Funny Harold. Well put. Kevin
On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 11:43 AM, Harold Fuchs <[email protected]> wrote: > > "McLauchlan, Kevin" <[email protected]> wrote in message > news:d1e2c829c5011e4a84daf8a184dd7cdac2b20...@bel1exch02.amer.sfnt.local... > > <snip> > >> Are there actual grammar differences of note between >> Brit English and Yank English? > >> Spellings, to be sure. Word choices, certainly. Phrasing. >> But grammar? > > "We Brits say "Joe said on Wednesday that he would break the record"; you > Yanks say "Joe said Wednesday that he would break the record". The "on" is > necessary to a Brit. > > You Yanks say "He jumped off of the bridge". We Brits think that's > completely wrong - the "of" shouldn't be there. To be fair, some Yanks think > it's wrong too but you see it in "respectable" newspapers, journals etc. and > you hear notionally well educated Yanks saying it. A notionally well > eductaed Brit wouldn't say it and you wouldn't see it in a "proper" > newspaper. > > In UK English the word momentarily means *for* a short time; in US English > it means *in* a short time. So to us Brits "The light will go on > momentarily" means the light will flash; to you Yanks it means it will come > on soon with no implication that it will go off again. (Is that grammar?) > > There are many others. See for example > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Grammar> > or <http://esl.about.com/od/toeflieltscambridge/a/dif_ambrit.htm> > > > -- > Harold Fuchs > London, England > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
