hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2010-03-05

■ #312. 文法の英米差 [ame_bre][grammar]

　綴字の英米差([2009-12-27-1][2009-12-23-1])，発音の英米差([2009-11-24-1])に続き，今回は文法の英米差について主要なものを10点挙げる．

(1) gotten (AmE) / got (BrE)

　AmE: She's gotten into trouble in school.
　BrE: She's got into trouble in school.

(2) from ... through ... (AmE) / from ... to ... (BrE)．AmE で through を使うと8月を含む意味になる．BrE ではこの慣用がないため，to だけでは8月を含むのか否かが不明．BrE で「含める」読みにするには，明示的に inclusive を使うことが多い．

　AmE: The tour lasted from May through August.
　AmE and BrE: The tour lasted from May to August.
　BrE: The tour lasted from May to August inclusive.

(3) 集合名詞の数の一致．AmE では形態が単数である限り単数扱いだが，BrE では形態が単数でも意味が複数であれば後者を重視して複数扱い．team, audience, board, committee, government, the public など．

　AmE: The Government has been considering further tax cuts.
　BrE: The Government have been considering further tax cuts.

(4) insist, recommend, suggest などが従える従属節における仮定法 (AmE) と should (BrE) の使用．ただし，BrE でも AmE の影響で仮定法の使用が普通になってきている．(see [2009-08-17-1])

　AmE: They insist that she accept the offer. (also increasing in BrE)
　BrE: They insist that she should accept the offer. (getting unacceptable in AmE)
　BrE (colloquial): They insist that she accepts the offer. (not accepted in AmE)

(5) AmE で副詞の代用としての形容詞．good, slow, awful, sure など．

　AmE: They pay them pretty good. (non-standard in BrE)
　BrE: They pay them pretty well.

(6) AmE で like の接続詞としての使用．BrE では as if が普通．

　AmE: It seems like we've made another mistake. (non-standard in BrE)
　BrE: It seems as if we've made another mistake.

(7) AmE のいくつかの変種で明示的な二人称複数代名詞 you all, y'all, yous(e) の頻用．

　AmE: I'll see y'all later. (South)
　AmE: How much did yous want? (Northeast, esp. New York City)
　AmE: We'll see you guys Sunday, okay? (informal)

(8) 現在完了と過去．AmE ではしばしば過去形が代用される．

　AmE: Dolly just finished her homework.
　BrE: Dolly has just finished her homework.

(9) AmE で out の前置詞としての使用．BrE では out of を用いる．

　AmE: I always look out the window.
　BrE: I always look out of the window.

(10) AmE で用いられる動詞の過去形の異形．BrE では括弧内の形態しかとらないが，AmE の口語では両方とりうる．

　dove ( dived ), fit ( fitted ), pled ( pleaded ), rung ( rang ), sung ( sang ), sunk ( sank ), snuck ( sneaked ), swum ( swam )

　・ Svartvik, Jan and Geoffrey Leech. English: One Tongue, Many Voices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 166--69.

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