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fluences over the world, and many words were absorbed by British English, such as “get something across( 说服某人相信某事)，”and “talk with somebody(与某人谈话).”After World War II, America was developing greatly in politics, culture, economy, science and technology and exceeded other countries, while Britain gradually was declining. Instead, American English influences British English. (林静，1999：122) For example, “stiff upper lip(镇静沉着)，” “call the shots(有主宰权).” “ lean over backwards for someone(尽力帮助某人).” American English is a kind of language with special pronunciation rules and expression forms. Official language of America was British English. As time goes by, American English and British English have so many differences. Generally, Americans speak very slowly with different tone and stress and do not abide by grammatical rules too much. For example, they often omit prepositions and change nouns into verbs, making the sentences simpler
Ⅲ. Vocabulary differences in American English and British English:
The differences between American English and British English are very complex. In order to understand these differences, we need to research deeply. However, in this part, we mainly discuss three different forms.
A. American English differs from British English when expressing the same thing:
British English----------American English
a half---half a sales girl---shop assistant
caption---heading class book---roll book
vacation---holidays package---parcel
mail---post gas---petrol
baggage---luggage stairway---staircase
B. Some words mean different things in the two varieties.
Words British English American English
mean angry, bad humored not generous
rubber condom tool used to erase pencil
date appointment day
dresser a wardrobe assistant cupboard
C. The spellings are different for same words.
British English American English
colour color
neighbour neighbor
labour labor
analyse analyze
dialogue dialog
catalogue catalog
centre center
theatre theater
1． In American English some words end with –er, while –re in British English, such as meter and metre.
2． In American English some words end with-or, while –our in British English, such as labor, labour; color and colour.
3． In American English some words end with –ize, while –ise in British English,such as memorize, memorise, realize, realise
4． In American English some words begin with in-, while en- sometimes in British English, such as inclose, enclose. inquiry, enquiry.
5． In American English some words end with –se, while –ce in British English, such as defense, defence, license, licence
6． In American English some words only contain one-l, while two in British English, such as traveller, traveler, installment, instalment.
7． In American English some words end with –g, while –gue in British English, such as dialog, dialogue, catalog, catalogue.
8． In American English some compound adjectives ending with –able keep the letter “e”, such as likable(Br.E), likeable(Am.E), lovable(Br.E), loveable(Am.E), sizable(Br.E), sizeable(Am.E).
We should notice that since the 17th century, many new words in American English, such as firebug(纵火犯)，skyrocket(上升) came into being. （郭辉军，卢娟，2007：67）
American English and British English have their own vocabulary, and these special words reflect the politics, culture of each country. As Internet shows, “Vocabulary and phrases of American Eng