American English

1. American English by Tanya Sidorova, ИГЛУ, ТПЛ1-07-01

2. American English differs1 from British English in several important ways: • in matters of vocabulary; • spelling and inflection; • idiom; • grammar; • punctuation. -------------------------------------- 1due to: • uses that disappeared in British English but survived in American English; • or to developments in American English afterit went its own way.

3. Vocabulary • American English is a source of new vocabulary in British English (belittle, OK); • Recently imported Americanisms tend to cause the most disapproval (e.g. verbal forms of nouns such as hospitalize), and whole areas of vocabulary development such as the political correctness movement (challenged -handicapped); • Central heating, miniskirt etc.are British in origin and are now widely used in North America.

5. Spelling and inflection • Simplification of the digraph vowels -ae- and -oe- to -e- (as in ameba and estrogen); • Reduction of final -ogue to -og (as in dialog); Use of: • -ense instead of -ence as a noun ending (as in defense); • -er instead of -re as a noun ending in many words (as in center); • -or instead of -our as a noun ending (as in color); • -z- occasionally instead of -s- (as in cozy); • –l- instead of -ll- in verbal inflection (as in traveler) and converse use of -ll- instead of -l- (as in skillful).

6. Idiom • British English man on the street / American English man in the street; • British English a new lease of life / American English a new lease on life; • British English leave well alone / American English leave well enough alone.

7. Grammar • American English favours the type Did you go? rather than Have you been?, I don't have rather than I haven't got; • There are differences in the way prepositions are used (out the window / out of the window); • American English has retained gotten, an older form of the past participle of get which has fallen out of use in British English.

8. Dates • The recommended style for British English is 5 June 2007, with no comma between the month and year. However, many newspapers, as well as American practice generally, prefer the style June 5, 2007. • In numerical notation, there is an important difference of practice on the two sides of the Atlantic: 5/6/07 means 5 June 2007 in Britain and 6 May 2007 in North America.

9. Sources of information • http://www.answers.com/topic/american-english • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences • http://esl.about.com/od/toeflieltscambridge/a/dif_ambrit.htm • http://www.michigan-proficiency-exams.com/difference-between-british-english-and-american-english.html