Oxford pratice grammar with answers part 39 pptx

Appendix 5: American EnglishThe differences between British and American English are mainly matters of pronunciation and vocabulary.. B Present perfect and past simple Units 11-15 The Br

Appendix 3: Punctuation

A Full stop (.), question mark (?) and exclamation mark (!)

A sentence ends with one of these punctuation marks

Full stop: It's cold today The office was closed Please be careful

Question mark: Who's that? Did you see the show? Could you wait, please?

Exclamation mark: Oh, no! I don't believe it!

In the US a full stop is called a 'period'

B Semi-colon (;)

We can use a semi-colon between two separate statements which are linked in meaning

Melanie is a very kind person; she visits David in hospital every day

We could also use a full stop here

C Colon (:)

We can use a colon before an explanation or before a list Vicky felt nervous: she hated the

dark There wasn't much in the fridge: a couple of sausages, some butter, half a bottle of

milk

D Dash (-)

A dash is rather informal It is sometimes used instead of a colon or a semi-colon I'm

having a great time - there's lots to do here Vicky felt nervous - she hated the dark

E Comma (,)

We often use a comma when we link two statements with and, but or or

Daniel was tired, and his feet were hurting It's a really good camera, but I can't afford it

Note the two subjects in each sentence: Daniel his feet and It I When there is only one

subject, we do not use a comma

Daniel sat down and took his shoes off

We can also use a comma when a sentence has a linking word like when or although

When the office is busy, Sarah has to work late

For commas with relative clauses, see Unit 141

Sometimes a comma can separate off an adverb or a phrase

Sarah, unfortunately, has to work late On busy days, Sarah has to work late

Here the commas separate off on busy days and unfortunately

The rules about commas are not very exact In general, commas are more likely

around longer phrases With a short phrase there is often no comma On busy

days Sarah has to work late Sometimes she has to work late

It is less usual to separate off something at the end of the sentence

Sarah has to work late when the office is busy She stayed late to get the work done We

do not usually put a comma before to expressing purpose

We also use commas in a list of more than two The last two are linked by and, often without a comma

I went out with Rachel, Vicky, Emma and Matthew

F Quotation marks (")

We put direct speech in quotation marks

Laura said, 'You haven't put those shelves up yet.' 'I haven't had time,' replied Trevor We

normally use a comma to separate the direct speech from the rest of the sentence The comma

comes before the quotation mark Quotation marks are also called 'quotes' or 'inverted

commas'

Double quotation marks are sometimes used Laura

said, "You haven't put those shelves up yet."

We can put quotation marks around titles

Do you watch that American comedy series called 'Roseanne'? We

often use quotation marks when we mention a word or phrase

What does 'punctuation' mean? Rap music is also called 'hip hop'

G Hyphen (-)

We sometimes use hyphens in these structures

Compound noun: eating ice-cream

Compound expression before a noun: an oven-ready meal

Noun formed from a phrasal verb: ready for take-off Noun

+ ing-form: interested in rock-climbing

Before the last word of a compound number: a hundred and twenty-six people

After some prefixes: anti-aircraft guns Letter + noun: sending an e-mail

The rules about hyphens are not very exact For example, you may see a compound noun written as

phonecard, phone-card or phone card Hyphens are not very frequent in British English, and they are used

even less in American English If you are unsure, it is usually safer to write two separate words

H Apostrophe (')

Look at these examples

Today we're going for a drive in the country Everyone is looking at Nick's car

We use an apostrophe (') in short forms, when there is a missing letter, e.g we're (= we are) See Unit 32

We also use an apostrophe with s to form the possessive of a noun, e.g Nick's car See Unit 93

I Capital letters

There are two capital letters (big letters) in this sentence

The boss said I could leave early We use a capital letter at the beginning of

a sentence and for the word I

We also use a capital letter to begin the names of people, places, companies, etc

Mark and Sarah New Orleans the High Street Somerset House General Motors This

includes the names of books, films, magazines, etc All the important words start with a capital letter

The Spy Who Loved Me Four Weddings and a Funeral Newsweek

We also use a capital letter for days of the week, months of the year, holidays and festivals,

historical times, nationalities and most abbreviations

Monday August Easter the New Year the Industrial Revolution

some Italian wine the UN (= the United Nations)

Appendix 5: American English

The differences between British and American English are mainly matters of pronunciation and vocabulary

There are also a few spelling differences such as British centre and colour and American center and color

There are some grammatical differences Although they are not very great, those points that are most relevant to learners of English are explained here

A Seem, look, etc

Compare these examples

BRITISH AMERICAN

In British English there can be a noun (e.g Americans do not say She seemed a good pilot

pilot) after appear, feel, look, seem and sound They use to be or like after these verbs

She seemed (to be) a good pilot She seemed to be a good pilot

OR She seemed like a good pilot

It looks (to be) a lovely evening It looks to be a lovely evening

OR It looks like a lovely evening

B Present perfect and past simple (Units 11-15)

The British use the present perfect for recent Americans can use either the present perfect or

actions, and especially with just, already and yet the past simple in these sentences

Bob has washed the dishes, look Bob has washed the dishes, look

OR Bob washed the dishes, look

We've already eaten our lunch We've already eaten our lunch

OR We already ate our lunch

OR I just saw Elaine

Have you corrected your work yet? Have you corrected your work yet?

OR Did you correct your work yet?

The British normally use the present perfect Americans normally use the past simple with

with ever and never, not the past simple ever and never, but the present perfect is

possible

OR Have you ever played baseball?

The child has never seen snow before The child never saw snow before

OR The child has never seen snow before

C Shall (Unit 23D)

The British use will for the future, but they can Americans do not normally use shall for the also use shall in the first person future

I will/I shall be here tomorrow I will be here tomorrow

We will/We shall contact you We will contact you

The British use shall to make an offer Americans normally use should

The British can use Shall we ? for a Americans do not normally use shall in

suggestion suggestions

Would you like to take a walk?

D Got and gotten

Both have and have got are used in Britain and in the US

He has a lot of money./He's got a lot of money (= He is rich.)

The British do not use gotten In the US, have gotten expresses an action

He's made a lot of money from his business He's gotten/made a lot of money from his

Americans also use gotten meaning 'become'

E Negatives and questions with have (Unit 31)

In Britain there are two different structures Americans normally use the auxiliary do

OR I don't have enough time

OR Does Carol have a computer?

In the past tense, did is usual in both countries

We didn't have tickets

F Emphatic do (Unit 33C)

The British can use do with an imperative for Do with an imperative is less common in the

emphasis US

OR Do have a piece of cake

G Do for an action

The British can use do to refer to an action Americans do not use do in this way

already mentioned

I don't practise as often as I should (do) I don't practice as often as I should

You'd better take your pill ~ I already have You'd better take your pill ~ I already have

(done)

H Question tags (Unit 42)

Both the British and the Americans can use question tags when talking about facts

Blackpool is in Lancashire, isn't it? Las Vegas is in Nevada, isn't it?

But in general Americans use tags much less often than the British They do not use tags to persuade or to

argue A sentence like You aren't listening to me, are you? is British but not American But Americans often

use right? and OK? as tags

I'll bring the luggage in, shall I? I'll bring the baggage in, OK?

I Can't and mustn't (Unit 46C)

The British use can't to say that something is Americans can also use mustn't to say that

I rang, but there's no reply They can't be at I called, but there's no reply They can't be

J Needn't and don't need to (Unit 48)

The British can use either form Americans do not normally use needn't

You needn't see the inspector You don't need to see the inspector

OR You don't need to see the inspector

K Group nouns (Unit 81B)

In Britain a group noun can usually take either a In the US a group noun takes a singular verb,

singular or a plural verb The crowd was getting restless

The crowd was/were getting restless Sweden plays Germany tomorrow

Sweden plays/play Germany tomorrow

L The (Unit 86C and 87A)

The British use the with a musical instrument Americans can leave out the

/ can play the piano I can play piano/play the piano

The British say in hospital Americans say in the hospital

My sister is still in hospital My sister is still in the hospital

M Numbers

The British use and between hundred and the Americans can leave out and

N Dates

There are a number of different ways of writing and saying dates, but these are the most common

BRITISH AMERICAN

'the twenty-third of June' 'June twenty-third'

'June the twenty-third'

The British write 23.6.98, and Americans write 6.23.98

0 You and one (Unit 98C)

The British use you for people in general, Americans use you for people in general One is

including the speaker In more formal English unusual,

they can use one

You/One can't be too careful You can't be too careful

P Somewhere and someplace (Unit 103)

In informal American English, everyplace, someplace, anyplace and no place can be used

as well as everywhere, somewhere, etc

Let's find somewhere to eat Let's find somewhere/someplace to eat

Q Adjectives and adverbs (Unit 108)

In informal speech we can sometimes use an adjective form instead of an adverb Americans do

this more than the British

We had some really nice weather We had some really nice/some real nice

weather

It certainly doesn't make things any easier It certainly/sure doesn't make things any easier

R Prepositions (Units 118-126)

There are some differences in prepositions

BRITISH AMERICAN

looking out of the window looking out the window/out of the window

In American English there is a special use of through as a preposition of time

He'll be on the road from Tuesday to/till He'll be on the road (from) Tuesday through

Friday Friday

They will stay in Brighton until the end of They will stay in Miami through April

April

Note the prepositions after different

This cup is differentfrom/to the others This cup is different from/than the others

Compare these expressions

S In case (Unit 148D)

In case can have different meanings

Take an umbrella in case it rains In case you're sick, you should call the office

T Go and

Americans can leave out and from this structure

I'll go and buy the tickets I'll go buy/I'll go and buy the tickets

U The subjunctive

We can use expressions like I suggest that and It's important that to talk about

what we want to happen Look at these examples

Tim's parents have suggested that he gets a Tim's parents have suggested that he get a job

job/that he should get a job It's important that everything go according to

It's important that everything goes/everything plan

should go according to plan

The British normally use the present simple or Americans normally use a form called the

should (They use the subjunctive only in formal 'subjunctive', e.g get, go

English.)

V Irregular verbs

In the past tense some verbs can have either an irregular t ending or the regular ed ending

These verbs are burn, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil

The British prefer the t ending, although ed is Americans normally use the ed ending,

also possible

They burnt/burned the old sofa They burned the old sofa

You've spelt/spelled this word wrong You've spelled this word wrong

But we say e.g a slice of burnt toast in both British and American English

In Britain the verbs dream, lean and leap can be regular, or they can have a t ending

These three forms ending in t have the vowel sound /e/ For example, dreamt is pronounced /dremt/,

and dreamed is pronounced /dri:md/

The verb dive is regular in Britain but can be irregular in the US

Craig dived into the water Craig dived/dove into the water

Appendix 6: Irregular verbs

VERB PAST TENSE PAST/PASSIVE

PARTICIPLE

betted

bit

bring brought brought

broadcast broadcast broadcast

burned

burned

deal dealt dealt

dove (us)

dreamed dreamed

eat ate eaten

VERB PAST TENSE PAST/PASSIVE

PARTICIPLE

forbid forbad(e) forbidden

gotten (us)

hear heard heard

lean leant leant

leaned leaned

leap leapt leapt

leaped leaped

learned learned

lighted lighted

mean meant meant

mowed

VERB PAST TENSE PAST/PASSIVE

PARTICIPLE

pay paid paid

put put put

read read read

ride rode ridden

ring rang rung

rise rose risen

run ran run

say said said

see saw seen

seek sought sought

sell sold sold

send sent sent

set set set

sew sewed sewn

sewed

shake shook shaken

shine shone shone

shoot shot shot

show showed shown

showed

shrink shrank shrunk

shrunk

shut shut shut

sing sang sung

sink sank sunk

sit sat sat

sleep slept slept

slide slid slid

smell smelt smelt

smelled

smelled

speak spoke spoken

speed sped sped

speeded

speeded

spell spelt spelt

spelled

spelled

spend spent spent

spill spilt spilt

spilled

spilled

spin spun spun

spit spat spat

split split split

spoil spoilt spoilt

spoiled spoiled

spread spread spread

spring sprang sprung

VERB PAST TENSE PAST/PASSIVE

PARTICIPLE

stand stood stood steal stole stolen stick stuck stuck sting stung stung stink stank stunk

stunk

understand understood understood

waked waked

weaved weaved

The verbs in this list are also irregular when they

have a prefix, e.g overtake - overtook - overtaken, foretell - foretold - foretold

A few verbs have irregular present simple forms:

VERB PRESENT SIMPLE

be I am; you/we/they are; he/she/it is

do he/she/it does

go he/she/it goes have he/she/it has say he/she/it says For burnt/burned, dreamt/dreamed, etc in British and American English see page 382 For gotten see

page 378