"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]
