Peculiarities of British and American variants in the English Language
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, weekend, Monday, etc. to form adverbs denoting repeated or customary action: I used to stay out evenings; the library is closed Saturdays. This usage has its roots in Old English, but many of these constructions are now regarded as American (for example, the OED labels nights "now chiefly N. Amer. colloq."; but to work nights is standard in BrE).
In BrE, the agentive -er suffix is commonly attached to football (also cricket; often netball; occasionally basketball). AmE usually uses football player. Where the sport's name is usable as a verb, the suffixation is standard in both dialects: for example, golfer, bowler (in Ten-pin bowling and in Lawn Bowls), and shooter. AmE appears to sometimes use the BrE form in baller as slang for a basketball player, as in the video game NBA Ballers. However, this is derived from slang use of to ball as a verb meaning to play basketball.
English writers everywhere occasionally (and from time immemorial) make new compound words from common phrases; for example, health care is now being replaced by healthcare on both sides of the Atlantic. However, AmE has made certain words in this fashion that are still treated as phrases in BrE.
In compound nouns of the form , sometimes AmE favours the bare infinitive where BrE favors the gerund. Examples include (AmE first): jump rope/skipping rope; racecar/racing car; rowboat/rowing boat; sailboat/sailing boat; file cabinet/filing cabinet; dial tone/dialling tone; drainboard/draining board.
More generally, AmE has a tendency to drop inflectional suffixes, thus favoring clipped forms: compare cookbook vs. cookery book; Smith, age 40 vs. Smith, aged 40; skim milk vs. skimmed milk; dollhouse vs. doll's house; barbershop vs. barber's shop. This has recently been extended to appear on professionally printed commercial signage and some boxes themselves (not mere greengrocers' chalkboards): can vegetables and mash potatoes appear in the U.S.
Singular attributives in one country may be plural in the other, and vice versa. For example, the UK has a drugs problem while the United States has a drug problem (although the singular usage is also commonly heard in the UK); Americans read the sports section of a newspaper, while the British are more likely to read the sport section. In America, software is referred to as computer codes, whereas the same software in the UK would be computer code., BrE maths is singular, just as AmE math is: both are abbreviations of mathematics.
.4 Social and cultural differences
items that reflect separate social and cultural development.education, Secondary education in the United Kingdom, and Secondary education in the United Statesnaming of school years in British (except Scotland) and American EnglishrangeBritish EnglishAmerican English
NameAlternative nameSyllabusNameAlternative name
- 4Preschool (optional)
NurseryPlaygroupFoundation Stage 1
- 5Primary schoolPreschool
ReceptionInfants receptionFoundation Stage 2Pre-kindergarten
- 6Year 1Infants year 1Key Stage 1Kindergarten
Elementary school
- 7Year 2Infants year 21st grade
- 8Year 3Junior year 3Key Stage 22nd grade
- 9Year 4Junior year 43rd grade
- 10Year 5Junior year 54th grade
- 11Year 6Junior year 65th grade
- 12Secondary schoolMiddle schoolJunior high school
Year 7First formKey Stage 36th grade
- 13Year 8Second form7th grade
- 14Year 9Third form8th grade
- 15Year 10Fourth formKey Stage 4, GCSEHigh school
9th gradeFreshman year
- 16Year 11Fifth form10th gradeSophomore year
- 17Sixth form (optional)11th gradeJunior year
Year 12Lower sixthKey Stage 5, A level
- 18Year 13Upper sixth12th gradeSenior yearthe UK, the US equivalent of a high school is often referred to as a secondary school regardless of whether it is state funded or private. Secondary education in the United States also includes middle school or junior high school, a two or three year transitional school between elementary school and high school.public school has opposite meanings in the two countries. In the US this is a government-owned institution supported by taxpayers. In England and Wales, the term strictly refers to an ill-defined group of prestigious private independent schools funded by students' fees, although it is often more loosely used to refer to any independent school. Independent schools are also known as private schools, and the latter is the correct term in Scotland and Northern Ireland for all such fee-funded schools. Strictly, the term public school is not used in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the same sense as in England, but nevertheless, Gordonstoun, the Scottish private school which Charles, Prince of Wales attended, is sometimes referred to as a public school. Government-funded schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland are properly referred to as state schools - but are sometimes confusingly referred to as public schools (with the same meaning as in the US); whereas in the US, where most public schools are administered by local governments, a state school is typically a college or university run by one of the states.in both the United States and the United Kingdom use several additional terms for specific types of secondary schools. A US prep school or preparatory school is an independent school funded by tuition fees; the same term is used in the UK for a private school for pupils under thirteen, designed to prepare them for fee-paying public schools. An American parochial school covers costs through tuition and has affiliation with a religious institution. In England, where the state-funded education system grew from parish schools organised by the local established church, the Church of England (C. of E., or C.E.), and many schools, especially primary schools (up to age 11) retain a church connection and are known as church schools, C.E. Schools or C.E. (Aided) Schools. There are also faith schools associated with the Roman Catholic Church and other major faiths, with a mixture of funding arrangements.the US, a magnet school receives government funding and has special admission requirements: students gain admission through superior performance on admission tests. The UK has city academies, which are independent privately sponsored schools run with public funding, and which can select up to 10% of pupils by aptitude. Also, in the UK four Local Education Authorities retain selection by ability at eleven. They maintain Grammar Schools (State funded secondary schools) which admit pupils according to performance in an examination (known as the 11+) and Secondary Modern Schools for those who fail. Secondary modern schools are often referred to as High Schools. Grammar Schools cream from 10% to 23% of those who sit the exam. Private schools can also call themselves Grammar schools.the UK, a university student is said to study, to read or informally simply to do a subject. In the recent past the expression 'to read a subject' was more common at the older universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. In the US, a student studies or majors in a subject (although concentration or emphasis is also used in some US colleges or universities to refer to the major subject of study). To major in something refers to the student's principal course of study, while to study may refer to any class being taken.:
"She did biology at Warwick." (informal)
"She studied biology at Cambridge."
"She read biology at Cambridge.":
"She majored in biology at Harvard."
"She concentrated in biology at Harvard."university level in BrE, each module is taught by a lecturer or tutor, while professor is the job-title of a senior academic. In AmE, each class is generally taught by a professor (although some US tertiary educational institutions follow the BrE usage), while the position of lecturer is occasionally given to individuals hired on a temporary basis to teach one or more classes and who may or not have a doctoral degree.word course in American use typically refers to the study of a restricted topic (for example, a course in Early Medieval England, a course in Integral Calculus) over a limited period of time (such as a semester or term) and is equivalent to a module at a British university. In the UK, a course of study is likely to refer to a whole program of study, which may extend over several years, and be made up of any number of modules.termsthe UK, a student is said to sit or take an exam, while in the US, a student takes an exam. The expression he sits for an exam also arises in BrE, but only rarely in AmE; American lawyers-to-be sit for their bar exams, and American master's and doctoral students may sit for their comprehensive exams, but in nearly all other instances, Americans take their exams. When preparing for an exam, students revise (BrE)/review (AmE) what they have studied; the BrE idiom to revise for has the equivalent to review for in AmE.are supervised by invigilators in the UK and proctors (or (exam) supervisors) in the US (a proctor in the UK is an official responsible for student discipline at the University of Oxford or Cambridge). In the UK, a teacher sets an exam, while in the US, a teacher writes or gives an exam.:
"I sat my Spanish exam yesterday."
"I plan to set a difficult exam for my students, but I don't have it ready yet.":
"I took my exams at Yale."
"I spent the entire day yesterday writing the exam. I'm almost ready to give it to my students."source of confusion is the different usage of the word college. (See a full international discussion of the various meanings at college.) In the US, this refers to a post-high school institution that grants either