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British vs American English
In my school years I have only studied British English, so when I went in Chicago last year there were a lot of errors and misunderstandings by my side!
Once I was at the supermarket searching for some plastic glasses (we would throw a party that night, wonderful pre-covid experiences) and I really couldn’t figure out where they were, so I asked to the clerk “Sorry, can you tell me where can I find the plastic glasses?” She stared at me for like two minutes before to understand what I was asking for: “AH! You are asking for some plastic cups!”
Another time the cookers of my apartment were broken and my flatmates and I called the tenant to explain him. Also in this case explaining that our cookers were his burners was a pretty difficult accomplishment.
But the worst thing was when my thesis advisor notified me that in my thesis all the vocabulary and the grammar were the British English ones and I would have to change them in the American versions. There were A LOT of neighbourhood in my thesis.
So, this is my experience with the difference between British and American English. Obviously I watch American and British shows and I sometimes am able to distinguish between the accent, but it depends on the fact that our society is submerged from English content and cultural products.
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3 Replies
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Ahaha! I love this! Plastic glasses, cookers and burners! 😂
(and also pre-Covid life! Che bello!😂)
I think that was harsh of your advisor though … in Britain we usually accept American spelling and grammar (as long as it is consistent!)
A few notes:
>we would throw a party that night, wonderful pre-covid experiences: would is not correct here, because it implies that you would have done something, but it didn’t happen. You can use this: > we were throwing a party that night or we were having a party that night
> … two minutes before to ❌ understand what I was asking for – before and after needs to be followed by a gerund: two minutes before understanding what I was asking for
Can you try and correct this?:
In my school years I have only studied (TENSE) British English, so when I went in (preposition) Chicago last year there were a lot of errors and misunderstandings by (preposition) my side!
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Let me try to correct!
I STUDIED only
I went TO
FROM my side (?)
I’m not really sure about this last correction.
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Two out of three!
misunderstandings on my side is correct. You can also say ‘on my part’ which is probably more common 👍
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