Which English?

[Noren]

Hello all,
This is just a quick note to tell you that "What or which English is being used by non native speakers?" Is it it International or simply the UK English? Just a couple of stuff. And here too, stuff or stuffs????? All the staff or all the staffs....... of this school is/are.........
1. Brinjal, or aubergine or eggplant.
2. Tiffin or recess, lunch break etc.
3. Bio-data, or Curriculum Vitae (CV), Resume, or Mark-Sheet etc..
4. Program or programme, or color or colour or centre or center etc.
5. The number of people is/are.... or A number of people is/are......

Thanks a lot to you all for your explanations.

With Warm Regards
Noren Lee
NEPAL
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A person who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.

[Torsten]

Hi Noren, the nouns 'stuff' and 'staff' don' have a plural form. I have never heard of 'bio-data' or 'mark-sheet' and I think that many people would use the words 'brinjal'.

As for 'the number of people', it's usually treated as a plural construction (are).

TOEFL listening discussions: How long has the young man been drinking alcohol?

[Expatcat]

Cool, I learned a new word, brinjal. I have never before heard an eggplant called a brinjal and I have a feeling many Americans would have no idea what one is.

[Noren]

Thanks a lot to you Mr. Torsten for your response. I really appreciate it very much.
Regarding the words 'stuff' and 'staff', I agree with you. And, the words which you said that you have never heard of (i.e. bio-data & mark-sheet) actually don't exist in English world. But it's a fact that these words are wildly used in India or rather in Indian English. And, the word brinjal is purely used both here in Nepal, India, and in some other neighboring countries, lets say SAARC nations.
Thank you very much for your help & support.

With Regards
Noren

Hi Noren, the nouns 'stuff' and 'staff' don' have a plural form. I have never heard of 'bio-data' or 'mark-sheet' and I think that many people would use the words 'brinjal'.

As for 'the number of people', it's usually treated as a plural construction (are).
_________________
A person who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.

[Noren]

HI Expatcat,
First of all, congratulation on learning a new word. Cool down man. Americans prefer "eggplant" to brinjal (look it up in a good dictionary i.e. Merriam-Webster or Encyclopedic Dictionaries aside from other ones...) . Any Briton will tell you the meaning of the word aubergine. If I am wrong then you can check it out with either Alan or Torsten.

Regards
NOREN

[Expatcat]

[Blue_Snow]

I think The number of people IS and A number of people ARE.

[Noren]

[Noren]

Hi Blue,
Thanks a lot for your advice.

Lee, Noren
_________________
A person who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.

[Jamie (K)]

In my experience, the majority of foreign speakers of English claim to speak British or American English, but they don't speak either variety. They have usually learned English from a non-native speaker who has the local accent of their country and makes the local mistakes of their country, but the teacher tells the students he or she is speaking "British English", and that's what the students think they're learning. Many of them finish several years of this "British" English and can't understand someone speaking with a very clear British accent.

When these students come to the United States, and they score low on an English exam, they claim it is because they learned "British" English in their countries. However, that is just an excuse, because if they really spoke British English proficiently, they would receive high scores on tests in the UK and the US. The funniest cases are when a foreigner fails such an exam, claims it happened because she speaks "British English" but really failed it because she can hardly speak English at all -- even though she was an English teacher in her own country.

Of all the hundreds of students who have told me they learned "British" English in their countries, not even one of them has spoken English that resembles British English. It's usually Arabic English, French English, German English, Armenian English, Russian English or something like those. Especially the Indians claim to speak "British" English while speaking and writing English that doesn't resemble that of the British.

And, Noren, be careful of these lists of vocabulary "differences" between British and American English, because they're all inaccurate. Many of the words are used in both countries, either in the same way or in a slightly different manner. For example, if you see a list that says Americans don't say "autumn", throw it away.

"Bio data" means biological data, definitely not a CV or résumé.

"Brinjal" is definitely not an English word. It sounds Indian. Most people in my city and other large US cities know what "pivo" means and actually use the word, but that doesn't make it English.

[Beeesneees]

As a native British English speaker, I would echo what Jamie says.
Here are my observations on the original post:
"This is just a quick note to tell you" - this is a note to ask us, not tell us, because you are using a question.
"Is it it International or simply the UK English?" - simply the UK English.
"Just a couple of stuff. And here too, stuff or stuffs?????" - Neither! You mean "Just a couple of things." Where it is appropriate to use 'stuff' (which isn't here), the plural is stuff, not stuffs.
All the staff or all the staffs....... of this school is/are......... - Unless you are talking about wooden poles, that would be, "All the staff are..."

1. Brinjal, or aubergine or eggplant.
See Jamie's reply. Definitely not 'Brinjal'. It's not an English word.
2. Tiffin or recess, lunch break etc.
'Tiffin' is about as out-of-date as you can possibly get.
3. Bio-data, or Curriculum Vitae (CV), Resume, or Mark-Sheet etc..
See Jamie's reply. 'bio-data' has a completely different meaning. So does 'mark-sheet' (A mark-sheet is either a sheet on which marks are collated - exam marks, test marks, etc., or it is a 'key' to marking... eg, in a reading comprehension exercise it provides the possible answers and gives the teacher the appropriate number of marks to award for each answer given.)
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Cheers m' dears!

[Torsten]

[Jamie (K)]

[Jamie (K)]

[Alan]

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Hi Jamie,

I should be pleased to hear how you would say 'staff' and stuff'.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple