|
For VOA
Learning English, this is Everyday
Grammar. There
is an old saying that
America and Britain are “two
nations divided by a
common language”.
old saying: antiguo dicho popular; divided by: divididos o
separados por; a common language: un idioma en común;
No one
knows exactly who
said this, but it reflects the
way many Brits
feel about
American English. My
British friend
still tells me, “You
don’t speak English.
You speak American”.
no one
knows: nadie sabe; exactly: con exactitud; it reflects the way:
refleja, expresa la forma en que; Brits: británicos; feel about:
consideran (al); still tells me: aún hoy continua diciéndome;
But are
American and British English
really so
different?
so
different: tan distintos;
1.
VOCABULARY.
The most
noticeable difference
between American and
British English is
vocabulary. There are hundreds
of everyday words that are
different. For example,
Brits call the
front of a car the
bonnet,
while Americans
call it the hood.
most noticeable: más notable, más perceptible; hundreds: cientos;
bonnet/hood: capó, tapa del motor de un automóvil;
Americans
go on vacation,
while Brits go
on
holidays, or
hols. New
Yorkers live in
apartments;
Londoners live in
flats.
on
vacation/on holidays/on hols: de vacaciones; New Yorkers:
los neoyorquinos; Londoners: los londinenses; apartment/flat:
apartamento;
There
are far more
examples than we can
talk about here.
Fortunately, most
Americans and Brits can
usually guess the
meaning through the context
of a sentence.
far
more examples: muchos más ejemplos; can usually guess: generalmente
aciertan; meaning: significado; through the context: por el
contexto;
2.
COLLECTIVE NOUNS.
There
are a few grammatical
differences between the
two varieties of
English. Let’s start with
collective
nouns. We
use collective
nouns to refer to a group
of individuals.
let's start
with: comencemos por; collective nouns: sustantivos colectivos (son
los sustantivos que en singular expresan
una colección o agrupación de objetos, animales o personas semejantes =
equipo, jauría, ejército, etc.);
In American
English, collective
nouns are singular. For
example,
staff
refers to a group of
employees;
band
refers to a group of
musicians;
team
refers to a group of
athletes. Americans
would say, “The
band is good”.
staff:
personal; employees: empleados; band: banda; musicians:
músicos; team: equipo; athletes: atletas, gimnastas;
But in
British English, collective
nouns can be
singular or plural. You
might hear someone
from Britain say, “The
team are playing
tonight” or “The team
is playing
tonight”.
you
might hear: podría ser que escuches a;
3.
AUXILIARY VERBS.
Another
grammar difference
between American and British
English relates to
auxiliary verbs.
Auxiliary
verbs, also
known as helping
verbs, are verbs that help
form a grammatical
function. They “help” the
main verb by
adding information about
time, modality
and voice.
relates to:
tiene que ver con; auxiiary verbs: verbos auxiliares (son los
verbos que se usan junto con otros verbos para formar diferentes tiempos
verbales); also known
as: también conocidos como; helping verbs: verbos auxiliares (que
ayudan a otros verbos a conjugarse en determinados tiempos verbales); main
verb: verbo principal; by adding: agregando;
Let’s look
at the auxiliary verb
shall.
Brits sometimes
use shall to
express the future. For example,
“I shall go home
now”. Americans know
what
shall
means, but rarely
use it in conversation. It seems
very formal.
Americans would probably
use “I
will
go home now”.
shall:
verbo auxiliar que no se traduce e indica futuro; know what shall
means: saben lo que significa shall; but rarely use it: pero
raras veces lo usan; it seems very formal: les parece excesivamente
formal;
In question
form, a Brit might
say, “Shall we go
now?” while an American
would probably say,
“Should we go now?”
in
question form: para preguntar; while: mientras que; should:
verbo auxiliar que no se traduce y, entre otros, suele indicar consejo u
obligación;
When
Americans want to
express a lack of obligation,
they use the
helping verb
do
with negative
not
followed by
need.
“You do not need
to come to work
today”. Brits drop the
helping verb and
contract not. “You
needn’t come to work
today.”
lack
of obligation: ausencia de obligación; you do not need.../you
needn't...: no tienes por qué... (no tienes necesidad de...); drop:
eliminan;
4.
PAST TENSE VERBS.
You
will also find
some small differences
with past forms
of irregular verbs.
The past
tense of
learn in
American English is
learned. British
English has the option of
learned or
learnt.
The same rule
applies to dreamed and
dreamt,
burned and
burnt,
leaned
and
leant.
learn:
aprender; dream: soñar; lean: recostarse; the same rule: la
misma regla gramatical; applies to: se aplica a/para;
Americans
tend to use the
–ed
ending;
Brits tend to use the
-t ending.
tend
to use: tienden a utilizar; -ed ending: final en -ed; -t
ending: final en -t;
In the past
participle form,
Americans tend to use the
–en
ending for some
irregular verbs. For example,
an American might
say, “I have never
gotten
caught” whereas a
Brit would say, “I
have never
got
caught”. Americans
use both
got
and
gotten
in the past participle.
Brits only use
got.
past
participle: participio pasado o pasivo (tercera columna de los verbos en
inglés);
whereas: mientras que; would say: diría;
Don’t worry
too much about
these small
differences in the past forms
of irregular verbs.
People in both
countries can easily
understand both
ways, although Brits
tend to think of the
American way as
incorrect.
too
much: demasiado; in both countries: en ambos países; easily:
fácilmente; both ways: las dos formas; although: aunque; as
incorrect: como incorrecta;
5.
TAG QUESTIONS.
A tag
question is a grammatical
form that turns a
statement into a question.
For example, “The whole
situation is unfortunate,
isn’t
it?” or, “You don’t like
him, do you?”
tag question:
pregunta de cierre (por ejemplo: "Ella
comió todo el pastel, ¿no es así?" o "Susan toca la guitarra, ¿no?");
turns: transforma a;
The tag
includes a pronoun and its
matching form of the
verb be,
have or do.
Tag questions
encourage people to respond
and agree with the
speaker. Americans use
tag questions, too,
but less often
than Brits. You
can learn more
about tag
questions on a
previous episode of Everyday Grammar.
its matching form:
su forma concordante; encourage people: alientan, estimulan a la gente;
and agree with: y coincidir o estar de acuerdo con; speaker: orador;
less often than: con menor frecuencia que;
6.
SPELLING.
There
are hundreds of minor
spelling differences
between British and
American English.
You can thank
American
lexicographer
Noah Webster for this.
You might
recognize Webster’s name
from the dictionary that carries
his name.
minor: menores; spelling: ortografía; lexicographer:
lexicógrafo (escritor de diccionarios); for this: por ello;
Noah
Webster, an author,
politician, and teacher,
started an effort to
reform English
spelling in the late 1700s.
politician: político; started an effort to reform: inició el esfuerzo
de reformar; in the late 1700s: a finales de 1700; 1700s =
seventeen hundreds;
He was
frustrated by the
inconsistencies
in English
spelling. Webster wanted to
spell words the
way they sounded.
Spelling reform was
also a way for
America to show its independence
from England.
he was
frustrated: se sintió frustrado, decepcionado; inconsistencies:
incongruencias, contradicciones; the way they sounded: de la forma en que
sonaban;
You
can see Webster’s
legacy in the American
spelling of words
like color
(from colour),
honor (from
honour), and
labor (from
labour). Webster
dropped the letter u
from these
words to make the
spelling match the pronunciation.
legacy: legado, herencia; color/colour (AM/BR):
color; honor/honour (AM/BR): honor, honrar; labor/labour
(AM/BR): trabajo; dropped: eliminó; to make the spelling match:
para lograr que la ortografía coincidiera con;
Other
Webster ideas
failed, like a proposal to
spell
women as
wimmen. Since
Webster’s death in 1843,
attempts to change
spelling rules in American
English have gone
nowhere.
failed:
fracasaron; death: muerte, fallecimiento; proposal: propuesta;
attempts to change spelling rules: los intentos por cambiar las reglas
ortográficas; have gone nowhere: no han llevado a ninguna parte;
NOT SO
DIFFERENT AT ALL.
British
and American English
have far more
similarities than
differences. We think the
difference between American
and British English is
often
exaggerated.
If you can
understand one
style, you should be
able to understand the
other style.
far more:
muchas más; you should be able to understand: deberías poder entender;
With
the exception of some
regional dialects,
most Brits and Americans
can understand
each other without
too much
difficulty. They watch
each other’s TV
shows, sing each
other’s songs, and
read each other’s
books.
most:
la mayoría de los; each other: mutuamente, el uno al otro;
They
even make fun
of each other’s
accents.
they
even make fun of: hasta se burlan de.
I’m John
Russell.
And I’m Jill
Robbins.
And I'm
Claudia Milne.. |
