{"id":3928,"date":"2018-11-05T14:39:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T14:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/superior-english.com\/?p=3928"},"modified":"2018-11-05T14:39:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T14:39:54","slug":"american-english-und-british-english-was-sind-die-unterschiede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/2018\/11\/05\/american-english-und-british-english-was-sind-die-unterschiede\/","title":{"rendered":"American English und British English: Was sind die Unterschiede?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>American English speakers tend to use the present perfect tense (<em>have\/has + past participle<\/em>) less than speakers of British English do. In spoken American English, it is quite common to use the simple past when present perfect is preferred in British English. The two situations where this is especially likely are:<\/p>\n<p>1. In sentences which talk about an action in the past that has an effect in the present:<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>American English (AmE) \/ British English (BrE)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jenny feels ill. She ate too much. (AmE)<\/li>\n<li>Jenny feels ill. She&#8217;s eaten too much. (BrE)<\/li>\n<li>I can&#8217;t find my keys. Did you see them anywhere? (AmE)<\/li>\n<li>I can&#8217;t find my keys. Have you seen them anywhere? (BrE)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>In sentences which contain the words\u00a0<em>already<\/em>,\u00a0<em>just\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0<em>yet<\/em>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>American English \/ British\u00a0English<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A: Are they going to the show tonight?<\/li>\n<li>B: No. They already saw it. (AmE)<\/li>\n<li>A: Are they going to the show tonight?<\/li>\n<li>B: No. They&#8217;ve already seen it. (BrE)<\/li>\n<li>A: Is Samantha here?<\/li>\n<li>B: No, she just left. (AmE)<\/li>\n<li>A: Is Samantha here?<\/li>\n<li>B: No, she&#8217;s just left. (BrE)<\/li>\n<li>A: Can I borrow your book?<\/li>\n<li>B: No, I didn&#8217;t read it yet. (AmE)<\/li>\n<li>A: Can I borrow your book?<\/li>\n<li>B: No, I haven&#8217;t read it yet. (BrE)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Verb agreement with collective nouns<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In British English, collective nouns, (i.e. nouns referring to particular groups of people or things), (e.g.\u00a0<em>staff, government, class, team<\/em>) can be followed by a singular or plural verb depending on whether the group is thought of as one idea, or as many individuals, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">My team is winning.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The other team are all sitting down.<\/p>\n<p>In American English, collective nouns are always followed by a singular verb, so an American would usually say:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Which team is losing?<\/p>\n<p>whereas in British English both plural and singular forms of the verb are possible, as in:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Which team is\/are losing?<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Use of delexical verbs\u00a0<em>have<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>take<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In British English, the verb\u00a0<em>have<\/em>\u00a0frequently functions as what is technically referred to as a delexical verb, i.e. it is used in contexts where it has very little meaning in itself but occurs with an object noun which describes an action, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I&#8217;d like to have a bath.<\/p>\n<p><em>Have<\/em>\u00a0is frequently used in this way with nouns referring to common activities such as washing or resting, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">She&#8217;s having a little nap.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I&#8217;ll just have a quick shower before we go out.<\/p>\n<p>In American English, the verb\u00a0<em>take<\/em>, rather than\u00a0<em>have<\/em>, is used in these contexts, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Joe&#8217;s taking a shower.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I&#8217;d like to take a bath.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Let&#8217;s take a short vacation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Why don&#8217;t you take a rest now?<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Use of auxiliaries and modals<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In British English, the auxiliary\u00a0<em>do<\/em>\u00a0is often used as a substitute for a verb when replying to a question, e.g.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A: Are you coming with us?<\/li>\n<li>B: I might do.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In American English,\u00a0<em>do<\/em>\u00a0is not used in this way, e.g.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A: Are you coming with us?<\/li>\n<li>B: I might.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In British English,\u00a0<em>needn&#8217;t<\/em>\u00a0is often used instead of\u00a0<em>don&#8217;t\u00a0need to<\/em>, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">They needn&#8217;t come to school today.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">They don&#8217;t need to come to school today.<\/p>\n<p>In American English,\u00a0<em>needn&#8217;t<\/em>\u00a0is very unusual and the usual form is\u00a0<em>don&#8217;t\u00a0need to<\/em>, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">They don&#8217;t need to come to school today.<\/p>\n<p>In British English,\u00a0<em>shall<\/em>\u00a0is sometimes used as an alternative to\u00a0<em>will<\/em>\u00a0to talk about the future, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I shall\/will be there later.<\/p>\n<p>In American English,\u00a0<em>shall<\/em>\u00a0is unusual and\u00a0<em>will<\/em>\u00a0is normally used.<\/p>\n<p>In British English,\u00a0<em>shall I\/we<\/em>\u00a0is often used to ask for advice or an opinion, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Shall we ask him to come with us?<\/p>\n<p>In American English,\u00a0<em>should<\/em>\u00a0is often used instead of\u00a0<em>shall<\/em>, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Should we ask him to come with us?<\/p>\n<p>We can also solicit advice and ask opinions or make suggestions with\u00a0<em>shall\u00a0<\/em>in American English. It&#8217;s just unusual to hear it in casual speech in particular.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Use of\u00a0prepositions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In British English,\u00a0<em>at<\/em>\u00a0is used with many time expressions, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">at Christmas\/five &#8218;o&#8216; clock<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">at the weekend<\/p>\n<p>In American English,\u00a0<em>on<\/em>\u00a0is always used when talking about the weekend, not\u00a0<em>at<\/em>, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Will they still be there on the weekend?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">She&#8217;ll be coming home on weekends.<\/p>\n<p>In British English,\u00a0<em>at<\/em>\u00a0is often used when talking about universities or other institutions, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">She studied chemistry at university.<\/p>\n<p>In American English,\u00a0<em>in<\/em>\u00a0is often used, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">She studied French in high school and also when she was in college.<\/p>\n<p>In British English,\u00a0<em>to<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>from<\/em>\u00a0are used with the adjective\u00a0<em>different<\/em>, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">This place is different from\/to anything I&#8217;ve seen before.<\/p>\n<p>In American English\u00a0<em>from<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>than<\/em>\u00a0are used with\u00a0<em>different<\/em>, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">This place is different from\/than anything I&#8217;ve seen before.<\/p>\n<p>In British English,\u00a0<em>to<\/em>\u00a0is always used after the verb\u00a0<em>write<\/em>, e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I promised to write to her every day.<\/p>\n<p>In American English,\u00a0<em>to<\/em>\u00a0can be omitted after\u00a0<em>write<\/em>, i.e.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I promised to write her every day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Past tense forms<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Below is a table showing verbs which have different simple past and past participle forms in American and British English. Note that the irregular past forms\u00a0<em>burnt, dreamt<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>spoilt<\/em>\u00a0are possible in American English, but less common than the forms ending in\u00a0<em>-ed<\/em>.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Infinitive<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Simple past<br \/>\n(Br)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Simple past<br \/>\n(Am)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Past participle<br \/>\n(Br)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Past participle<br \/>\n(Am)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>burn<\/td>\n<td>burned\/<br \/>\nburnt<\/td>\n<td>burned\/<br \/>\nburnt<\/td>\n<td>burned\/<br \/>\nburnt<\/td>\n<td>burned\/<br \/>\nburnt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>bust<\/td>\n<td>bust<\/td>\n<td>busted<\/td>\n<td>bust<\/td>\n<td>busted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>dive<\/td>\n<td>dived<\/td>\n<td>dove\/<br \/>\ndived<\/td>\n<td>dived<\/td>\n<td>dived<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>dream<\/td>\n<td>dreamed\/<br \/>\ndreamt<\/td>\n<td>dreamed\/<br \/>\ndreamt<\/td>\n<td>dreamed\/<br \/>\ndreamt<\/td>\n<td>dreamed\/<br \/>\ndreamt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>get<\/td>\n<td>got<\/td>\n<td>got<\/td>\n<td>got<\/td>\n<td>gotten<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>lean<\/td>\n<td>leaned\/<br \/>\nleant<\/td>\n<td>leaned<\/td>\n<td>leaned\/<br \/>\nleant<\/td>\n<td>leaned<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>learn<\/td>\n<td>learned\/<br \/>\nlearnt<\/td>\n<td>learned<\/td>\n<td>learned\/<br \/>\nlearnt<\/td>\n<td>learned<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>plead<\/td>\n<td>pleaded<\/td>\n<td>pleaded\/<br \/>\npled<\/td>\n<td>pleaded<\/td>\n<td>pleaded\/<br \/>\npled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>prove<\/td>\n<td>proved<\/td>\n<td>proved<\/td>\n<td>proved<\/td>\n<td>proved\/<br \/>\nproven<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>saw<\/td>\n<td>sawed<\/td>\n<td>sawed<\/td>\n<td>sawn<\/td>\n<td>sawn\/<br \/>\nsawed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>smell<\/td>\n<td>smelled\/<br \/>\nsmelt<\/td>\n<td>smelled<\/td>\n<td>smelled\/<br \/>\nsmelt<\/td>\n<td>smelled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>spill<\/td>\n<td>spilled\/<br \/>\nspilt<\/td>\n<td>spilled<\/td>\n<td>spilled\/<br \/>\nspilt<\/td>\n<td>spilled<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>spoil<\/td>\n<td>spoiled\/<br \/>\nspoilt<\/td>\n<td>spoiled\/<br \/>\nspoilt<\/td>\n<td>spoiled\/<br \/>\nspoilt<\/td>\n<td>spoiled\/<br \/>\nspoilt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>stink<\/td>\n<td>stank<\/td>\n<td>stank\/<br \/>\nstunk<\/td>\n<td>stunk<\/td>\n<td>stunk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>wake<\/td>\n<td>woke<\/td>\n<td>woke\/<br \/>\nwaked<\/td>\n<td>woken<\/td>\n<td>woken<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Note\u00a0that\u00a0<em>have\u00a0got<\/em>\u00a0is possible in American English, but is used with the meaning\u00a0&#8218;<em>have<\/em>&#8218;, and\u00a0<em>gotten<\/em>\u00a0is the usual past participle of\u00a0<em>get.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Orthography\/different spellings<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One other point worth mentioning is that British and American English have different spelling standards.<\/p>\n<p>The ending -ize (AmE) v\/s -ise (BrE) or -yze\/-yse e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">monetize v\/s monetise, analyze v\/s analyse<\/p>\n<p>But note that there is a small list of words that only take the -ise ending in both American and British English:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/advertise\">advertise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/compromise\">compromise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/exercise\">exercise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/revise\">revise<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/advise\">advise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/despise\">despise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/improvise\">improvise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/supervise\">supervise<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/apprise\">apprise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/devise\">devise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/incise\">incise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/surmise\">surmise<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/chastise\">chastise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/disguise\">disguise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/prise\">prise<\/a> (meaning \u2018open\u2019)<\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/surprise\">surprise<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/comprise\">comprise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/excise\">excise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/promise\">promise<\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/televise\">televise<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>-or (AmE) v\/s -our (BrE) e.g.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">color v\/s colour, flavor v\/s flavour, etc.<\/p>\n<p>And funny words like curb v\/s kerb, connection v\/s connexion, airplane v\/s aeroplane, etc. After all, variety is the spice of life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vocabulary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We also have some widely known differences in vocabulary, mostly related to everyday items or objects, from food to transportation, etc.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">trunk (AmE) v\/s boot (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">hood (AmE) v\/s bonnet (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">truck (AmE) v\/s lorry (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">diaper (AmE) v\/s nappy (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">stroller (AmE) v\/s pram (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">windshield (AmE) v\/s windscreen (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">napkin (AmE) v\/s serviette (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">eggplant (AmE) v\/s aubergine (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">cilantro (AmE) v\/s coriander (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">cookie (AmE) v\/s biscuit (BrE)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">apartment (AmE) v\/s flat (BrE)<\/p>\n<p>The list goes on and on! The Oxford Living Dictionaries has a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/usage\/british-and-american-terms\">great list<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction American English speakers tend to use the present perfect tense (have\/has + past participle) less than speakers of British English do. In spoken American English, it is quite common to use the simple past when present perfect is preferred in British English. The two situations where this is especially likely are: 1. In sentences &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/2018\/11\/05\/american-english-und-british-english-was-sind-die-unterschiede\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">American English und British English: Was sind die Unterschiede?<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[273],"tags":[15580293,16064565],"class_list":["post-3928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-englische-grammatik","tag-englische-vokabeln","no-featured-image"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1L3QY-11m","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4066,"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3928\/revisions\/4066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/superior-english.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}