Questions and tasks for individual work

1. Answer the following questions:

1. Why can’t American English be called a dialect?

2. What is an Americanism?

3. Is the difference between American and British literary forms systematic? What is?

4. What are the historic causes of differences between American and British English?

5. How does the vocabulary reflect the extra-linguistic influence upon it?

6. What are Spanish and Indian borrowings in American English?

7. How does toponymy reflect the influence of the natives?

8. What are basic differences in American and British pronunciation and spelling?

9. Why do the differences between American and British English become less and less pronounced?

10. What are the classes of differences between American and British English?

11. What are the special features of word building in American English?

2. Consider the tables below and do the following tasks:

Travel and on the street   American	British	In the home American	British
gasoline	petrol	antenna	aerial
truck	lorry	elevator	lift
baggage	luggage	eraser	rubber
flat tire	puncture	apartment	flat
sidewalk	pavement	closet	wardrobe
line	queue	drapers	curtains
vacation	holiday	faucet	tap
trunk (of car)	boot	kerosene	paraffin
hood (of car)	bonnet	Scotch tape	sellotape
cab	taxi	yard	garden
freeway	motorway	cookie	biscuit
round trip	return	candy	sweets
railway car	railway carriage	garbage	rubbish
engineer (on train)	engine driver	diaper	nappy
baby carriage	pram	pantyhose	tights

the word	what American means	what a Brit means
a bill	a (bank) note	a check (in a café)
the first floor	the ground floor	the second floor
pants	trousers	underpants
potato chips	potato crisps	French fries
purse	a handbag	a wallet
subway	an underground railway	an underpass
vest	a waistcoat	an undershirt
wash up	wash your hands	wash the dishes

1. Give American equivalents of the following British words: holiday, sellotape, petrol, taxi, wardrobe, biscuit, pram, rubber, aerial, sweets, pavement, nappy.

2. Translate the following into British English:

a. I had a flat tire. f. It’s in the trunk.

b. Pass me the cookies. g. One-way or round trip?

c. It’s in the closet. h. He left the faucet on.

d. Open the drapes. i. We’re leaving the fall.

e. We’ve run out of gas. j. I hate waiting in line.

3. Try the following quiz.

1. Where would you take an American visitor a British visitor who said they wanted to wash up – the kitchen or the bathroom?

2. Would an American/Brit be expected to get something hot or something cold if they asked for some potato chips?

3. Which would surprise you more – an American or a British man telling you that he wanted to go and change his pants?

4. If an American/Brit asks for a bill, is he or she more likely to be in a bank or a café?

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11