I wonder if you have the notion of how helpful these videos of yours are. Your explanations are so straightforward, clear and useful in daily-day terms. And you even transcript the all lesson! Thank you and congratulations for your work!
This is really interesting to me for a few reasons (I'm from the mid-west, U.S.). To me, the example of, "The government have cut spending" sounds rather uncomfortable. "The government has..." sounds much more natural to me. In addition, I actually use 'burnt', 'dreamt', ect. 'Burnt' is the only one I would ever spell that way though. For most verbs, the -t ending does sound strange, especially 'learnt'. I don't really use 'gotten'. It too sounds strange. The last main point of note is that I've never seen 'dive board' and certainly have never used it. 'Diving board' is how I've always heard and said it. My guess is that within the U.S. there is significant variation and some bleeding through of British standards.
I went to high school in Canada (where I actually learned my English) and am currently attending college in U.S. This video actually cleared up some confusion!
I loved the video! Thanks. Two comments though I'm American, and personally I would say "The government's cut spending." or "The government has cut spending (for the fiscal year 2014) (in order to reduce the deficit)." (So with a prep phrase following) Also, I say diving board. I do not know if this is because of my specific dialect (I'm sort of on the boarder of the Coastal Southern and Gulf Southern dialect regions.) or it's just me. I really enjoy linguistics, the contrast of English dialects specifically, and how they came about. This video was very informative and much appreciated. Thank you.
Great video! I am from Canada and I use a mix of both American and British English. Sometimes I find myself using one more than the other. But the majority of time I use British English.
Yes, it is a mistake which she does not correct even after she reads it out loud to her audience. In her example about the American singular form for collective nouns (at the top left side) she mistakenly uses the plural form. It should read: "The government has cut spending", and not "have cut spending", the latter being an option only for British English grammar.
In British English, the word government is regarded as a plural noun and so they say "Government _have_ enacted laws..." In America, the word government is singular, as in one entity comprised of a group of bureaus, or whatever. "Government _has_ enacted laws..." I see this all the time in commentary about sports teams in the UK, where one team by name is spoken of as plural. E.g. "Ebbsfleet United _have_ a new goalie." This is uncomfortable to Americans because Americans regard a team as one entity, one whole group. "University of Michigan has a new head coach."
It is the "the government" in american english when one addresses the government it always has "the" in front of it like a title or a way to single it out like you mentioned. "The government has enacted laws" same thing with university it is "The University of Michigan" but that's only when you are speaking of a university with "of" in the title. then again half the time people just abbreviate Universities LSU, UT, NYU etc.
"I got a car." doesn't mean the same as "I've got a car." in American English. The first one answers the question "What did you get?" the second one answers the question "How are we going to get there?"
You're right. If you wrote it down, it would still be "I've got a car.' It's just that the 'v' sound being dropped in casual speech that makes it sound like 'I got a car.'
Interesting video! I realize that not all things mentioned are universal but there are a few things that seemed weird to me as an American. Maybe some Americans say them but I don't and a lot of people I know don't. I don't say "dive board" (In fact, I've never heard this before) or "I got to go" I would say: "diving board" and "I gotta go" (same thing just squished together with a glottal stop). I also don't say "The government have" I would say "The government has", the former sounds really awkward BUT I would say, "Oh the government, they've screwed up again" so the plural verb works after a plural pronoun which refers back to a singular noun but NOT a plural verb directly after the singular noun. I would DEFINITELY say "I''ve got a headache" for the present tense. For past I would say "I had a headache". I've never heard "I've gotten a headache". On a side note, in my southern dialect we would say "I've done got a headache" (present). :D In any case, a very interesting video for me personally because I've been spending a lot of time with British people lately :) Many thanks! :D
Hi Jade, I have been looking for so long to English trainings with a wonderful british english and recently I found your channel. When I first heard you, I have known that´s what I was looking for. Since then I hear your speech videos on the train in the bus at home in the kitchen everywhere. I'm addicted to your accent and I try to copy that. I am so happy that you are there! You are an excellent speaker and trainer. Very talented. I´ll stay with you because I need your speech style. Lucy is o.k. But your speech style/ voice is more cooler, and your accent is more nicer for my and your videos are full of content . I'm so thankful and I´m a big fan of you! Thanks!
Basically, the rule on the plural verb depends on whether or not the collective noun is a notional plural: i.e., whether the noun refers to the group as a whole or to its separate individuals. So it's "the government has..." because here the collective noun refers to the whole, not to the individuals within it. But if the collective noun refers to the individuals, especially acting separately, then you use the plural ("the couple are vacationing apart").
Actually in American English, we say both burned and burnt. Burned refers to the verb of something was burned. Burnt we use as a descriptive adjective for something that is in a burned condition. Such as burnt toast. And we do spell it dreamed. I dreamed about it, I dreamed about her etc. And we also use leaped. Never have I used leapt or heard that used in America in normal conversation. We also use my birthday is the 9th of September or we use, is September 9th. And the I just saw her is not proper in America and is considered just bad grammar. It would actually be I saw her or, I have (I've) just seen her. As for the He already finished, we say that but we also say, he's already finished. Usually that indicates a time period. The first is usually interpreted as he finished quite some time ago and has already gone on to something different, whereas, he has (he's) already finished usually is interpreted as he just finished. We also are taught to say 'I've' instead of 'I' in the following sentence. I've gotta go or I've got to go, not, I gotta go. That again is generally considered bad grammar....even in America And no, we do not say "dive board", we say diving board. I've never even heard "dive board" used by 'anyone' in America! They suggested he rent a car is past tense. They've (they have) suggested he rent a car is more recent, like it has just now been suggested to him. So, I don't really know where you are getting a lot of these differences but they just are not necessarily all true. At least in average use in America, be it written or spoken.
She has a sweet voice. her style for speaking and technique for teaching is very attractive as well. I clearly understood her speech because she taught in a slow way.
Please clarify something for me. The singular form of the verb "to have" in the present third person is "has". If government is treated as one thing then the appropriate verb to use is the third person singular. Ergo, is it correct to state "The government HAS cut spending"?
Thank you! This final example was especially interesting. I'm a 63 year old American. I watch television programs from England about as frequently as those of the US and often hear BBC newscasts as well. I've done this for decades, so I've heard lots of British English. Your final example is the first time I've ever encountered a British English grammar usage that surely would have confused me. Had I heard someone say, "They suggested that he rented a car." without any context, I would have assumed the conversation was about the past, perhaps a something from an investigation during which people implied to the investigator that someone in the past had probably rented a car. I am startled to find this form can be used to express the present (Is this when I can say I'm "gobsmacked"?) If I say something in the subjunctive, talking about the future, I would use the imperfect, as in, "If I rented a car and drove to Boston, I would visit the historic buildings." The imperfect used for future events is an indicator of the subjunctive mood. So why do I find "rented" in the last example -- which is also surely also the imperfect-as-subjunctive -- so confusing? I'll have to think about this!! By the way, the penultimate example, "They suggested he should rent a car" strikes me as completely normal American usage - using subjunctive in order to make a suggestion or request more polite. Great video - thanks!
Hi, I'm from the US. I believe you mistook 'smelt' for the past tense of 'smell' in American English. But smelt is actually when you remove metal ore from stone, and smelled is the past tense you're looking for. I think maybe a long time ago they may have been interchangeable, but no longer.
great and useful video, especially the clarification when it comes to using either the simple past or the present perfect for recent events, a nuance and a subtlety which is never taught at school, and which leaves us non-native speakers baffled.
Hi! I'm from Mexico and i studied American English for about 2 years and i like it but i absolutely love British English and Accent, your videos are helping me to correct that little errors to reach your accent C: so thank you Jade!
In compound nouns, we Americans don't necessarily drop the ~ing, for example spinning wheel, shopping cart (your "trolley"), and many other cases. For the record I've never heard of "dive board"--we've always called it a diving board. "Jump rope" is perfectly fine though.
Grammatical differences between American English *scratches the air* and British English *scratches the air again!*... Now Jade, to give you a compliment - You so funny! (fyi - that error is intentional!). Jokes apart, your videos are awesome, clear and simply put! Well done!
just follow the different word-formations: AE , n+n for dive board while HME ving +n. there is nothing wrong with either . just a different way to cut the same cake.
I'm a retired American elementary school teacher. I taught my kids the "-ed past tense ending" spelling rule as follows: If the base word ends with "d" or "t", "-ed" forms another syllable. If the base word does NOT end with "d" or "t", "-ed" sounds like "d" (as in "played", "called", or "waved"); or it sounds like "t" (as in "jumped", "washed", or "missed"). Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but I'm not so sure that "smelt" is an American usage. "Burnt", as in, for example, "burnt toast", sounds right though. It's hard for me to really tell because I read a lot of novels by British authors, like D.E. Stevenson, Patricia Wentworth, Agatha Christie, etc.
I'm an American and I think it's so interesting as well as informative what you're doing. Don't pay attention to anyone that acts childish. It can be at times very confusing, but I respect both as the same, but different in many ways and if either side whines about your spelling, ignore these idiots. Ignorance is bliss. Haters will hate. Keep doing what you're doing.
i am a native new yorker, and the subjunctive british sentences hurt me head. mostly the second one. but i did enjoy her talking bout driving upstate. this can be any distance from 1 to several hundred miles. once outside the city limits, it’s a savage wilderness ... and then you reach canada.
I appreciate all of this group of people explaining things to us, non-native speakers BUT we had a British girl from London as a language assistant at my university and she explained some things differently. For instance, Dates. She explained that even though you say (the) 9th (of) September, you don't write neither the article nor the preposition. So, it can get confusing for us leaners to follow you when even you fail to agree in some facts.
I live in America, and I always learned that you can use either the singular or plural verb for collective nouns, depending upon whether the group is acting together or as individuals. Is that really just a British thing?
"have" in the first example is should be "has" - The government (it) has cut spending. Also, Canadian English is a mixture of mainly American grammar with British spelling so it's ok to mix those two differences.
I've heard "dreamt" in U.S. English, but never "smelt" for the past participle of "to smell." (Enjoyed the video, thanks. For others reading the comments, yes, in American English, commas, periods, exclamation and question marks go INSIDE the quotation marks, though colons and semi-colons go outside quotation marks. :-) ) I do have one other I'd like you to do: the times when usage differs for certain nouns WITH and WITHOUT the definitive article "the," such as "hospital" and "university." Thanks!
Thank you. you have a very concise information for me. As a person who teaches english and at the same time it is not my native language your explaination really have taken my attention
Great video. I need to study more about these differences. Your explanation is really helpful. I started learning American English then I lived one year in Ireland and since I came back to Brazil I´ve been studying British English (My English is a mess!). I´m trying to be familiar with British English naturally by watching British TV and reading books printed in U.K. Thanks for the video.
It is VERY common here in Americas that ss' use british English text books, whilst the teacher speaks american English. The aftermath reveals that advanced English ss' mix a lot british and american English. And those ss turn in the future English teachers.
The other difference my students note is in the subjunctive mood of the second kind of IF. American usage prefers "were" (If I were you, I'd...), while British usage prefers/admits "was" (If I was you, I'd...).
English Jade - Concerning the -ed and -t endings in American English, there are times when it depends on the region of the United States as well as idiosyncrasies. For example, where I was born (Northeastern US/New England) "burnt" and "spelt" are common. That was the way I was taught to say them growing up. It also depends on what sounds right to the speaker. For example, the word dreamt sounds better to my ears than dreamed. I may also use burnt and burned depending on the context. For example, I might say "The pizza is burnt" but say "He burned the pizza." On a final note, doesn't slept sound so much better than sleeped? :D
The sound so wonderful let's get started... I like so much British English.. I am just studying English in the course but I got my accent like a America.. I don't know why.. I think because of people in Indonesia using America accent.. I want to change my accent to British English.. but so hard..
I guess I'm more familiar with the British English grammar rules, that's probably what I learnt in jr highschool in France, in the late 80's. I remember the early days of internet and began chatting on AOL or IRC with Americans, I would use "learnt" and they would tell me "learned is the correct form, learnt is a slang", I was confused and checked my irregular verbs list but it was written "to learn / I learnt / learnt".
Hi Jade. I'm Dutch and one thing I find weird is the rule when to use the word "that". Now, in my own language this "that" is translated into "dat" and we have to use it all the time. Now, at school I learnt (British English only) whenever "that" can be left out, you really MUST leave it out (and a red mark indicating an error if you did!). But then I saw some English and American use the word "that".... So what is more correct, both in BE: "They suggested he should rent a car" "They suggested THAT he should rent a car" And when to add the "that" ? Love your videos btw
+Aragorn Strider Both are correct, at least in this example. It's just a different way of saying it. What grade are you in? Maybe your teacher is just a bit uninformed. I had a few teachers who told us wrong stuff as well.
+Aragorn Strider Perhaps it's simply a pet peeve of your teacher. I know of teachers who banned 'like' in the classroom. If you wish to get technical, 'should' generally implies obligation and therefore it would clash with 'suggest' which implies choice. I would word it "They suggested he rent a car". However, remember: it's all about usage, so in California: "They like, suggested he should like, rent a car". London: "They suggested he hire a car". New York: "Take the subway, moron!".
Before open your video i read comments and got similar with your thought about American people...How interesting !!!! British know when America can react at anything .... One thing is if suggesting abiut renting car, I mean talking about future so how could it be suggested ??? Suggested clearly referred past....Should is more suitable i think..... However, Its very helpful to know more difference between American and English.... I juts have started knowing differences for several days and i feel personally American English is easy....
Sorry to spam the discussion section. The past participle 'gotten' was a British English usage that was imported to America by British settlers. This group settled in then American South East in a geographically remote area, thus they retained the the older usages of words like 'gotten' and 'reckon.' Eventually these usages were reintroduces and to some degree accepted into Modern American English.
I'm learning eglish and sometimes i can't follow a conversation, but i could understand everything you were saying, you speak very clear (i´m not sure if that's the way to say it in spanish it is) and thank's for the information you got a new subscriber.
Thank you for taking the time to share, though I'd recommend changing the example: "I've gotten a headache." I've never heard a sentence like that in any of the 50 states to refer to the past. This doesn't justify comments saying your post is "wildly" inaccurate, let alone the use of foul language by those who evidently have such limited vocabulary or knowledge of the English language.
The "american" subjunctive is also used and accepted in BrE. Source: BBC and Cambridge. However, I find it unlikely to come up in spoken everyday English.
It also come out to former colonies to just look at Philippine English it's mostly American English derived compared to Hong Kong Singapore Malaysia Australia New Zealand which would use British English derived grammar
Thank you, Jade. :) I'm from Taiwan, where the English education base on American English, while I am going to study in the UK. Therefore, I am always confused which way I am using, especially in IELTS writing. It is true that we can use either American English or British English, but seems it doesn't allow us to use both in the same essay, which is very annoying me because sometimes I really don't know which English I am writing. This video is very helpful for me. Thank you again, and you are beautiful, too.
I realy love your videos:) But I don't understand one thing here. You said that we sould use a singular verb with "The goverment". Isn't "has" the singular verb in the 3rd person? Why did you put "have" there instead "has"?
+Ваня Чемпион This is one somewhat complicated, to put it mildly... When you can replace "the Government" with "the members of the Government", use a plural verb. Otherwise, use a singular one.
Really like your lesson, keep up the great job. And I'm happy to find the correction of the first example when I go over this film today, that's "have" to "has". I was quite confused few days ago when I watched this film.
Hi, I love Jade's lessons, but I have an impression, correct me if I'm wrong, that she is lisping a little. I'm not sure because maybe this kind of pronunciation is right for the British English, the Estuary English or the Received Pronunciation. Especially in words with "sh" like British, English, but also in words like collection, generally I think that she pronounce it a little softer like [ɕ] instead of harder [ʃ]. Is it correct? Anyway, thanks for great lesson!
what's the difference between got and gotten？from what i heard they are all past participles. but why do they mean differently when put in the same structure as i ' ve ...
I'm not quite sure but the final sound you made in the pronounciation in the words Learnt-Learned, dreamed-dreamt, sounded exactly the same /t/ to my non-native ears
Funny, I'm American but I use most of the british ways and spellings. I'm from the south though and a lot of people here held on to the old and refused that yankee english from the north! We've always prided ourselves on being different in the South!
it's kind of funny, because all those -ed words I pronounce as if there were a t at the end (I'm from Chicago). I do say smelt and leapt. I also have heard that gotten was standard in Shakespearean England and remained standard in "the colonies" but fell out of vogue in England and now it is being re-introduced (full circle heh)...Typically I say I have a headache instead of I've got a headache also I tend to say Did/Do/Does more then the present perfect. I say jump rope but I also say diving board, I've never called it a dive board. As for the subjunctive mood, I tend to use "that" as in They suggested THAT he rent a car. And of course I use rent over hire when it comes to using a car for a temporary amount of time that you yourself drive, hiring a car to me sounds like you're hiring a chauffeur.
Sometimes 'gotten' makes more sense in British English than 'got' though. Take the sentence 'I had gotten ill'. As a BE speaker, gotten in this context sounds a lot more correct that 'I had got ill'.
Interestly enough, when using dates in British English we say the words 'the' and 'of' but we do not write them, as such in written British English it is correct to write "September 9th 2014" but if you were to say this (or to read this aloud) you would insert the needed preposition and definite article and say "September the 9th of 2014" or in another order it might be "the 9th of September 2014". Just an interesting little tidbit. I notice these little things because I am a native speaker but my mum is German so I noticed speach patterns more (like my mum often says 'what' instead of 'that' or 'which') and also because my best friend is dyslexic so often confuses American and British grammar, spelling and wording as she learnt most of her English through spoken language, including that of the television.
In British English, the order is always dd/mm/yyyy. I'm American, so I say "Today is November 3, 2014". If I was British, I'd say "Today is 3 November 2014".
You can get away with writing it that way but its wrong really. I'm English and I have an A level in English (my degree is in Drama and Education Joint BA Hons, though), I know what I'm talking about. X
I have to respectfully disagree with Ex. 6. We mostly use "have" instead of "got" as a means of showing possession and necessity. (Ex. Do you have a dollar? as opposed to, "Have you got a dollar?".) or ("I have to go" as opposed to "I've got to go") We use both but the first examples are more common. Also we use the present perfect tense quite a bit. (She's got, He's got, It's got, etc.)
In the US, we definitely say "smelled." I believe I've also heard "smelt" as the past tense of "smell," but it's not too common (at least where I'm from, California. It could be a regional difference). That is, unless you mean "to smelt," as in to melt an ore to get its pure metal, or "smelt," the small variety of fish.
I wonder if you have the notion of how helpful these videos of yours are. Your explanations are so straightforward, clear and useful in daily-day terms. And you even transcript the all lesson! Thank you and congratulations for your work!
This is really interesting to me for a few reasons (I'm from the mid-west, U.S.). To me, the example of, "The government have cut spending" sounds rather uncomfortable. "The government has..." sounds much more natural to me. In addition, I actually use 'burnt', 'dreamt', ect. 'Burnt' is the only one I would ever spell that way though. For most verbs, the -t ending does sound strange, especially 'learnt'. I don't really use 'gotten'. It too sounds strange. The last main point of note is that I've never seen 'dive board' and certainly have never used it. 'Diving board' is how I've always heard and said it. My guess is that within the U.S. there is significant variation and some bleeding through of British standards.
I went to high school in Canada (where I actually learned my English) and am currently attending college in U.S. This video actually cleared up some confusion!
I loved the video! Thanks. Two comments though
I'm American, and personally I would say "The government's cut spending." or "The government has cut spending (for the fiscal year 2014) (in order to reduce the deficit)." (So with a prep phrase following)
Also, I say diving board.
I do not know if this is because of my specific dialect (I'm sort of on the boarder of the Coastal Southern and Gulf Southern dialect regions.) or it's just me. I really enjoy linguistics, the contrast of English dialects specifically, and how they came about. This video was very informative and much appreciated. Thank you.
Great video! I am from Canada and I use a mix of both American and British English. Sometimes I find myself using one more than the other. But the majority of time I use British English.
Isn't "have" in the first sentence a plural verb? Singular should be has...the government has cut...
yes, you are correct
Yes, it is a mistake which she does not correct even after she reads it out loud to her audience. In her example about the American singular form for collective nouns (at the top left side) she mistakenly uses the plural form. It should read: "The government has cut spending", and not "have cut spending", the latter being an option only for British English grammar.
In British English, the word government is regarded as a plural noun and so they say "Government _have_ enacted laws..." In America, the word government is singular, as in one entity comprised of a group of bureaus, or whatever. "Government _has_ enacted laws..."
I see this all the time in commentary about sports teams in the UK, where one team by name is spoken of as plural. E.g. "Ebbsfleet United _have_ a new goalie." This is uncomfortable to Americans because Americans regard a team as one entity, one whole group. "University of Michigan has a new head coach."
It is the "the government" in american english when one addresses the government it always has "the" in front of it like a title or a way to single it out like you mentioned. "The government has enacted laws" same thing with university it is "The University of Michigan" but that's only when you are speaking of a university with "of" in the title. then again half the time people just abbreviate Universities LSU, UT, NYU etc.
As per my examples, actually, "The" does not always precede government and university as you suggest and quite rightly is not required to.
I really love the Jade's class. She is lovely and show her subjects with kindness.
"I got a car." doesn't mean the same as "I've got a car." in American English.
The first one answers the question "What did you get?" the second one answers the question "How are we going to get there?"
You're right. If you wrote it down, it would still be "I've got a car.' It's just that the 'v' sound being dropped in casual speech that makes it sound like 'I got a car.'
I love British English (Bringlish). It's the accent I constantly use. Thanks Jade.
Interesting video! I realize that not all things mentioned are universal but there are a few things that seemed weird to me as an American. Maybe some Americans say them but I don't and a lot of people I know don't.
I don't say "dive board" (In fact, I've never heard this before) or "I got to go" I would say: "diving board" and "I gotta go" (same thing just squished together with a glottal stop).
I also don't say "The government have" I would say "The government has", the former sounds really awkward BUT I would say, "Oh the government, they've screwed up again" so the plural verb works after a plural pronoun which refers back to a singular noun but NOT a plural verb directly after the singular noun.
I would DEFINITELY say "I''ve got a headache" for the present tense. For past I would say "I had a headache". I've never heard "I've gotten a headache". On a side note, in my southern dialect we would say "I've done got a headache" (present). :D
In any case, a very interesting video for me personally because I've been spending a lot of time with British people lately :) Many thanks! :D
Hi Jade, I have been looking for so long to English trainings with a wonderful british english and recently I found your channel. When I first heard you, I have known that´s what I was looking for. Since then I hear your speech videos on the train in the bus at home in the kitchen everywhere. I'm addicted to your accent and I try to copy that. I am so happy that you are there! You are an excellent speaker and trainer. Very talented. I´ll stay with you because I need your speech style. Lucy is o.k. But
your speech style/ voice is more cooler, and your accent is more nicer for my and your videos are full of content . I'm so thankful and I´m a big fan of you! Thanks!
Basically, the rule on the plural verb depends on whether or not the collective noun is a notional plural: i.e., whether the noun refers to the group as a whole or to its separate individuals.
So it's "the government has..." because here the collective noun refers to the whole, not to the individuals within it.
But if the collective noun refers to the individuals, especially acting separately, then you use the plural ("the couple are vacationing apart").
Actually in American English, we say both burned and burnt. Burned refers to the verb of something was burned. Burnt we use as a descriptive adjective for something that is in a burned condition. Such as burnt toast.
And we do spell it dreamed. I dreamed about it, I dreamed about her etc.
And we also use leaped. Never have I used leapt or heard that used in America in normal conversation.
We also use my birthday is the 9th of September or we use, is September 9th.
And the I just saw her is not proper in America and is considered just bad grammar. It would actually be I saw her or, I have (I've) just seen her.
As for the He already finished, we say that but we also say, he's already finished. Usually that indicates a time period. The first is usually interpreted as he finished quite some time ago and has already gone on to something different, whereas, he has (he's) already finished usually is interpreted as he just finished.
We also are taught to say 'I've' instead of 'I' in the following sentence. I've gotta go or I've got to go, not, I gotta go. That again is generally considered bad grammar....even in America
And no, we do not say "dive board", we say diving board. I've never even heard "dive board" used by 'anyone' in America!
They suggested he rent a car is past tense. They've (they have) suggested he rent a car is more recent, like it has just now been suggested to him.
So, I don't really know where you are getting a lot of these differences but they just are not necessarily all true. At least in average use in America, be it written or spoken.
She has a sweet voice. her style for speaking and technique for teaching is very attractive as well. I clearly understood her speech because she taught in a slow way.
Hello, Jade. I just love your videos. Your accent is great. Very nice tips for all of us.
Please clarify something for me. The singular form of the verb "to have" in the present third person is "has". If government is treated as one thing then the appropriate verb to use is the third person singular. Ergo, is it correct to state "The government HAS cut spending"?
Thank you! This final example was especially interesting. I'm a 63 year old American. I watch television programs from England about as frequently as those of the US and often hear BBC newscasts as well. I've done this for decades, so I've heard lots of British English. Your final example is the first time I've ever encountered a British English grammar usage that surely would have confused me. Had I heard someone say, "They suggested that he rented a car." without any context, I would have assumed the conversation was about the past, perhaps a something from an investigation during which people implied to the investigator that someone in the past had probably rented a car. I am startled to find this form can be used to express the present (Is this when I can say I'm "gobsmacked"?)
If I say something in the subjunctive, talking about the future, I would use the imperfect, as in, "If I rented a car and drove to Boston, I would visit the historic buildings." The imperfect used for future events is an indicator of the subjunctive mood. So why do I find "rented" in the last example -- which is also surely also the imperfect-as-subjunctive -- so confusing? I'll have to think about this!!
By the way, the penultimate example, "They suggested he should rent a car" strikes me as completely normal American usage - using subjunctive in order to make a suggestion or request more polite.
Great video - thanks!
"leapt" and "smelt" are both used in British English. The Oxford English Dictionary lists them as past participles.
DJ V-W yeah I thought so two
Hi, I'm from the US. I believe you mistook 'smelt' for the past tense of 'smell' in American English. But smelt is actually when you remove metal ore from stone, and smelled is the past tense you're looking for. I think maybe a long time ago they may have been interchangeable, but no longer.
great and useful video, especially the clarification when it comes to using either the simple past or the present perfect for recent events, a nuance and a subtlety which is never taught at school, and which leaves us non-native speakers baffled.
My birthday is the 31st of July. I have always said it that way. My British roots are showing. Love your videos.
I'm Mexican and I'm learning a lot with your videos thanks!! Jade
Hi! I'm from Mexico and i studied American English for about 2 years and i like it but i absolutely love British English and Accent, your videos are helping me to correct that little errors to reach your accent C: so thank you Jade!
In compound nouns, we Americans don't necessarily drop the ~ing, for example spinning wheel, shopping cart (your "trolley"), and many other cases. For the record I've never heard of "dive board"--we've always called it a diving board. "Jump rope" is perfectly fine though.
Grammatical differences between American English *scratches the air* and British English *scratches the air again!*... Now Jade, to give you a compliment - You so funny! (fyi - that error is intentional!). Jokes apart, your videos are awesome, clear and simply put! Well done!
just follow the different word-formations: AE , n+n for dive board while HME ving +n.
there is nothing wrong with either . just a different way to cut the same cake.
I also spelled them smelled and dreamed, depending on how they're being used and what they're describing.
I'm a retired American elementary school teacher. I taught my kids the "-ed past tense ending" spelling rule as follows: If the base word ends with "d" or "t", "-ed" forms another syllable. If the base word does NOT end with "d" or "t", "-ed" sounds like "d" (as in "played", "called", or "waved"); or it sounds like "t" (as in "jumped", "washed", or "missed"). Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but I'm not so sure that "smelt" is an American usage. "Burnt", as in, for example, "burnt toast", sounds right though. It's hard for me to really tell because I read a lot of novels by British authors, like D.E. Stevenson, Patricia Wentworth, Agatha Christie, etc.
I'm an American and I think it's so interesting as well as informative what you're doing. Don't pay attention to anyone that acts childish. It can be at times very confusing, but I respect both as the same, but different in many ways and if either side whines about your spelling, ignore these idiots. Ignorance is bliss. Haters will hate. Keep doing what you're doing.
i am a native new yorker, and the subjunctive british sentences hurt me head. mostly the second one. but i did enjoy her talking bout driving upstate. this can be any distance from 1 to several hundred miles. once outside the city limits, it’s a savage wilderness ... and then you reach canada.
I know you say pick a side and stick with it but I'm American and I use some of these things interchangeably.
More people voted against him that voted for him.
I appreciate all of this group of people explaining things to us, non-native speakers BUT we had a British girl from London as a language assistant at my university and she explained some things differently. For instance, Dates. She explained that even though you say (the) 9th (of) September, you don't write neither the article nor the preposition. So, it can get confusing for us leaners to follow you when even you fail to agree in some facts.
It's nice to watch your video... I try to watch daily... thanks for your contribution
I'm interested in AmE, but using yet with the simple past tense just sounds awkward. How about sticking to the British rule when it comes to that?
You're a right good teacher and one classy bird. (we don't have American English to British English here)
nm, I failed the quiz hard. I'm not American enough.
In UK English we use leapt as in, "He leapt into the sea".
I have learnt a lot from this video. It's kind a substitute for a tutor. Thanks a lot.
I live in America, and I always learned that you can use either the singular or plural verb for collective nouns, depending upon whether the group is acting together or as individuals. Is that really just a British thing?
"have" in the first example is should be "has" - The government (it) has cut spending. Also, Canadian English is a mixture of mainly American grammar with British spelling so it's ok to mix those two differences.
I've heard "dreamt" in U.S. English, but never "smelt" for the past participle of "to smell." (Enjoyed the video, thanks. For others reading the comments, yes, in American English, commas, periods, exclamation and question marks go INSIDE the quotation marks, though colons and semi-colons go outside quotation marks. :-) ) I do have one other I'd like you to do: the times when usage differs for certain nouns WITH and WITHOUT the definitive article "the," such as "hospital" and "university." Thanks!
Thanks Jade for your help
Thank you. you have a very concise information for me. As a person who teaches english and at the same time it is not my native language your explaination really have taken my attention
Great video. I need to study more about these differences. Your explanation is really helpful. I started learning American English then I lived one year in Ireland and since I came back to Brazil I´ve been studying British English (My English is a mess!). I´m trying to be familiar with British English naturally by watching British TV and reading books printed in U.K.
Thanks for the video.
It is VERY common here in Americas that ss' use british English text books, whilst the teacher speaks american English. The aftermath reveals that advanced English ss' mix a lot british and american English. And those ss turn in the future English teachers.
In english we sat SMELT where one is extracting metal from an ore during smelting.
The other difference my students note is in the subjunctive mood of the second kind of IF. American usage prefers "were" (If I were you, I'd...), while British usage prefers/admits "was" (If I was you, I'd...).
English Jade - Concerning the -ed and -t endings in American English, there are times when it depends on the region of the United States as well as idiosyncrasies. For example, where I was born (Northeastern US/New England) "burnt" and "spelt" are common. That was the way I was taught to say them growing up. It also depends on what sounds right to the speaker. For example, the word dreamt sounds better to my ears than dreamed. I may also use burnt and burned depending on the context. For example, I might say "The pizza is burnt" but say "He burned the pizza." On a final note, doesn't slept sound so much better than sleeped? :D
The sound so wonderful let's get started... I like so much British English.. I am just studying English in the course but I got my accent like a America.. I don't know why.. I think because of people in Indonesia using America accent.. I want to change my accent to British English.. but so hard..
Does the Y-Vowel link, and Reductions with should, could, and would of American English applies to British English???
I guess I'm more familiar with the British English grammar rules, that's probably what I learnt in jr highschool in France, in the late 80's.
I remember the early days of internet and began chatting on AOL or IRC with Americans, I would use "learnt" and they would tell me "learned is the correct form, learnt is a slang", I was confused and checked my irregular verbs list but it was written "to learn / I learnt / learnt".
Hi Jade. I'm Dutch and one thing I find weird is the rule when to use the word "that". Now, in my own language this "that" is translated into "dat" and we have to use it all the time. Now, at school I learnt (British English only) whenever "that" can be left out, you really MUST leave it out (and a red mark indicating an error if you did!). But then I saw some English and American use the word "that"....
So what is more correct, both in BE:
"They suggested he should rent a car"
"They suggested THAT he should rent a car"
And when to add the "that" ?
Love your videos btw
+Aragorn Strider Both are correct, at least in this example. It's just a different way of saying it. What grade are you in? Maybe your teacher is just a bit uninformed. I had a few teachers who told us wrong stuff as well.
+Aragorn Strider Perhaps it's simply a pet peeve of your teacher. I know of teachers who banned 'like' in the classroom. If you wish to get technical, 'should' generally implies obligation and therefore it would clash with 'suggest' which implies choice. I would word it "They suggested he rent a car". However, remember: it's all about usage, so in California: "They like, suggested he should like, rent a car". London: "They suggested he hire a car". New York: "Take the subway, moron!".
"They suggested he rent a car" is fine.
Great video. Thanks!
Before open your video i read comments and got similar with your thought about American people...How interesting !!!! British know when America can react at anything .... One thing is if suggesting abiut renting car, I mean talking about future so how could it be suggested ??? Suggested clearly referred past....Should is more suitable i think..... However, Its very helpful to know more difference between American and English.... I juts have started knowing differences for several days and i feel personally American English is easy....
Thanks Jade for this class.
Sorry to spam the discussion section. The past participle 'gotten' was a British English usage that was imported to America by British settlers. This group settled in then American South East in a geographically remote area, thus they retained the the older usages of words like 'gotten' and 'reckon.' Eventually these usages were reintroduces and to some degree accepted into Modern American English.
I'm learning eglish and sometimes i can't follow a conversation, but i could understand everything you were saying, you speak very clear (i´m not sure if that's the way to say it in spanish it is) and thank's for the information you got a new subscriber.
Thank you for taking the time to share, though I'd recommend changing the example: "I've gotten a headache." I've never heard a sentence like that in any of the 50 states to refer to the past. This doesn't justify comments saying your post is "wildly" inaccurate, let alone the use of foul language by those who evidently have such limited vocabulary or knowledge of the English language.
Thanks alot lady for this lesson 🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷
Beautiful teacher
How about different from versus different to or different than?
Excellent discussion mam
Hi, I m Moiz Mansoor and I am really inspired by the way you teach. thanks a lot for making such videos to encourage people learning the real accent
The "american" subjunctive is also used and accepted in BrE. Source: BBC and Cambridge. However, I find it unlikely to come up in spoken everyday English.
It also come out to former colonies to just look at Philippine English it's mostly American English derived compared to Hong Kong Singapore Malaysia Australia New Zealand which would use British English derived grammar
Must "got" always be preceded by "have" when referring to the present tense?
I've always said and heard "diving board" and I am an American.
hi dear Jade i love your teaching
Thank you, Jade. :) I'm from Taiwan, where the English education base on American English, while I am going to study in the UK. Therefore, I am always confused which way I am using, especially in IELTS writing. It is true that we can use either American English or British English, but seems it doesn't allow us to use both in the same essay, which is very annoying me because sometimes I really don't know which English I am writing. This video is very helpful for me. Thank you again, and you are beautiful, too.
saw many of your videos. you are an excellent teacher
excellent explanation, thanks!
you've got a beautiful accent. ^_^
Николай Сергеевич Горбачёв Yup you gotta give her that much
What accent?
Can i Use The T ending for every past simple for the British? Like walkt and watcht?
Regarding the 3rd point, shouldn't it be 'I'm having a headache' if it is talking about the current situation (now) ?
Peng Qing
I'm having a headache is what someone would say for sympathy to call attention to that. 99% of the time it's I have a headache.
I realy love your videos:)
But I don't understand one thing here. You said that we sould use a singular verb with "The goverment". Isn't "has" the singular verb in the 3rd person? Why did you put "have" there instead "has"?
Жилистый Жилистый конечно, хули нет?
I have exactly the same question.
+Ваня Чемпион This is one somewhat complicated, to put it mildly... When you can replace "the Government" with "the members of the Government", use a plural verb. Otherwise, use a singular one.
Ваня Чемпион did u watch the video ? lol She left a small note on the screen about it!!!!!!!!!!
But if I use a singular verb (for The Goverment as a unit), shouldn't it be written as "The Goverment has cut spendings"?
The -t ending is actually an irregular ending. The American -ed ending is a simplified version by making the ending regular.
I've got/gotten a headache is present perfect tense, isn't it? You say it's used when we talk about the past.
Fascinating talks and also fun! Thank you for these videos, Jade. Nicelly done.
I have watched practically all your videos... I like your accent..... good job...keep it up and I expect more....
Oh.. teacher ... I love your accent ... thanks for this video.. I learned a lot
Thank you Teacher.Wonderful lesson.
Really like your lesson, keep up the great job.
And I'm happy to find the correction of the first example when I go over this film today, that's "have" to "has".
I was quite confused few days ago when I watched this film.
Hi, I love Jade's lessons, but I have an impression, correct me if I'm wrong, that she is lisping a little. I'm not sure because maybe this kind of pronunciation is right for the British English, the Estuary English or the Received Pronunciation. Especially in words with "sh" like British, English, but also in words like collection, generally I think that she pronounce it a little softer like [ɕ] instead of harder [ʃ]. Is it correct? Anyway, thanks for great lesson!
what's the difference between got and gotten？from what i heard they are all past participles. but why do they mean differently when put in the same structure as i ' ve ...
I'm confused about rule number one. "The government have cut spending" is plural, isn't it? The singular version would be "has cut spending".
It is "The government has cut spending." You are correct, she is wrong.
Does the W-Vowel Link of American English applies to British English???
I'm a bit confused is the have word associated with plural subject like the government or the singular which uses has
I'm not quite sure but the final sound you made in the pronounciation in the words Learnt-Learned, dreamed-dreamt, sounded exactly the same /t/ to my non-native ears
it sounded actually different
***** Yes you're right
I have lived in America, but I havent realised these things! good to know as a teacher training student:)
Funny, I'm American but I use most of the british ways and spellings. I'm from the south though and a lot of people here held on to the old and refused that yankee english from the north! We've always prided ourselves on being different in the South!
it's kind of funny, because all those -ed words I pronounce as if there were a t at the end (I'm from Chicago). I do say smelt and leapt. I also have heard that gotten was standard in Shakespearean England and remained standard in "the colonies" but fell out of vogue in England and now it is being re-introduced (full circle heh)...Typically I say I have a headache instead of I've got a headache also I tend to say Did/Do/Does more then the present perfect. I say jump rope but I also say diving board, I've never called it a dive board. As for the subjunctive mood, I tend to use "that" as in They suggested THAT he rent a car. And of course I use rent over hire when it comes to using a car for a temporary amount of time that you yourself drive, hiring a car to me sounds like you're hiring a chauffeur.
Sometimes 'gotten' makes more sense in British English than 'got' though.
Take the sentence 'I had gotten ill'. As a BE speaker, gotten in this context sounds a lot more correct that 'I had got ill'.
very good thank you.
A beautiful lesson; thank you very much, Jade !
I Feel Comfortable By Your Lesson :) Excellent...Jade..Thanks So Much ..Kind Regards.
I love your videos and your accent as well!
Is "have" a singular verb? What about they have? Or is it correct to say It have cut spending? Because government is singular.
Interestly enough, when using dates in British English we say the words 'the' and 'of' but we do not write them, as such in written British English it is correct to write "September 9th 2014" but if you were to say this (or to read this aloud) you would insert the needed preposition and definite article and say "September the 9th of 2014" or in another order it might be "the 9th of September 2014". Just an interesting little tidbit.
I notice these little things because I am a native speaker but my mum is German so I noticed speach patterns more (like my mum often says 'what' instead of 'that' or 'which') and also because my best friend is dyslexic so often confuses American and British grammar, spelling and wording as she learnt most of her English through spoken language, including that of the television.
In British English, the order is always dd/mm/yyyy. I'm American, so I say "Today is November 3, 2014". If I was British, I'd say "Today is 3 November 2014".
No. You'd say "Today is the 3rd of November 2014. but you'd write 3rd November 2014 or 03/11/2014.
Sen Tariana But online, it's written as "3 November 2014".
You can get away with writing it that way but its wrong really. I'm English and I have an A level in English (my degree is in Drama and Education Joint BA Hons, though), I know what I'm talking about. X
I have to respectfully disagree with Ex. 6. We mostly use "have" instead of "got" as a means of showing possession and necessity. (Ex. Do you have a dollar? as opposed to, "Have you got a dollar?".) or ("I have to go" as opposed to "I've got to go") We use both but the first examples are more common. Also we use the present perfect tense quite a bit. (She's got, He's got, It's got, etc.)
Your class is great. thanks for this video. You´re the best.
In the US, we definitely say "smelled." I believe I've also heard "smelt" as the past tense of "smell," but it's not too common (at least where I'm from, California. It could be a regional difference).
That is, unless you mean "to smelt," as in to melt an ore to get its pure metal, or "smelt," the small variety of fish.
I've heard some people say "smelt" in New York
They might say smelt in some dialects but written standard American = smelled.