postman
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Почтальон
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Vacation
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Holiday
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каникулы
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Corn
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Maize
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Кукуруза
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fall
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autumn
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Осень
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Also claim attention differences in writing some words in American and british variants of language.
For instance, following:
-
American variant
|
British variant
|
Honor
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Honour
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Traveler
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Traveller
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Plow
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Plough
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Defense
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Defence
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Jail
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Gaol
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Center
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Centre
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apologize
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apologise
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Grammatical difference
Grammatical differences of American variant consists in following:
In that events, when Britainians use Present Perfect, in Staffs can be used and Present Perfect, and Past Simple.
Take a shower / a bath instead of have a shower / a bath.
Shall is not used. In all persons is used by will.
Needn’t (do) usually is not used. Accustomed form don’t need to (do).
After demand, insist, require etc should usually is NOT used. I demanded that he apologize (instead of I demanded that he should apologize in British variant).
to/in THE hospital instead of to/in hospital in British English.
on the weekend / on weekend instead of at the weekend / at weekend.
on a street instead of in a street.
Different from or than instead of different to/from.
Write is used with to or without the pretext.
Past participle of “got” is “gotten”.
To burn, to spoil and other verbs, which can be regular or irregular in the british variant, in the American variant ALWAYS regular.
Past Perfect, as a rule, is not used completely.
Most of the differences in lexis or vocabulary between British and American English are in connection with concepts originating from the 19th century to the mid 20th century, when new words were coined independently. Almost the entire vocabularies of the car/automobile and railway/railroad industries (see Rail terminology) are different between the UK and US, for example. Other sources of difference are slang or vulgar terms, where frequent new coinage occurs, and idiomatic phrases, including phrasal verbs. The differences most likely to create confusion are those where the same word or phrase is used for two different concepts. Regional variations, even within the US or the UK, can create the same problems.
It is not a straightforward matter to classify differences of vocabulary. David Crystal identifies some of the problems of classification on the facing page to his list of American English/British English lexical variation, and states "this should be enough to suggest caution when working through an apparently simple list of equivalents".
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