Monday, April 22, 2013

Lesson 46--Different Kinds of English


Students often wonder what are the differences between British and American English. Of course they also wonder where Canada fits into all of this.  In today's post, we will just look at some examples.
 
British English                        American English

lift                                                 elevator
torch                                              flashlight
chips                                              french fries
nappies                                          diapers
petrol                                             gas
sweets                                           candy
garbage                                         rubbish
queue                                            line

In these cases, Canadians mostly use the words on the American side, but understand both of them, and will sometimes use the words on the British list for effect.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,

2 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 28, 2013 at 2:50 PM

    Sport Center vs Sport Centre. In my IELTS Listening Answer Sheet I wrote "CentEr", however according to the IELTS preparation book the answer should be "CentRE". will it consider a mistake?

    ReplyDelete
  2. JackofallhobbiesApril 28, 2013 at 5:45 PM

    In Canada, we spell it centre. In the US, they spell it center. On your IELTS test, either one will be okay, but don't spell it one way on one question, then a different way on another question. If I were you, I would spell it centre.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)