Main Differences in Vocabulary and Grammar between American English and British EnglishⅠ. Introduction
English is widely used in the world. Time magazine recently suggested that by the turn of the millennium, English will be the Lingua Franca for one quarter of the world’s population. Already today sixty percent of the world’s television and radio broadcasts are produced and delivered in English. Seventy percent of the world’s mail is addressed in English. And it is the language of choice for almost every byte 本
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英语论文网www.51lunwen.org整理提供of computer data sent across the globe. As we know, language is a part of culture, and it reflects the characteristic of a nation. Thus, in different countries, even in different regions of the same country, English has many differences. The striking differences happen in American English & British English. This paper mainly discusses differences of vocabulary and grammar between American English and British English.
Ⅱ.There are some reasons that cause the differences.
Though the differences of American English and British English are becoming smaller, their differences still exist. It is very important for English learners to understand these differences. Chen Wei, a famous English teacher of Suzhou University, says, “Language is a part of culture, and language reflects the characteristic of a nation”. American English is different from British English. It also reflects the history background of a nation. USA is a country boasting a lot of immigrants. Since the17th century, so many immigrants have come from Britain. British immigrants reached 4 million since 18th century, and they spoke British English. At the same time more and more immigrants from other countries have come to America, such as Germany and France. In addition, there were some immigrants from Japan and China. They needed to speak English to communicate with each other. Accents of these people had influences over English. People from all around the world spoke different languages with different accents. Therefore, as time goes by, British English and American English have many differences. However, generally speaking, American English is the same as British English, and they merge each other in grammar, vocabulary and so on. At the same time, American English has its own characteristics and is influenced by American culture and nation. As Mark Twain said,” English and American are separate languages….when I speak my native tongue in its utmost purity, an English man can not understand me at all.”(刘桂芬,1994:202).
Before American independence, North America was本
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英语论文网www.51lunwen.org整理提供 a colony of Britain. London was the center of politics and economy and decided the standard of language. At that time, English of colony and English of native country had no difference. After American independence the mood of nationalism gradually grew. Some people thought besides independence of politics, language should get independence. Even some people held the idea that America should regard Greek as native language, but it was unrealistic. In order to show the differences between American English and British English, Americans reformed the pronunciation, spelling and grammar. For example, in America in 1828 Noah Webster wrote “An American Dictionary of the English language” which showed the differences of American English and British English. At the end of World War I, With the development of transportation at sea, America had so large in
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