Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: About differences between english and american

I've noticed that exists many differences between english and american
spoken.
Because I've got to learn english for an exam that i'm going to take, I
have understood that in many cases I use words or grammar forms of the
american spoken. Someone could tell me a list of simple rules to speak a
correct english without the use of american style?
With respect for the american friends ......
Fabio
Triyn' to learn something.....

laboratorio video ha scritto:
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Have a look at the American-British dictionary:
http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary/dict.html
which contains a lot of useful information about vocabulary and usage.
Always say "got" in British English instead of "gotten", and usually
"have got/haven't got" instead of "have/don't have" in the context of
possession.
(e.g. I've got a sister. I haven't got a very big house.)
In both versions (US and UK English):
- remember *always* to use capital letters for countries and
nationalities (American, America, etc.), and for I (io)
- always put adjectives *before* the noun : you must say "spoken English
and American", not "English and American spoken"
- never omit the subject of the verb or put it after the verb: you must
say "I've noticed that a lot of differences exist" or (even better)
"I've noticed that there are a lot of differences", not "I've noticed
that exists many differences"
- "many" is generally used in negative sentences and questions, and is
replaced by "a lot of" in affirmative sentences (I'm not sure whether
this applies to US English):
e.g. I haven't got many books
     Have you got many dictionaries?
     I've got a lot of exercises to do.
- when you ask a question, you must invert the subject and verb; e.g.
you must say "could someone tell me..?", not "someone could tell me...?" 
I think that's enough for today's lesson, don't you?   :-))
Mary
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Thanks a lot Mary.
Your corrections have been useful to understand my mistakes.
So, if I have correctly understood I have to invert subject and verb in all
interrogative sentences as:
"Could you tell me your hobbies?"
"Would someone have been able to draw it?"
What do you think about this sentences?
Fabio

laboratorio video ha scritto:
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Perfect. You learn fast.
But if you don't mind my asking, didn't you learn all this at school?
Two mistakes in the rest of your message:
- "such as", not "as"
- "these sentences", not "this sentences"
Mary
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MilliHelen: Amount of beauty required to launch one ship.

>>>I'm a teacher and I'm not afraid to tell you that nobody learn anything
whatsoever
about a foreign language at school in  Italy.
No offence meant for Laboratorio linguistico !!!

 No offence meant for Laboratorio linguistico !!!
When I first came to Italy, I was looking for a job as a translator, but I only
knew French well enough to translate, not Italian, so it wasn't easy.
I called at a translation agency in Milan which happened to have a language
school too, and they asked me if I'd ever taught English.
I said no, and they said "That's all right, can you start on Monday?"
Needless to say, I did...
Mary
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Many are cold, but few are frozen.

about a foreign language at school in  Italy.
Nobody learns. O no?
Heidi

 "Would someone have been able to draw it?"
No, not always.  If you are using do, does or did to form your question, you
don't have to invert subject and verb.	If you are asking a question in which
who is the subject (I think there are a few other words besides who), you
don't have to change the word order either.  Ex:  who is there?  It's the
same word order as "Mary is there" which is not an interrogative sentence).
Don't forget that sometimes there are imbedded questions where only one part
of the compound sentence is a question. Ex:  Can you tell me what time it is?
 NOT  Can you tell me what time is it?	The question is "can you tell me?" . 
"What time it is" is not a question. ciao
Arianna
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