When we look up a word in a dictionary we'll find the word "BrE' or "AmE" marked behind the very word. "BrE" here means British
english while AmE means American Englis. The word " American
english" was first introduced by Mr. Noah Webster in 1806 . with people emigrating from other counties, such as Germany,
france and
spain, they added new words to AmE. For example "hamburger" and "noodle" are brought from Germany while "potage" and "rapid" from
france.
American
english is becoming more and more dominant and it has a stronger impact on British
english than vice versa. American version of spoken
english is becoming more and more dominant and it has a stronger impact on British
english than vice versa.
When you go to the UK and switch on the TV you will see a lot of American shows, movies and films which, of course, are shown in the original, American version. Thus, especially young people watching TV will learn a lot of American vocabulary and phrases which they easily internalize and use as their own. It follows; modern British
english is much more likely to be influenced by American
english than the other way round because when you live in the US and watch TV you rarely will see a British show or film.
Another area where US
english dominates is international
business. Most globally operating companies are based in the US and hence the influence of American
english terminology is very strong. So I can say that AmE has been more and more popular throughout the
english--speaking countries, especially among the young people. And to a certain extent it has become more common than BrE. The differences between American
english and British
english are somewhat minor and with the ongoing internationalization of our modern world they could even said to be diminishing.
When it comes to spelling British
english has the tendency to keep the spelling of many words of
french origin whereas Americans try to spell more closely to the way they pronounce words and remove letters not needed: American
english write center for centre program for proramme and traveled for travelled
In pronunciation, Americans usually pronounce the letter "r" whereas most British people don't pronounce the letter "r", especially when it occurs at the end of a word. In American
english the words "can" and "can't" sound very much alike while in standard British
english you can clearly make out a difference. (not so in most British made pop songs, though). Americans have a tendency to reduce words by omitting letters. The words "facts" for example sounds in American
english the same as "fax", twenty sounds like tweny -- the "t" is not spoken.
In vocabulary there are some words and terms that are either used only in British or American
english. The American
english for lift is elevator and for trousers are pants
Grammatically in British
english the present perfect is used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present moment. For example:
"She's lost her purse. Can you help her look for it?"
In American
english: "She lost her key. Can you help her look for it?"
British
english uses have got" ("have you got", "he hasn't got while most speakers of American
english use the "have" ("do you have", "he doesn't have" etc.).
Americans tend to use adjectives instead of adverbs. Instead of "That's really good" you might hear them say "That's real good. in American
english there are there are a number of nouns that have a plural form whereas in British
english they are uncountable (they don't have a plural form) in British for example Americans say foods and hairs
to conclude , British and American
english are more similar than they are different. New media and globalization enable more and more people to participate in an active exchange of ideas and experiences and therefore the geographical differences in the versions of
english are becoming less instead of greater.