British English or American?


Compulsory assignment

"You say tomato and I say tomato..."

Bookstore or bookshop?
Wash up or do the dishes?
Pavement or sidewalk?
Cellphone or mobile?

And does it really matter?

Well, it doesn't as long as people understand what you mean, but it is quite interesting. It makes you think about language and words in particular, where do they come from and why do they change?

Have a look at the assignments below and choose one of them.

Assignment to be submitted - choose a, b or c:

A. The basic assignment: two tables with words and then something about spelling:

You are standing in Regent's park in London when an American couple walks up to you and asks for the subway. Since you have spent a couple of months in London you point to what you think is a subway. They are not amused. They want to go to Piccadilly circus, not cross under the street. You decide that next time you will be prepared!

 British English:  American English:  Swedish:

underground

subway

tunnelbana

subway

 

 

pavement

 

 

 

mad

arg

 

apartment

 

lift

 

 

rubbish

 

 

shop

 

 

railway

 

 

 

cellular phone

 

"Put him in the trunk. Hurry, the police is on the way."
"In the trunk? What do you mean in the trunk?"
The corpse is lying on the pavement (or the sidewalk?) while the two criminals - an American and an Englishman- argue about where to place it.

British English: American English: Swedish:

aeroplane

airplane

 

banknote

bill

 

carpark

parking lot

 

boot

trunk

 

trunk

 

 

wash up

 

 

tap

faucet

 

Spelling differences:

Can you think of any spelling differences between American English and British English offhand?
Here's a list of some words, as they are spelled in the U.S. How would you spell them if you were writing British English?

1. Favorite

2. Color

3. Center

There's no key to this exercise, send in your questions to the newsgroup!

B. Writing: search for information and then submit a comment.

Are you more interested in differences between other variants of English - regional (Canadian, African etc.) or social? Write a short text where you describe some of the differences. Submit it to your project group.

C. Writing: something that you've experienced

Have you ever experienced any problems (pronunciaton, choice of words etc.) yourself? Describe the situation and submit your text either to your tutor or to the project group.