The differences and formation history of British and American English - Research study project report 1. Research background There are hundreds of different languages ????used in the world, but there is only one language that is widely used on the earth. Be understood, that is what 75% of the world's postal services use; what is used in commerce, diplomacy, science and tourism; what connects different peoples: a common understanding between various cultures and different nationalities; that That's English. The UK is the cradle of English, the country where English first sprouted, and the place where the purest form of English is used. Because American English evolved from British English, Americans don't have any difficulty understanding British English, and the ones they use when going from one place in the country to another, or from one country to another. There is not much difference between the language and English, that is why English is one of the international languages. Whether it is British English or American English, in short, we can understand it clearly and achieve the effect of communication, so we don’t have to worry about whether it is British or American English! For example, the following conversation: Boy (American): What can I do for you? Girl (britan): I'd like a piece of rubber, please! Boy (American):…Er, a piece of eraser? 0.5 dollar, please! Anything else? Girl (Britan): I'd like some sweets, too. Boy (American): No problem. All the candy we sell is sweet. Girl (Britan): I see, so you sell sweet sweets! 2 , Research purpose: Understand British English and American English, thereby stimulating our curiosity and creativity, cultivating the spirit of exploration and innovation, and making us like English more! 3. Research methods: through querying information, using the Internet, libraries, newspapers and magazines, etc. required materials. 4. Research results The different characteristics of British and American English The difference between British English and American English exists objectively. People who learn English will notice the difference between the two. In fact, there are many types of English in the world. Even in the same country, there will be regional differences in pronunciation and grammar. The main differences between the two are as follows: ⒈ Grammar ① Article ⑴ While the British use the article, the Americans do not. British It was a Tuesday and he wasn't back at work until the Wednesday. ⑵ When Americans use articles, British people don't. British I had been out of hospital for six weeks. ② Preposition British at the weekend American on the weekend British Some parents are talking about keeping their children off school. American Some parents are talking about keeping their children out of school. ⒉ In the daily vocabulary of words, "British English" and "American English" each have expressions, which we can see from the comparison table. american english british english american english british english elevator elevator lift car automobile car cookie cookie biscuit university president president chancellor highway freeway motorway soccer soccer football umbrella umbrella umbrella brollie vacation vacation vacation gasoline gas, gasoline petrol stove cooker stove ⒊ spelling American is a People who pay attention to practicality also adopt a pragmatic attitude in the spelling of their characters. During the development of American English, there was also a spelling movement similar to the simplified spelling movement in our country (The simplified Spelling Movement), which deleted certain letters that were not pronounced in the spelling of words. The difference in spelling is another difference between English and American English.

① Silent word endings in English words: -me, -ue American English British English American English British English kilogram kilogramme catalog catalog program program program dialogue dialogue prolog prologue ② Words ending with -our in English, In American English, the silent letter u has been deleted. American English British English American English British English behavior behavior color color color favorite favorite flavor flavor honor honor ③ In English, it ends with -re and is pronounced as Words with /e/ are changed to –er ending in American English, and the pronunciation remains unchanged. American English British English American English British English center center fiber fiber meter meter theater theater theater ④ Some words ending with -ence in English are changed to -ense ending in American English, and are still pronounced as /ns /. American English British English American English British English defense defense defense license license licence offense offence pretense pretence ⑤The -ise verb in English is spelled -ize in American English. American English British English American English British English organization organize organize realize actualize actualise realize realize realize organization organization PS (Background): These words still come from French, namely organizer, actualiser, réaliser (but because of the evolution of language, The current meaning of these words in French is not exactly the same as the current meaning of these words in English. For example, actualise now means "realization", and actualiser is "upgrading so as not to become obsolete"; realize now means "realization" , and réaliser becomes "implementation"). ⒋ Pronunciation The difference in pronunciation between English and American English is mainly reflected in the different pronunciations of the vowels a, o and the consonant r. ① Vowels ⑴ a: In English, muddy vowels often occur in some unstressed short sounds [a] (such as about) and short sounds er (such as computer) in single vowels. The er in American English rarely has a muddy vowel, and sometimes the short sound i (such as sentimental, actuality) and u (such as wuss), and even the short sound oo (such as hooker) adopt the muddy vowel. (The pronunciations of these four examples in English are [i], [i], [u:], [u] respectively.) The pronunciation of the muddy vowel is variable, but it sounds almost like a sharp sound between "Russian" and "Russian". ” and “ah” pronunciation. The most representative difference between the pronunciation of English and American English is the difference in the pronunciation of er. In English, the short er is a muddy vowel as mentioned above, but the long er is just an elongated muddy vowel, which sounds like a very exaggerated sound between "Ru" and "Ah" . In American English, er always sounds like a "son" sound (the exception is that it is pronounced as a muddy vowel in some common sayings). ar: Except for short sounds (such as singular) and followed by vowels (such as clarity), English ar is all long sound [a:], while in American English, it is "Al". In fact, whenever there is an r at the end of a syllable, the pronunciation in the United States and Britain is usually different, such as tour (English: spit, American: spit), tear (English: kick, American: kick), pair (English: pe, American: pe'er). Even in the clarity just mentioned, English ['kleriti] and American English ['kler(er)ti] ⑵ O: There is another important difference in the pronunciation of vowels. One is the [o] sound: the short sound o (such as often) is only pronounced as a shortened long sound o (such as or) in English, while the American short sound o sounds like the English short sound [/\] It is very similar. At the same time, if there is an r after the long sound o, it is usually r-r as mentioned in the previous paragraph. If there is not (such as plausible, applause), it will automatically become a short o sound. ② Consonants ⑴ r: The letter r simply represents all the differences between Britain and the United States, it is everywhere. When making consonants, the difference is actually that when r is at the end of the first word, and the second word starts with a vowel, English treats r completely as a vowel, while American English treats r as the following one. The consonant of the vowel at the beginning of a word, such as the phrase clear animosity, will be pronounced clear|animosity in English, and clear-ranimosity in American English.

⒌ Expression of dates and numbers In terms of dates, there are differences in the expressions of dates in the United States and Britain. The British style is to put the day first and the month second. The American style is the opposite, with the month first and the date second. For example, the writing of March 2, 1996: British 2nd March, 1996 American March 2, 1996 ① Writing In American writing, the st, nd, and rd of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd are not used. Due to the different written expressions of dates, the pronunciation is also different. For example, April 20, 1987, the British way of writing is 20th April, 1987, is pronounced the twentieth of April, nineteen eighty-seven; the American way of writing is April 20, 1987, is pronounced April the twentieth, nineteen eighty-seven . Similarly, there are differences between Britain and the United States when expressing dates entirely with numbers. May 6, 1998 should be written as 6/5/98 in British style, but 5/6/98 in American style; 01.08.1998 is August 1, 1998 in British style, but in American expression it is January 8, 1998, August 1, 1998 in the United States should be written as 08,01,1998. ② Pronunciation $175 (175 US dollars) is pronounced as a (one) hundred and seventy five dollars in English, and one hundred seventy five dollars in American English, and is often omitted; when expressing numbers with the same consecutive digits, double or triple is used in English, and in American English Generally it is not used this way. For example, the phone number 320112 is pronounced as three two zero, double one two in English, and three two zero one one two, 999 234 in American English as nine double nine (triple nine) two three four. It is pronounced nine nine nine two three four, but Americans also pronounce three consecutive identical numbers as three plus the plural form of the number, such as 999 as three nines. ⒍ Letters British letters are more conservative. Many British people like to use old-fashioned epistolary style and use more formal and rigid words. However, American letters have a very lively and energetic language and a simpler format. Therefore, when we are writing to the United Kingdom or its old colonial countries, we must use Queens English; if we are writing to the United States or an area within its sphere of influence, we must use American English. Of course, British language and culture have also changed in recent years, but overall, the differences between the two are obvious. ① Format British style The first word of each paragraph is indented, which is called indentation or zigzag style. American business English letters are generally required to be printed neatly on a typewriter or computer, with each line on the left beginning vertically, which is called vertical or flush style. Vertical job titles and signatures are bounded by the left sidebar. This format has been commonly used by American companies that highly respect work efficiency. ② Honorific terms should be used in English letters. The most common honorific terms are Mr, Mrs and Miss (used for unmarried women). The British often use Esq. (the abbreviation of Esquire) after a male's name, but in business, they are slowly using Mr. Mmes. (the plural form of Madam) for more than two ladies. Messrs (plural form of Mr) is used for more than two men, or for a company or group composed of more than two men. In British English letters, Mr, Mrs, and Messrs are not abbreviated with periods. On the contrary, American English that tends to be more progressive and liberal uses abbreviations with periods, such as Mr., Mrs., Messrs. ③ The title is equivalent to "Your Respect" or "Your Respect" in my country. ⑴ If the letter is written to various company units, not to a specific person. British Dear Sirs American Gentlemen (plural form) ⑵ If there is only one person in the other company, Sir/Dear Sir must be used, and punctuation marks are generally used after the salutation. British comma (comma) American semicolon (colon) ④ Ending polite words are equivalent to the sentences such as "salute", "salute", and "shunan" used at the end of letters in our country. British Yours sincerely (acquaintance or know the other person's name), Best wishes, kind regards and yours faithfully (unknown name) American Sincerely and Best regards ⒎ Idioms British English often adds should in the subjunctive tense, but most American English does not use it.

To express the concept of "have" or "not", English uses to have/haven't got, and American English uses to have/don't have; "have to" or "must" do something, English uses to have got to do something, in American English just say "to have to do something"; "holiday temporary work" in English is holiday jobs, and American English uses summer/temporary jobs; "renting a computer" in English is computer hire, and in American English is computer rental; "from a certain school" "Graduation" has different expression habits in Britain and the United States. In American English, the word "graduate" can be used for any kind of school, such as graduate from university/school, etc., while in English, graduate is limited to university graduation, and leave is used for high school graduation. ; When talking about a company's low pay, the usual English expression is It was badly paid, while the American English expression is It didn't pay very much; the English expression "I get along very well with my boss" is I got ort very well with my boss, but in American English, "got along" is used to replace "got on" in the sentence; "raise prices" in English is put up prices, and American English is used to raise prices; "on a computer course" in English is "go on a computer course" , in American English we say take a computer course. ⒏ Talking on the phone ① If you are an office secretary or operator and are not the person the other party is looking for, we often say "please wait". British hold the line, please American hold on ② If you ask the other party (such as the operator) to transfer it to the manager. BritishCould you connect me with the manager? AmericanCould you connect me to the manager? ⒐ Tone British The British have a cadence and high-pitched tone, which is quite similar to French (but they will not admit it), and the British laugh at Americans for speaking weakly, loosely and without rhythm. American Americans speak in a relatively steady and low tone, with sentences usually in a falling tone and at a slower pace. Americans love to laugh at the slightly hysterical, effeminate tone of the British voice. History of the Formation of British and American English Three Periods of English Old English: July 4500 to 1150 BC This period is full of intonation descriptions, because during this period most of the cases ended with the conjugation of nouns, adjectives and verbs that cannot be weakened. Old English language is a highly infected language and it has a complete system of four case delensions of verbs, Old English grammar differs from modern English grammar in these respects. English period: mid-July 1150 to 1500 It is understood that as period intonation. This period marked important changes in the English language. The Norman conquests were the source of these changes. The changes of this period had a huge impact 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. During the Intermediate Period English grammatical gender disappeared and was replaced by full grammatical natural gender. Modern English Period: 1500 to the present day Three periods of English development in the Americas Period 1: From 1607 to the settlement of Jamestown At the end of the colonial era, during this period, the United States had approximately 4 million people, 90% of whom came from Britain . Phase II: Expansion to include the original 13 colonies. This time, it can be said to coincide with 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 issue: Since the Civil War, European immigrants have changed their main origin. American English American English (American English or U.S. English, also known as American English) is a form of English used in the United States. It is the most dominant language in the United States. According to the 1990 Census, 97% of U.S. residents spoke English "well" or "very well" and only 0.8% spoke no English at all, compared with 3.6% in 1890. By 2005, more than two-thirds of native English speakers used American English. American English began in the 17th century. In the early 17th century, English was brought to North America by the colonists from English. They adopted the language in England, that is, the English language of Elizabeth Shakespeare and Milton Banyan. At first, the same language remained in England, but slowly the language began to change. Sometimes the language of American English changes, but sometimes the language of England changes while living in the same location. After the independence of the United States, celebrities like Jefferson, John Adams, and Webster began to believe 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. Research and Evaluation There is no big difference between British and American English. As long as we observe more, understand more, and research more, we will find that there are many interesting things in English! We will not be afraid of the differences between British and American English. Difference! English, like Chinese, is an ancient language. We should learn English well.

6. Research experience From this research course, I learned about the differences between British and American English, and thus learned how to learn from the differences and make progress through communication!