【正文】 or. AmE: She doesn’t need to see a doctor. BrE: We dared not go out. AmE: We didn’t dare to go out. The modal verb “must” can be used to indicate affirmative and negative speculation. While it’s negative form in British English is “can not” which means“嚴 禁，禁止“ , in American English is “must not” which means“不可能” . For example: BrE: Today is Sunday. She can not be at school. AmE: Today is Sunday. She must not be at school. There also exist differences between British English and American English in the modal verbs “shall amp。 ③ special words. For the sake of knowing the differences, here provide long lists of word pairs: 1) Same word express different meaning British English American English date 日期 約會 corn 谷物、小麥 玉米 dresser 櫥柜 化妝師 overalls 與皮靴相匹配的緊身褲 寬松的工裝褲 Gallon 升 升 Pint 20 液量盎司 16 液量盎司 Billion 萬億 十億 2) Same meaning use different word Chinese British English American English 飛機場 aerodrome airport 汽油 petrol gas 商店 shop store 糖果 sweets candy 秋天 autumn fall 公寓 apartment flat 電梯 lift elevator 褲子 trousers paints 垃圾箱 dustbin trashcan 9 公用電話亭 call box telephone booth 郵寄 post mail 大學(xué)一年級新生 the first year student freshman 生病 ill sick 天線 aerial antenna 人行道 pavement sidewalk 罐頭 tin can 水龍頭 tap faucet 地鐵 underground subway 鐵路 railway railroad 汽車 motor(car) automobile 3) Special words Through the process of development, British and American gradually absorb other cultures so that they have produced many new words for their own use. Since there exist great difference between Britain and America in climate, some words about geographical characteristics, animals and plants are only American English, such as everglades(美國佛羅里達洲南部的大沼澤地 ), canyon(峽谷 ), caribou(北美的馴鹿 ), sequoia(美國加州的紅杉 ), sagebrush(艾灌叢 ). Due to the difference of political system, the words like statehouse(州議會大樓 ), electoralcollege(選舉團 ), and division(選區(qū) ) are only used in American English. Whereas, British is a parliamentary monarchy so that words like prince(王子 ), duke(公爵 ), marquis(侯爵 ), count(伯爵 ), viscount(子爵 ), baron(男爵 ) and so on, those words only appear in British English. Dissimilarities in Grammar Generally speaking, grammar teaching is the top priority of the second foreign language teaching. In order to master one foreign language and bee proficient in using it, the knowledge of grammar is absolutely necessary. In linguistics, grammar is the series of structural rules that governs the position of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often plemented by phoics, semantics, and 10 pragmatics. Linguists do not normally use the term to refer to orthographical rules, although usage books and style guides that call themselves grammars may also refer to spelling and punctuation. There are some dissimilarities between British English and American English, the main points are as follows: Dissimilarities in Certain verbs 1) Past participles: The past participle for “get” in British English is “got” while American English has two: “got” amp。 reflection (AmE). Dissimilarities in Vocabulary When speaking about the lexical differences between British English and American English, they can be summarized as three points: ① same word express different meaning。 connection (AmE), “膚色” plexion (BrE) amp。quarreller(BrE), marveled (AmE) amp。 travelling(BrE), leveling(AmE)amp。 license (AmE),“犯法行為” offence (BrE) amp。 labor (AmE). 3) In British spelling, words end with “re”, while “er” in American spelling, such as British English“re” American English“er” centre center fibre fiber kilometre kilometer theatre theater 4) Some words end with “se” in British English, while “ze” in American English, such as British English“se” American English“ze” analyse analyze memorise memorize anise anize civilise civilize recognise recognize 5) Some words end with “ence” in British English, “ense” in American English, such as“防御” defence (BrE) amp。 favorite (AmE),“舉止、行為 ” behaviour (BrE) amp。 prolog (AmE). 2) The omission of silent letters “u” in American spelling, such as“顏色” colour (BrE) amp。 catalog (AmE), “對話” dialogue (BrE) amp。 [veiz] Dissimilarities in Intonation Generally speaking, British people speak at fast pace with rich tone so that some words may be not pronounced clearly. Being pared with British people, American people are relatively slow and always have clear enunciation with small fluctuation. In intonation it is generally agreed that American English is flatter than British English. ① In other words, this means that British intonation is singsong while American intonation tends to be flat and monotonous. Dissimilarities in Spelling In the process of English learning, the spelling of words is essential and inevitable. There are two major dissimilarities between British English and American English in spelling: one is the difference in some individual letters。skedзju:l] [180。ma:t?u] [t?180。tei?(?)n] [εkspεk180。 ek] [εk180。sεpt] experiment [ik180。sept。t ju:zdei] [180。stju:d(?)nt] [180。θ] ① 胡壯麟 , 姜望琪 .語言學(xué)教程 [M].北京 :北京大學(xué)出版社 , . 5 dance [da:ns] [d230。230。sk] answer [180。] in American English. For example: British English American English [a:] [230。 the third period from 1500 to the present day which is also called the Modern English period. Through these periods British English has gradually been enriched and developed, and it bees the world wide language after the Industrial Revolution from 18th to 19th. American English According to the Wikipedia, American English (AmE) is the form of English used in the United States. It includes all English dialects used within the U