Varieties of English
To use a language properly, we of course have to know the grammatical structures of the
language and their meanings. But we also have to know what forms of language are
appropriate for given situations. There is something called “variety labels” such as
<AmE> (for American English),<BrE> (for British English),<RP> o Received
Pronunciation),<GA> (for General
American),<formal>,<informal>,<polite>,<familiar>.These labels are reminders that
the English language is not a single language but many languages, each of which belngs
to a particular geographical area or to a particular kind of situation.
The “common core”:
Luckily many of the features of English are found in all, or nearly all varieties. General
features of this kind belong to the “common core” of the language.
E.g.
(A)words:
1- offspring.
formal
2- Children
common core
3- Kids
informal
It is safest, when in doubt to use the “common core” term; thus children is the word you
would want to use most often. But part of “knowing English” is knowing in what
circumstances it would be possible to use offspring or kids instead of children.
(B)grammar:
1- Feeling tired, John went to bed early.
exposition)
2- John went to bed early because he felt tired.
3- John felt tired, so he went to bed early.
conversation)
Formal (for written
Common core
Informal (in relaxed
1) Geographical and national varieties<BrE> <AmE>
There are many varieties of English but we will only distinguish between American and
British English. The grammatical differences between the two varieties (in comparison
with the differences of pronunciation and vocabulary) are not very great.
E.g. (of how <BrE> and <AmE> can differ)
A)
1- <AmE>: Have you gotten/got the tickets for the match?
2- <BrE>: Have you got the tickets for the match?
<AmE> has two past participle forms of get: gotten and got, whereas <BrE> has only
one: got.
B)
1- <AmE>: One cannot succeed unless he tries hard.
2- <BrE>: One cannot succeed unless one tries hard.
The repeated subject after one is different in both varieties.
C)
1- <AmE>: Their house is different than ours.
2- <BrE>: Their house is different from ours.
The normal complement after different is than in <AmE> but from (or sometimes to) in
<BrE>.
D)
1- <AmE>: They suggested that Smith be dropped from the team.
<chiefly AmE>
2- <BrE> and <AmE>: They suggested that Smith should be dropped from the team.
The use of the subjunctive after verbs like demand, require, insist, suggest, etc, is more
common in <AmE> than <BrE>.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Written and spoken English
The English of speech tends to be different from the English of writing in some
obvious ways.
Written English:
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In writing we usually have time to plan our message and revise it.
Written English is often formal.
The grammar of written English is more complex than of spoken.
Passive voice is often used in written English.
Sentences must be complete.
No short forms are used e.g. (don't )should be (do not ).
Punctuation is used to make the relations between sentences clearer.
Spoken English:
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In our conversations we don't have time for thinking or revising.
Informal language is often used in spoken English.
We may fail to complete our sentences.
The grammar of spoken English is simple.
Incomplete sentences are used.
Short forms like I'll or wouldn't can be used.
Intonation is used in spoken English instead of punctuation in written
English .
 Hesitation fillers like er and um are used while thinking of what next to say.
 Words and phrases like well, you see, and kind of are used .
An example of spoken English:
Well I've just come back from New York where it was pretty clear that.
this was
a general trend with young people there. and er I um I'm worried though
because
you see. it seems that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Formal and informal English
Formal language: is the type of language we use publicly for some serious purpose,
for example, in official reports, business letters and regulations.
-Formal English is almost always used in written language and formal public
speeches.
Informal language i.e. colloquial language is the language of private conversation,
of personal letters, etc.
- Public communication of a popular kind like advertisements and popular news
papers mainly employ an informal style because it is generally easier to under stand
than formal English.
* there are various degrees of formality:
1) Formal
2) Common core
3) Informal
- Examples
- When his dad died, Peter had to change his job.
informal
- After his father's death, Peter had to change his job.
common core
- On the decease of his father, Mr. Brown was
obliged to seek alternative employment.
formal
* There are many differences between formal and informal English:
1-Grammatical differences
For example, the use of who and whom, and the placing of a preposition at the
beginning
or at the end of a clause:
She longed for a friend in whom she could confine.
formal
She longed for a friend who she could confine in.
informal
2- Vocabulary
- Much of the vocabulary of formal English is of French, Latin and Greek origin
e.g.
Formal
Informal
Commence
Begin
Continue
Keep
conclude
End
- Many phrasal and prepositional verbs are characteristic of informal style
Formal or
common core
Discover
Explode
Encounter
Invent
Enter
tolerate
Informal
Find out
Blow up
Come across
Make up
Go in (to)
Put up with
There is not always a direct translation between formal and informal English.
This may be because an informal term has emotive qualities not present in formal
language, or because formal language often insists on greater preciseness. The
informal word job, for example, has no formal equivalent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Impersonal style :
- In this style : speaker doesn't refer directly to himself or his readers, but avoid the
pronouns ( I , you , we ) .
- It often goes with the formal written language .
- Some of the common features of impersonal language are passives sentences
beginning with introductory it, and abstract nouns.
e.g. the impersonal style :-
- It has been noted with concern that the stock of books in the library has been declining
alarmingly. Students are asked to remind themselves of the rules for the borrowing and
return of books, and to bear in mind the needs of other students. Penalties for overdue
books will in the future be strictly enforced.
e.g. the informal and less impersonal style :- The number of books in the library has been going down. please make sure you know
the rules for borrowing and don’t forget that the library is for everyone's convenience. So
from now on, we're going to enforce the rules strictly. You have been warned !!
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- polite and familiar language :
-We use it when we are talking to
A- a person we don’t know well , or
B- a person senior to our-selves in term of age or social position.
- The opposite of ( polite) is (( familiar )) .
e.g. Mr. Brown ((polite)) , but first name (peter) or a short name (Pete) or even a
nickname (Shortie), all of them are ((familiar)) .
-English has no special familiar pronouns like some other languages, but familiarity
can be shown in other ways .
- e.g.
- shut the door, will you ? ((familiar))
- would you please shut the door? ((polite))
- I wonder if you would mind shutting the door ? (( more polite)).
- we can be more polite by using words like (please-kindly) and can be more
familiar by referring to a third person , for example :
A- Pete's old woman hit the roof when he came home with that doll from the disco .
((very familiar))
B- Peter's wife was very angry when he came home with the girl from the discotheque.
(( common core )).
5- slang is : a language which is very familiar in style, and is usually restricted to
the members of a particular social group. And its not usually fully understood by
people outside a particular social group, and so has a value of showing the
intimacy and solidarity of its members. Because of its restricted use, and short life, we
shall not be concerned with slang . E.g.
Teenage slang – army slang – theatre slang .
_- IMPORTANT :-
- Impoliteness : is normally a question of being familiar in the wrong
circumstances. In the example (A) above ; people some times think its an impolite
way because it doesn't respect the women and the girl ,, but its not , its just a slang
language .
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Tactful and Tentative Language
a. tactful language…
to be tactful is to avoid causing offense to someone.
-Sometimes tact means covering up the truth……..for example:
1-Peter's father has passed away.
-In this example we used the verb (passed away) instead of (gone)to cover up the truth
which is(death).
2-would you like to type this letter for me?
-In this example we covered the truth which is imperative(type this letter for me)in the
form of question.
#Important: politeness is connected with tact as we have seen above…
b.tentative language…
A request, suggestion can be made more tactful by making it more tentative….for
example:
1-may I suggest to cancel the meeting?>tactful
2-could I suggest to cancel the meeting?>tentative, more tactful
#Important: tentativeness is an indication of the speaker's reluctance to commit himself
on a given question.
For example: might is more tentative way of expressing possibility than may.
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Literary, Elevated and Rhetorical Language
a. literary or elevated language…
They belong to the literary language of the past and they include(archaic or old-fashioned
words) for example:
Let , go forth ,torch and foe
b.rhetorical language…
1. it can be used in speech or writing
2. it has an emphatic effect in other words it dose not need an answer…for example:
Is it any wonder that there are stars?
- we can call this question(rhetorical question) because it does not need an answer it is
just for emph.
By :
Amal Al-Badr
Abeer Al-wheeb
Al-Joharah Al-Rashid
Maram Al-Mohimeed
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