Features of British English?

[Abc123]

Hello,

I've just read an article on how to speak English with a British accent, and came up with this:

1.
Understand that all British accents (barring those from the West Country, Liverpool, Northumbria, Northern Ireland, and parts of Scotland) lack a rhotic r; i.e. don't roll your "r"s and that not all British Accents are the same; a Scottish accent varies greatly from an English accent (apart from Lowland Scottish and Northumbrian accents, which derive from the same Anglian dialect), but are both British.

I think the bold part is only applicable for the 'r' sound at the end of words (such was 'her', 'were'), and not for the 'r' sound at the beginning of words (such as 'roll', 'barring'). Is it right?

2.
The following directions describe 'Queen's Pie', rarely ever used in the modern-day United Kingdom, but the foreigners' stereotypical view of how the British talk:

[and that is followed by the tips from this link: http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British-Accent]

What I wonder is: as a British, what do you think about those ideas? Are they right? I mean, do British people really have such features in their pronunciation? And, one more thing is: if there is no such thing as a consistent British accent (as people from different parts of the UK speak English differently), then what is the common point among them? In other words, how can a person from Britain be immediately recognised through their accent, no matter whether they are English or Scottish or Welsh (as apposed to someone from the USA or Australia)?

Thank you very very much :)
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[Ordinary.guy01]

Don't forget the "o" as in hello and no pronounced as "eouw".

[Abc123]

Sorry but I don't quite get your idea. And could anybody please clarify on my questions?

Many thanks once again.
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[Abc123]

Oh, and one more thing is this example:

"He's not as severe as your teacher"

Usually I would have the "r" sound before "as", but according that rule, there can't be such a sound?

Thank you very much.
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[Beeesneees]

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Hello Abc,

With regard to point 1, from my understanding of what you say you are correct in your thoughts. Judge for yourself from my recording of the words 'her', 'were', 'roll' and 'barring'.

With regard to point 2, I think that the wikiguide is pretty accurate, as it happens. They quite rightly stress that there is no such thing as a consistent British accent. Several of us have said that a number of times on this site. I can't explain how we recognise each dialect as British though.

As for your final example:
I would say:
'He's not as severe as your teacher.'
Some of my friends with a more pronounced local dialect would say:
'He's not as severe as your teacher.' (You need to listen to the recording to hear the difference!)

Grammar notes:
'As a British' is incorrect.
'As a Briton' is correct, but be warned that sometimes these days it raises unfortunate racial complications.
'As a British person' would avoid such problems.
'as apposed to'. You mean 'as opposed to'.
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[Alan]

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Hello Abc123,

I looked up the link to find out about this British accent you're banging on about and it said 'bad title'. Now what am I supposed to make of that? Bit off, eh?

Alan
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[Beeesneees]

Hi Alan... take a 'bit off' is exactly what you need to do!
Abc's link has picked up an erroneous square bracket at the end. If you remove it, the link will work (at least it did for me).
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[Alan]

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Hello Abc123,

I looked up the link to find out about this British accent you're banging on about and it said 'bad title'. Now what am I supposed to make of that? Bit off, eh?

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Alan]

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Hello Abc123,

I looked up the link to find out about this British accent you're banging on about and it said 'bad title'. Now what am I supposed to make of that? Bit off, eh?

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice

[Alan]

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Hello Abc123,

I looked up the link to find out about this British accent you're banging on about and it said 'bad title'. Now what am I supposed to make of that? Bit off, eh?

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Prepositions

[Alan]

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Hello Abc123,

I looked up the link to find out about this British accent you're banging on about and it said 'bad title'. Now what am I supposed to make of that? Bit off, eh?

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Make or Do?