The differences between British English and American English and their formation history-report of research-based learning project 1. Research background At present, there are hundreds of different languages used in the world, but only one language is widely known on the earth, that is, 75% of the world's postal services use this language; For commerce, diplomacy, science and tourism; The connecting line connecting different races: the consensus of different cultures and nationalities; That's English. Britain is the cradle of English. It is the earliest country where English germinated, and it is also the place where English is used in the purest form. Because American English evolved from British English, Americans have no difficulty in understanding British English, and the language they use is not much different from English from one country to another, or from one country to another, which is why English is one of the international languages. Whether it is British English or American English, in short, we can understand it and achieve the effect of communication, so we are not afraid of either British English or American English! For example, the following conversation: Boy (America): What can I do for you? Girl (English): I want an eraser, please! Boy (American): … Er, an eraser? Please give me 0.5 dollars! Anything else? Girl (English): I want some candy, too. Boy (USA): No problem. All the sweets we sell are sweet. Girl (English): I see, so you sell candy! Second, the purpose of learning is to understand British English and American English, so as to stimulate our curiosity and creativity, cultivate the spirit of exploration and innovation, and make us like English better! Third, research methods: through searching information, using the Internet, libraries, newspapers and magazines to find the required information. Fourthly, the research results are the different characteristics of British English and American English. The differences between British English and American English exist objectively, and English learners will notice them. In fact, there are many kinds of English in the world. Even in the same country, there are regional differences in pronunciation and grammar. The main differences between them are as follows: 1. Syntax 1. Rule number one. When English people use articles, Americans don't. It was Tuesday and he didn't come back to work until Wednesday. (2) Americans use articles, but British people don't. I've been out of the hospital for six weeks. Some parents are talking about letting their children not go to school. Ol。 Some parents in America are talking about not letting their children go to school. 1. Words in daily vocabulary, "British English" and "American English" have their own expressions, which we can see from the comparison table. American English British English American English English English English elevator elevator car biscuit biscuit university president highway football umbrella brolie holiday gasoline gas stove 14 spelling Americans are a pragmatic people, and they also take a pragmatic attitude when spelling their characters. In the development of American English, there was a movement similar to China's simplified spelling movement, in which some silent letters were deleted from the spelling of words. The difference in spelling is another difference between English and American English. (1) Silent suffix in English words: -me, -ue American English American English American English American English KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK American English British English American English British English centre fiber fiber meter theater ④ Some words ending in ence in English are changed to end in ENE in American English, and the pronunciation is still /ns/. American English British English American English British English national defense license license license offensive excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse excuse the verb -ise in English is spelled -ize in American English. American English British English American English British English Organize Realize Organization PS (background): These words still come from French, namely organizer, realiser and réalizer (but due to the evolution of language, the meanings of these words in French are not exactly the same as those in English. For example, the current realization is "realization", and the realization is "upgrading and making it obsolete"; Realize now means "realize", while réalizer becomes "realize"). The pronunciation differences between English and American English are mainly reflected in the different pronunciations of vowel letters A, O and consonant letter R (1) Vowel (1) A: In English, voiced vowels often appear in some unstressed short sounds [a] (such as about) and short sounds (such as computer). Er in American English is rarely voiced, and sometimes voiced vowels are used for short sounds I (such as sentimental and realistic) and U (such as wuss), and even short sounds oo (such as hooker). (The pronunciations of these four examples in English are [i], [i], [u:] and [u] respectively. The pronunciation of voiced vowels is uncertain, but it sounds almost like a hurried pronunciation between "Russia" and "ah". The most representative difference between English and American English is the pronunciation of er. In English, the short voiced er is the voiced vowel mentioned above, while the long voiced er is just an elongated voiced vowel, which sounds like an exaggeration between "Russian" and "ah". In American English, er sounds like "er" (except for vowels in some common sayings). Ar: Except for short sounds (such as singular) and vowels followed by vowels (such as clarity), All English Ars are unified long sounds [a:], while in American it is "al". In fact, whenever there is an R at the end of a syllable, American and British pronunciations are usually different, such as tour (English: spit, beauty: spit), tear (English: kick, beauty: kick) and pair (English: pe, beauty: pe). Even in the clarity just mentioned, there are important differences between English ['kleriti] and American [' kler(er)ti]⑵O: vowels. First, [O] sound: The short sound of O (such as oft) is pronounced as the shortened long sound of O (such as or) in English, while the short sound of American O sounds very similar to the short sound of English [/\]. At the same time, if the long sound of o is followed by r, it is usually children's as mentioned in the previous paragraph, and if it is not (such as plain, apply), it will automatically become. (2) Consonant (1) R: The letter R simply represents all the differences between Britain and America, and it is everywhere. When pronouncing consonants, the difference is that when R is at the end of the first word and the second word begins with a vowel, English takes R as a vowel, while American takes R as the consonant of the initial vowel of the next word. For example, the phrase "clear animation" is pronounced as "clear animation" in English and "clear animation" in America. 5. Date and number expression In terms of date, American, British and British expressions are different. Take the sun first, then the moon, which is British; On the other hand, the American style records the month first and then the date. For example,1March 2, 996, English 2mmarch,1March 2, 996, American style, 1996 ① written in American style, but useless 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Because the written expression of the date is different, the pronunciation is different. For example, April 20 1987, written in Britain as 20 April 20, 1987, pronounced as April 20, 1987; The American expression is1April 20th, 987, and the pronunciation is1April 20th, 987. Similarly, when all dates are expressed in numbers, there are differences between Britain and the United States. 1May 6, 998 should be written as 6/5/98 for English and 5/6/98 for American; 0 1.08. 1998 is British 1998 August 1, but according to American expression, it is 1998 June 5438+0, American1998 August/kloc-. ② Reading method: $65,438+075 ($65,438+075) English reading is A (1) Happy and 75 dollars, American reading is A Happy and 75 dollars, often omitting and; When using the same number to represent numbers continuously, English is used to using double or triple, but Americans generally don't. For example, the telephone number 320 1 12 is pronounced as three two zero, double one two, and American is pronounced as three one two two. 999 234 is pronounced as triple nine two three four in English and nine nine nine two three four in America, but Americans also pronounce three consecutive identical numbers as three plus this number, for example, 999 is pronounced as three nines. Letters English letters are conservative, many British people like to use old-fashioned letters, and the words are more formal and rigid, while American letters are lively and energetic, and the format is relatively simple. Therefore, when we write to Britain or its old colonial countries, we should use standard English. If this letter is addressed to the United States or its areas of influence, we should use American English. Of course, the English language and culture have also changed in recent years, but on the whole, the differences between them are obvious. ① Indentation of the first word of each paragraph in English format is called indentation or sawtooth. American business English letters are generally required to be printed neatly by typewriter or computer, and the left line is vertical, which is called vertical or horizontal. The vertical position and signature are in the left column. This form has been widely adopted by American companies that attach great importance to work efficiency. English letters should be honorific. The most common honorifics are Mr, Mrs and Miss (for unmarried women). English people often use esq. (short for esquire) after men's names, but in business, for more than two women, they are gradually changing into Mr. MMEs (plural form of madam). Messrs (plural form of Mr) is used for more than two people, or for companies or groups composed of more than two people. In British English letters, Mr., Mrs. and Mr. don't need to abbreviate periods. On the contrary, American English, which tends to be progressive and free, uses abbreviations such as Mr, Mrs, Messrs, etc. (3) to address people who are "respected and motivated" or "sincerely motivated" in China. (1) If the letter is addressed to each company unit, not to a specific person. Dear Sirs in Britain and Gentlemen in America (plural form) (2) If there is only one person in the other company, Sir/Dear Sir must be used, and punctuation should be used after the address. The polite expressions at the end of British comma American semicolon (colon) ④ are equivalent to "Salute", "Salute" and "Shun 'an" used at the end of Chinese letters. British idioms "Yours Sincerely", "Best wishes, cordial greetings" and "Yours faithfully" American idioms "Sincerity" and "Sincere greetings" 7. British English often adds "should" to the subjunctive mood, while American English mostly doesn't. In English, have/have not got and in America, have/not have are used to express the meaning of "yes" or "no". What "have to" and "have to" do, in English, is to do something, while in America, it just means to do something; ; Holiday jobs is used for English and summer/temporary jobs; Used in American English. The English expression of "renting a computer" is computer hire, and the American expression is ComputerRental. "Graduation from a school" has different expressions in Britain and America. In the United States, the word "graduate" can be used in any kind of school, such as university/school graduation, while in English, graduate is limited to university graduation and leaving; It's for high school graduation. When talking about the low salary of a company, the usual expression in English is that its salary is very low, while the expression in the United States is that its salary is not very high; ; The English expression "I get along well with my boss" means that I get along well with my boss, but American English uses got have instead of got on. "Raise the price "in English means put up prices and raise prices in the United States; The English expression of "taking a computer course" means taking a computer course, while the American expression means taking a computer course. ⒏ Call (1) If you are an office secretary or operator and you are not the person the other party is looking for, we often say "please wait a moment". Don't hang up in Britain, please don't hang up in America (2) If you ask the other party (such as the operator) to transfer to the manager. Can you put me through to the manager? American, can you put me through to the manager? (9) Tone British people speak in a cadence, with a high tone, which is quite similar to French (but they won't admit it). The British laugh at Americans for speaking weakly and loosely without rhyme. American-Americans speak in a steady and low voice, and sentences are usually in a falling tone and slow. On the other hand, Americans like to laugh at the hysterical and feminine tone of the British. British English and American English have formed three periods of historical English: from July 4500 BC to 1 150 BC, which are full of intonation, because in this period, most of them end with nouns, adjectives and verbs that cannot be weakened. Old English is highly infected, and its complete system has four cases of verbs. Old English grammar is different from modern English grammar in these respects. English period: mid-July, 1 150 to 1500, which is understood as the keynote of the period. The important changes in this period marked English. Norman conquered the root of these changes. The changes in this period had a great influence on grammar and vocabulary. During this period, many old English words were lost, but thousands of words borrowed from French and English words appeared in Latin. In the middle period, English grammatical gender disappeared and was replaced by the natural gender of complete grammatical gender. Modern English Period: Since 1500, there have been three periods of English development in the United States. The first stage: from 1607 to Jamestown colony. During this period, there were about 4 million people in the United States, 90% of whom were from Britain. Phase II: The expansion includes the original 13 colony. This time can be said to be the end of the civil war, about 1860. The arrival of this period marked the arrival of new immigrants from Ireland and Germany. The third period: since the civil war, the important sources of everyone have changed, and European immigrants have come. American English American English (also known as American English) is a form of English used in America. It is the most important language in America. According to the census of 1990, 97% American residents can use English "very well" or "very well", and only 0.8% people don't use English at all, compared with 3.6% in 1890. By 2005, more than two-thirds of native English speakers will use American English. American English began in17th century. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, the North American colonists who were brought to Britain changed from English. The languages they adopted in Britain, that is, the original languages of Elizabeth English, Shakespeare and Milton Bunyan, remained in Britain, but slowly the languages began to change. Sometimes, I will change the language of American English, but sometimes I live in the same place and the language of Britain will change. After the independence of the United States, celebrities such as Jefferson, john adams and Webster began to think that the country should have its own language. English has formed its own characteristics in the United States, reflecting the material conditions and social environment of life. 5. There is not much difference between the research and evaluation of British English and American English. As long as we observe, understand and learn more, we will find many interesting places in English! We are not afraid to distinguish between British English and American English! Like Chinese, English is an ancient language. We should learn English well. 6. Investigation Feeling From this investigation course, I learned the differences between British English and American English, and thus learned the truth of learning through differences and making progress through communication!