enrik8
di enrik8
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Concetti Chiave

  • The same word can have different meanings in British and American English, such as "pants" meaning underpants in British and trousers in American English.
  • Some words have additional meanings in one variety, like "bathroom" which can mean a room with just a toilet in American English.
  • Words may differ in style or connotation; "autumn" is common in British but poetic in American English, where "fall" is preferred.
  • The same concept often has different words, such as "queue" in British English and "line" in American English.
  • American English tends to convert verbs into nouns, and collective nouns are used in the singular form, unlike in British English.

Differences in BE and AE

4 main categories:

1. Same word – Different meaning

Pants : Underpants (British)

Trousers (American)

Pavement : Footpath (British)

Road surface (American)

2.Same word – Addition meaning in one variety

Aggiunta di significato

Bathroom: room with bath or shower and sink (British & American)

room with toilette only (American)

Smart: intelligent (British & American)

well-groomed (British)

3.Same word – Difference in style, connotation or frequency of use
ex. Autumn: common use (British)

uncommon and poetic - fall (American)

Quite: negative or neutral (British)

Positive (American)

4.Same concept – Different word

ex. Queue (British only) - Line (American)

Faucet (American only) - Tap (British)

General nouns:

Candidature (British) – Candidacy (American)

Centenary (British) – Centannial (American)

Conversion: tendency to use verbs as nouns en American English

ex. To run down --> The rundown

Collective nouns used as PLURAL in British English

SINGULAR in American English

English as a global language – new form of contact:

• Worldwide phenomenon

• English as lingua franca *Professor David Crystal

Anglicism: word originally English but used too in other languages with same or similar meaning.

• Pseudo Anglicism

• English terms endowed with an “aura”

• Reduction of English terms

• Lengthening of English terms (rare)

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