SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6660 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian
| Message 17 of 23 20 July 2011 at 12:37am | IP Logged |
Perhaps this is more of a grammar issue than a spelling issue, but British speakers of English use plural verbs (such as "are")to refer to sports teams where US speakers use singular verbs (such as "is.")
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Fiveonefive Diglot Groupie Japan Joined 5694 days ago 69 posts - 88 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Swedish
| Message 18 of 23 20 July 2011 at 2:09am | IP Logged |
SamD wrote:
Perhaps this is more of a grammar issue than a spelling issue, but British speakers of English use plural verbs (such as "are")to refer to sports teams where US speakers use singular verbs (such as "is.") |
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It's actually a little more complicated than that.
For example
Atlanta Braves (Plural)
New York Yankees (Plural)
Ohio State Buckeyes (Plural)
Jamaican Bobsled Team (Singular)
Real Madrid (Singular)
US Olympic Basketball Team (Singular)
In the case of "Toyota makes a good car" and "Toyota make a good car". American English uses makes because American grammar sees Toyota as a singular entity.
When to refer to teams as a collective group or as a individual members must be difficult and really confusing for people learning English :(
Edited by Fiveonefive on 20 July 2011 at 2:17am
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Phantom Kat Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5064 days ago 160 posts - 253 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Finnish
| Message 19 of 23 28 July 2011 at 4:09am | IP Logged |
Interestingly enough, I used "dialogue" instead of "dialog" (I always think the latter looks very odd and too short) and sometimes I used "dreamt" over "dreamed." I wonder how I picked that up.
- Kat
Edited by Phantom Kat on 28 July 2011 at 4:10am
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SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6660 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian
| Message 20 of 23 31 July 2011 at 4:03am | IP Logged |
Phantom Kat wrote:
Interestingly enough, I used "dialogue" instead of "dialog" (I always think the latter looks very odd and too short) and sometimes I used "dreamt" over "dreamed." I wonder how I picked that up.
- Kat |
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Perhaps you have been reading British or Canadian books and magazines or both. Much of my family is in Canada, and those are the preferred forms there. However, my Canadian dictionary accepts "dialog" and "dreamed," but flags them as "especially in US."
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Rutabaga Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Romania Joined 4928 days ago 27 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English*, Slovenian*, French, German, Russian Studies: Portuguese, Uzbek
| Message 21 of 23 31 July 2011 at 7:44am | IP Logged |
galindo wrote:
One thing that stands out to me more than the spelling is the different use of articles. Where Americans would say, "in the hospital," people in the UK say "in hospital." They also say things like "the menopause" instead of just "menopause." I also think I remember seeing "watching the basketball" instead of "watching basketball." I can't think of any other examples right now, but those differences are much more jarring to me than spelling variations. |
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For what it's worth, as a native speaker of American English, 'watching the basketball' sounds very strange to me, as does 'the menopause'. I don't think I would ever say either. Do people actually say this in some parts of the US?
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Nguyen Senior Member Vietnam Joined 5094 days ago 109 posts - 195 votes Speaks: Vietnamese
| Message 22 of 23 31 July 2011 at 8:59am | IP Logged |
SSSHH! There is a herd of Toyota over there!
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PonyGirl Groupie United States Joined 5020 days ago 54 posts - 70 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 23 of 23 01 August 2011 at 12:25am | IP Logged |
Rutabaga wrote:
For what it's worth, as a native speaker of American English, 'watching the basketball' sounds very strange to me, as does 'the menopause'. I don't think I would ever say either. Do people actually say this in some parts of the US? |
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I agree! I have never heard that, would never say it, and would probably ask someone about it if I did hear it.
Actually I use the British spelling in many of those examples. I have always used grey, dialogue, dreamt, theatre, glamour, etc. My spellcheck is constantly finding analyse in my essays. Perhaps this comes from reading a lot of British classics?
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