Tomato, tomato? Video: British vs. American English a) Warm-up: Read the statements below and say if you agree (A) or disagree (D). b) Watch the video and then tick the correct box. The video says that British and American English are two completely different languages. The video shows different opinions about British and American English. The video suggests that American English is easier to learn than British English. c) Read the article about the differences between British and American English, and use the information to complete the table below. 55c54n 7 639tz5 Most people around the world prefer American English. British English is easier to understand than American English. People from the UK and the USA have a hard time understanding each other. There is an old saying that Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language. But are their languages really so different? The biggest difference between British and American English is the vocabulary; there are hundreds of everyday words that are different, e.g. Brits go on holiday, while Americans go on vacation. Londoners live in flats, and New Yorkers in apartments. Brits take the underground, Americans the subway. In Britain they take the rubbish out, in America the trash. Despite these differences in vocabulary, people from the two countries usually understand each other quite well. Speakers of British English use other past and past participle verb forms than Americans. The irregular forms burnt, dreamt, and spoilt are possible in American English, but not very common. More often they are spelled burned, dreamed and spoiled. And lastly, there are also a lot of different spelling rules between British and American English, as for example the endings -our Brit. / -or US and -re Brit. / -er US. And some words are altogether shorter in American English, such as dialogue Brit. = dialog US. 5 10 burned color colour dialogue dreamed dreamt pupil rubbish student subway theater theatre underground trash British English American English dreamed 116 14 Unit It’s all about language one hundred and sixteen Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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