Re: What are the basic differences between British and American English?


"Ruud Harmsen" <realemailseesite13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:bkkmb2dmrqds9g38cidmnm6ltggvcfl0ot@xxxxxxxxxx
17 Jul 2006 01:33:13 -0700: "echoingmemories"
<echoingmemoriez@xxxxxxxxx>: in sci.lang:

There are considerable divergences between British and American English
in spelling, vocabulary and pronunciation. Especially vowel sounds as
in 'home', 'hot', and 'aunt' are differently used by the British and
American English speakers. The differences in grammars are also
obvious. This is the reason why an American can say "Do you have the
time? while and Englishman says "Have you got the time?

Meaning "can you tell me what time it is", or "do you have enough time
to do this for me"?
If the latter, the allegedly British version strikes me as odd. Am I
right? "Have got" is only used with things you must first obtain in
order to have them. And time is just there, whether one "obtains" it
or not.

Hi Ruud.

"Have you got the time?" can mean either, but probably means "Can you tell
me the time?" more often than not. "Have you got time?" is fairly common
with the second meaning. "Have you time?" is a less usual alternative, with
the most common version being "Do you have time?".

Regards,
Ekkehard


.

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