Module 1

British and American English

Introduction

A joke

A: Let’s play football. We can take one by ourselves. B: OK. [The Next Day] A: I’ve told you to bring football. Why do you bring rugby? B: We called rugby “soccer”. A: Oh, no!

It’s important to have a good

knowledge of English.

From these we can see there are differences between British and American English.

First, let’s listen to a radio program selected from China Radio International.

Discuss what’s the difference between American and British English.

Read some quotations and answer the question.

“We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except of course, language.”

Oscar Wilde, 19th century writer

Henry Sweet, 19th century linguist

“Within a century British and American English speakers will not be able to understand each other.”

George Bernard Shaw, 20th century writer

“America and England are two countries divided by a common language.”

Dave Sperling, founder of Dave’s

ESL Cafe

“It doesn’t make much of a difference whether a teacher speaks British or American English.”

What is the topic of the quotations?

The difference between British and American English.

British English

American English

&

There are some differences between American English and British English.

British English American English

spelling

pronunciation

words

colour, color,favourite, favorite,theatre,

theater,centre, center,travelled, traveled,metre meter

ask dance wheel

not box

post mailfilm movie

shop storeI think I guess

电梯汽油公寓秋天地铁大学垃圾

垃圾箱假日

两星期

British English American Englishwords

lift elevatorpetrol gas

flat apartment

autumn fall

underground subway

university college

rubbish garbage

dustbin trash can

holiday vacation

fortnight two weeks

There are two e-mails in the

textbook. Read the e-mails and

decide which writer is American.

The second writer is American.

Some of the reasons we know are:

British English American English

Mum Mom

programme program

theatre theater

realised realize

write to me write me

• What do you expect British

and American English to be like?

• Are you optimistic or pessimistic

about the British and American

English?

Cultural Corner

Have you ever used this dictionary before?

Do you know who writes it?

Noah Webster

a teacher who graduated from Yale University in 1778

Read the passage and answer the questions.

1. What reasons did Webster have

for writing an American dictionary?

He wanted to simplify the spelling

of English and make it look

different from British English.

2. Can you see any similarities between Webster’s work and attempts to simplify Chinese?

The work of simplifying Chinese has made it convenient for people to read, understand and use the Chinese language. So has Webster’s work for American people.

Language points

• We have really everything in common with America nowadays.

have … in common 有…共同之处

I have nothing in common with Jane.

They have something in common in this connection.

• It doesn’t make much of a difference whether a teacher speaks British or American English.

make a difference 有影响，起 ( 重要 ) 作用

The sea air has made a difference to her health.

If you do so, it will make a great difference.

make no difference 没有关系，没有重要性

It makes no difference to me whether you go or not.

Whether he is here or not will make no difference to our work.

• For Americans things are a little bit easier, thanks to the work of Noah Webster, a teacher who graduated from Yale University in 1778.

thanks to 多亏 , 幸亏

Thanks to his help, or I can’ t make a progress.

It was thanks to your timely help that we accomplished the task on time.

• As a young man he had fought against the British in the American War of Independence, …

fight against 和…作斗争

We must all fight against cruelty and unfairness.