UNIT 7 LANGUAG 135

134
E
Discussion points midland (M) and Southern (S) dialects and comment on
regional distributions of grammatical choice.
5. Match British English words to their American English once, (to = S, at = MS)
equivalents. Prepositions
British English American English Trouble comes all It's a
a bill quarter
b eraser . fourrTto = K, till = M)
с fall He's sick his stomach, (to = H, at/on/in = M, at = S)
d bathroom, restroom He came over tell me. (for to = SM, for = S)
e subway We're waiting John, (on = M)
f rent Plural formations
g secretary These cabbages for sale, (is = M, are = N)
h high school I have two of shoes, (pair = NS, pairs = M)
i gas (gasoline) He has two of butter, (pound = S, pounds = M).
j street-car Past tense forms
к cookies
could / might could (SM)
1 apartment gave / give (M)
m grade (class in school) saw / seen (M), seed (M), see (N).
n mail
о elevator
p sidewalk
q truck
r drugstore
s baggage
t automobile
1. minister
2. car
3. secojidary school
4. biscuits
5. flat
6. form (class in school)
7. lift
8. post
9. pavement
10. lorry
11. tram
12. petrol
13. chemists
14. luggage
15. banknote
16. hire
17. rubber
18. underground
19. autumn
20. lavatory
6. Study the following examples of prepositions, plural for-
mations and past tense forms usage within Northern (N),
 7. The author of the following story has been
inconsistent in the use of British English and American
English. In the text below there are about twenty words
that belong to only one of the two varieties. Spot them
and find the corresponding equivalents.
My apartment is on the ground floor, so I don't have to
use the lift. Also the postman always brings all my mail
in person. Every time he comes I give him a tip for his
trouble and that keeps him happy. One Monday in the
fall, soon after my holidays, when I reached into the
pocket of my trousers to give the postman his usual tip
I found that my billfold wasn't there. There was only an
underground ticket and a sweet. "Sorry, buddy," I said
to the man and ran out into the street. I looked at the
pavement near my house but it wasn't there. It wasn't in
the garbage can, either. I even asked a driver who
parked his truck opposite the house but he wasn't of
much help.
I was positive that my billfold wasn't at home, so the
only logical explanation was that I must have left it at
the petrol pump when I had paid for my petrol that
morning. Not wasting more time, I ran to a pub with a
pay phone. There was a line of people but finally I
managed to make my call to the station. No luck again
— they said they hadn't found it. Not knowing what to
do I stopped a patrolman and explained the situation.
He put down my full name and address with the zip
code and said he would report the loss at the police
station. Unfortunately, my billfold was never found.

IT'S INTERESTING TO KNOW...

AMERICAN DIALECTS
The speech of any person is a mixture of social and
geographic features. The educated person will
undoubtedly share some of the geographical features
found in the speech of his uneducated townsman, but he
will probably not share his speech features which label
the other man uneducated. The past tense of the verb
'climb' can provide a good example for understanding of
what dialects are. Well-educated people in all dialect
areas favor 'climbed' as the past tense form. Some
uneducated speakers in certain northern areas may say
'clim'. In some parts of the Midland and Southern
dialect areas,