Ziggy Zag
New member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2011
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
What are all these alleged differences I keep hearing people say exist between American and British grammar?? I've kind of racked my brain here and I've come up with nothing. I've been reading British books, watching Britcoms, etc. since I was a little kid and I still haven't spotted any places where the grammatically correct thing to do in the American dialect is gramatically incorrect in England or vice versa. Some possibilities provided by universal English grammar are more commonly used in one place as opposed to another--for instance, an American will begin a question with, "Do you have..." whereas a Brit will say, "Have you got..."--but these difference are cosmetic or idiosyncratic and never seem to involve the breaking of any rules in either region. Or Brits will more often use contractions with literal possessives ("I've no idea!") but again, no rule against that here in US of A. So what are these different rules of grammar, and why have I never noticed any through, say, ninety thousand replays of every episode of "Fawlty Towers"?