...American English / British English * Jenny feels ill. She ate too much. * Jenny feels ill. She's eaten too much. * I can't find my keys. Did you see them anywhere? * I can't find my keys. Have you seen them anywhere? (ii) In sentences which contain the words already, just or yet: American English / British English * A: Are they going to the show tonight? * B: No. They already saw it. * A: Are they going to the show tonight? * B: No. They've already seen it. * A: Is Samantha here? * B: No, she just left. * A: Is Samantha here? * B: No, she's just left. * A: Can I borrow your book? * B: No, I didn't read it yet. * A: Can I borrow your book? * B: No, I haven't read it yet. 1. Verb agreement with collective nouns In British English collective nouns, (i.e. nouns referring to particular groups of people or things), (e.g. staff , government, class, team) 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.: My team is winning. The other team are all sitting down. In American English collective nouns are always followed by a singular verb, so an American would usually say: Which team is losing? whereas in British English both plural and singular forms of the verb are possible, as in: Which team is/are losing? 2. Use of delexical verbs have and take In British English, the verb have frequently functions as what is technically...
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...3 AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH The dialect of English spoken by members of the African diaspora and descendents from the slave trade in North America has many names: African American English, African American Vernacular English, Black English, Ebonics (Baugh, 2000: 2), Spoken Soul (Rickford and Rickford, 2000), New World Black English (Rickford, 1999: 175), African American Standard English when discussing middle class Black English (Spears, 2009: 3), and many others. For the remainder of this dissertation, I will refer to the dialect as African American English (AAE) for simplification. AAE is used both by descendents of slaves brought to North America during the slave trade and immigrants to the United States from the larger African diaspora....
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...language” from her book English with an Accent, she discusses the discrimination against African-American Vernacular English, or AAVE. More specifically, she discusses how it is a different language from Standard American English, or SAE, and not just an incorrect form of it. She also discusses how it is viewed by both white and African-American communities, AAVE’s treatment in the educational system, and analyzes why it is so devalued in American society. In the beginning of the chapter, the author states that AAVE is distinguished from other varieties of American English. She makes that case that it is a language in its own right, not just a corrupted or incorrect form of Standard...
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...1. Give an outline of how the American Dream is interpreted in texts 2, 3 and 4 Arnold Schwarzenegger recalls lessons from 25 years as a U.S. citizen – learn English, Participate in Politics and Give Back. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s text focuses on immigrants that came to America, to achieve ”The American Dream”. The American Dream from Arnold’s view is not about what you can acquire from America, as an immigrant, but what you can do to give something back. His suggestions for giving something back is to first learn the English language, then contribute to the political course and at last help the community by donating, volunteering, mentoring a child, participating in a program, helping the less fortunate, doing community service, etc. He rounds up by saying: “There is no second-tier citizenship. You are an American, period. With hard work, learning English and getting involved, there is no limit on what you can achieve” Whose American Dream is it, anyway? Anya Kamenetz’s article primarily emphasizes the economic side of the American Dream. The main problem she proposes is that the Americans are a lot more unenthusiastic about their lives now, then at any time in the past 50 years, probably because of the deteriorating economy and the high expenses for supply of essential resources. One question that was raised in the article is if there’s a link between wealth and happiness. Anya refers to researcher Daniel Gilbert who discovered that once an average person earns more than...
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...discuss the current bill that would like to ban using the method of “code-switching” from the “home language” of AAE (African American Vernacular English) speakers. I have read a study conducted by a Umass professor regarding this issue, and I have read the bill thoroughly. My recommendation to you is to vote against the bill, and I have some very good reasons for it. Banning the AAE instruction will do more harm then good. Although the bill proposes some good reasons for needing to speak mainstream English, it misses a few key points. They claim that linguistic skills like writing and reading are necessary to an individuals success. They don’t realize however, that AAE is a structured language following rules and patterns. The “code-switching” can actually be a useful technique in teaching AAE speakers how to communicate “properly” in mainstream English. Proponents of the bill state that the primary purpose of the education system is to prepare students for success in their careers and to participate equally in society. I think that by banning the teaching of AAE to mainstream English will actually prevent children who speak AAE at home from having an equal opportunity in the first place. It is not separate but equal, since these children are starting from a different version of a language altogether. Their foundation in AAE would make normal English instruction worthless. Since AAE follows rules, “code-switching” is a totally viable option. The proponents are saying that teaching...
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...Prior to their series of conflicts, the English and Native Americans experienced a relatively peaceful coexistence through the belief of sharing and trade. To start, the Indians shared their land and culture with the English, which allowed the two groups to live in the same area peacefully at first. In addition, the Indians and English exchanged goods through trade; one group had what the other group desired. For example, the “Pequots wanted European trade goods -- kettles, cloth, axes, [and] hoes” while the English “wanted furs and wampum” (Massacre at Mystic). The European goods helped Indians advance their tribe while the Indian goods helped the Europeans barter with other regional tribes. Trade created a mutualistic relationship between...
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...American Colonists: English or American? A Look Into American Life Before And After The French-Indian War During the time leading up to the French and Indian War, American colonists were decidedly more English in their lifestyle than they were American. Having recently emigrated from England, the peoples were still very culturally influenced by their “home” country. The colonists still practiced many of the same traditions and religions as they did before. The colonies, all except one, were planted, supported, and established by English companies. The majority of the people sent over were from England so they were doing what they knew already. Although the colonies were across the Atlantic Ocean from England, the British government was still in control over the colonies. At this time the Americans did not seem to mind this, as they had always followed and been under British rule. England was also believed to be “invincible” so why would the Americans try to break away from the largest empire to become a small, weak country? Before the French and Indian War there was no reason to break away from Britain, everything seemed to working out fine. For the most part, colonists lived as they would in England because that is how they lived before and since it continued to work there was no need for change. Lastly, the term “American” was not defined yet considering America was not fully established, was not its own country, and most of the people living there lived as they would...
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...Based on these documents, back in the seventeenth century the Native American Indians were treated like crap. Some colonists viewed the Indians as pushovers that owned a lot of land. Now there were also colonists some colonists that gelt that the colonists as a whole should set some land boundaries for the Indians to have so that there would not be any more wars or battle over land. “ I should think that it requisite that convenient tracts of land should be set out for them; otherwise I fear that as we increase and think that we want even more room, they will think that we will never leave until we have crowded them quite out of all of their lands” (Samuel Sewall, A Letter Regarding Relations with the Indians). What is really interesting is that even though the majority of colonists treated the Indians horribly, there were still a few Indians that performed acts of kindness towards the colonists. “ They took me upon the sled and carried me to the fire, and they then made much of me, pulled off my wet clothers and wrapped me in dry clothes, made me a good bed…. then I was able to get up and put on my clothes; one of the Indinans awakened and, seeing me go, shouted as rejoicing at it” ( Quitin Stockwell, A Captivity Narrative). To reinforce the idea that Indians were below English colonists, there were a series of laws passed in the Plomouth colony, these rules included such things as: “ No Indian shall dwell, or come into, our Juridiction. Or perform any outward worship of...
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...Press 1 for English…. Press 2 for Spanish… Why English Should Be Declared the Official Language of the Unites States of America Declaring English as the official language of the United States is a very controversial issue. We have one flag, one government, however no official language. Making English the official language would unite all Americans, no matter the race, creed, culture, heritage or ancestry. In 1907, US President Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “We have room for but one language in this country, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationally and not dwellers in a polyglot boarding house” (English-only movement/Wikipedia). There were as many as twenty different languages that could be heard around the time of our founding fathers. Today, there are presently three hundred twenty nine languages in the United States (US Census 2010). Immigrants of many nationalities have built our nation. Just look our nations motto, E pluribus Unum, (Latin meaning – out of many, one) which was adapted by the committee of Congress on July 4, 1776 to design “a seal for the United States of America”, which is carried by the American eagle. The nation has but one flag which we “pledge our allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” (MacAuthur). However, 236 years later the...
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...American English File- Book 4 Answer key 7 stole / has stolen 8 the swimming pool opens (opened; will open) 9 are you meeting / will you meet 10 she lives / she lived 1A Q and A 1 GRAMMAR a 3 How long 4 Which 5 How often 6 How 7 What 8 Do 9 What kind (sort / type) 10 Whose 11 Have 12 Who 2 PRONUNCIATION a 1b 2a 3a 4b 5b 6a 7b 8a 3 SPEAKING b Answers will vary depending on the country and culture you are teaching in. In the US, questions 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 11, and 12 would be considered inappropriate questions to ask someone you don’t know well. a 1 What’s the most important lesson life has taught you? 2 What’s your earliest memory? 3 Where would you like to live? 4 What single thing would improve the quality of your life? d 1L 2N 3N 4L 5N 6L 7L 8N 5 If you could go back in time, where would you go? 6 What’s your most treasured possession? e 1 8 or 10 2 9 3 11 4 8 5 11 or 12 4 READING & VOCABULARY a f a 1 Do you ever send text messages? 2 When was the last time you went to a party? 3 Could you tell me if there is a bank near here? 4 Who usually cooks the dinner? 5 Who do you like going shopping with? 6 What don’t you like doing on weekends? 7 What kind of car would you like to buy? 8 Do you know what time the concert ends? b 1 do you 2 wrote 3 this book costs / this book cost 4 happens / happened 5 Did you enjoy 6 does Tim usually listen to 1 Copyright(c) Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Single men and women meet for an evening. The women sit at tables...
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...relations between American Indians and the English there had always been differences that would eventually lead to misunderstandings, conflict, and wars. The issues between the American Indians and the English in the early seventeenth century can be boiled down to essentially just a few things; Raw cultural differences, religion, trade, and land. These differences would ultimately be chalked up as probably the worst relationship in American history, not to mention it would also lead to the near extinction of the American Indians. Who would have ever thought that this relationship started out as a mildly healthy one. In the beginning, 1607, when the english settlers arrived in present day Virginia nobody had the intentions of wiping out an entire civilization. In fact, all they really sought out for was to save their own country. The English at the time had a serious problem with overpopulation and a linked crumbling economy.The solution to their problem was to send over large numbers of...
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...Before the arrival of the Europeans, The Natives lived in harmony with nature and each other in peaceful communities. When the English explorers arrived, they had different intentions and values than the Native Americans. Their differences, motives and values lead to many clashes as the decades passed by. The Native Americans at first humbly welcomed the English explorers up until the seventeenth century. Little did they the Natives know, their welcoming would become their undoing. During around the fifteenth century, the English explorers arrived on the northeastern shores of America and were welcomed by the Native American tribes into their villages. Both parties saw this as a good opportunity to trade and exchange goods. The Natives generously provided the English explorers with resources, supplies and skills to use to...
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...From the discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus, the Dutch, French, Spanish and English set out to explore, occupy and exploit North America. The English colonizers considered Native American communities as societies that still lived in a state of nature prior to the stage of development in which the Europeans lived, and using it, stripped them of their political organizations and their territories claiming that their properties and governments could not be recognized as legitimate. Native Americans were not organized politically like the English, they did not require a European legislative, judicial and executive institutions which according to the English constituted a universal criterion of political society. The reason why Native...
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...The evolution of American society has changed the English language to such drastic measures. The languages of the past are now known as "old" English and "middle" English, and our English language today is now known as "modern" English. As we as human beings as well as a collective society have evolved, we have influenced the evolution and change in the language that we speak. As social differentiation is apparent, the distinction of words has been manipulated. With natural processes becoming evident in our daily lives, laziness has had quite an effect on the language that we currently speak. Lastly, the advancements that have been made in technology have influenced greatly the language that we speak. According to studies done at the University of Pennsylvania, "Social groups adopt distinctive norms of dress, adornment, gesture and so forth; language is part of the package" (UPenn). As each social class, ethnic group, religious group and so forth create their own style of life and living, the language that they speak is also influenced by those changes. The ways that they express their unique way of life is directly related to the words that they speak as well as the connotations that they associate with each word. Although the English language...
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...HCMC University of Pedagogy – English department ( A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF COMPLIMENTS IN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE Student: Dang Thi Thao Nguyen Class: 4A06 Instructor: Ph.D Nguyen Ngoc Vu (( December 2009 When a student gets a high score, his teacher usually says: “Good job!”. When a child automatically cleans up the room after playing, her parents are likely to say: “You are very good”. When you go to school wearing a new shirt, you probably hear from your friends: “That shirt looks nice on you”. Those utterances are called compliments which are used to show that someone likes someone else’s appearance, belongings, or work etc. Due to different cultural background and social values, English and Vietnamese native speakers have different norms of complimenting as well as responding to compliments. In this essay, I will discuss the notion of compliment made in American English and Vietnamese in terms of topics, formulas, and responses. First thing first, let have a look at the definition. Definition of compliment Cambridge dictionary defines a compliment as “a remark that expresses approval, admiration or respect”. In linguistics, Holmes (1986, p.446) wrote “A compliment is a speech act which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker, usually the person addressed, for some ‘good’ (possession, characteristic, skill, etc.), which is...
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