Questions on BrE

[Emmanuel OA]

Hello, teachers :wink:
By the way, is it on or over BrE?
The questions are:
:?: How common is the word chap used? Can I say chaps to a group of people, men and women?
:?: What is more common in the UK, words ended in zation or in sation?
:?: Is it ring you or ring you up?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Tdol]

I'd say 'on' or 'about'.

'Chap' is fairly common, less so among the young. Some use it only for men, I use it for both. However, the idea that everyone walks around saying 'I say, old chap' is just for the cinema. It's used in an ironic way nowadays.

Traditionally the 's' was the BE form, but we use both- often in the same text. I'd say it's hard to say which is more common.

You can use both, though in the imperative form, it is more common not to use 'up'. We also use 'bell me' as an imperative quite a lot now.;-)

 

[Emmanuel OA]

Thank you, but I have more questions ...
:?: What is the difference between AmE and BrE with the word quite? When do I use it in BrE?
:?: Is it all or all of?
:?: Can i say I talked to him yesterday or is it I've talked to him yesterday? Do I use past tense or present perfect with time expressions?

Thank you very much!

 

[Tdol]

'Quite' in BE can mean either 'fairly' (quite good) or 'extremely\totally' )quite outstanding). The basic rule is that adjectives that have degrees of meaning follow the first pattern and 100% adjectives the second. There was a case of a British doctor who was charged in the States with negligence as he did nothing when he heard his patient was 'quite ill', thinking it wasn't serious. In spoken BE, there can be more variation through intonation- a long, drawn-out vowel sound = 'fairly'.

You can use 'all' and 'all of'.

With 'yesterday', use the past.

;-)

 

[MikeNewYork]

Thank you, but I have more questions ...
:?: What is the difference between AmE and BrE with the word quite? When do I use it in BrE?
:?: Is it all or all of?
:?: Can i say I talked to him yesterday or is it I've talked to him yesterday? Do I use past tense or present perfect with time expressions?

Thank you very much!

In American English, "quite" is almost always used to mean "very". We don't use it for a weak intensifier like "fairly".