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Meaning of "high street"

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ESL Forums | English Teacher Explanations (ESL Tests)

what does implied mean? | what does mandated mean?

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Fri Mar 28, 2008 16:13 pm Meaning of "high street"

Torsten wrote:

Why harp on the differences between British and American English and when they are so insignificant? What difference does is it make whether you say 'at the weekend' or 'on the weekend', 'public transport' or 'public transportation', 'driver's license or 'driving license', 'cell phone' or 'mobile phone'?

As I have CLEARLY stated, some differences are only minor. However, some are much more significant and can lead to problems in communication.

I am not trying to harp on insignificant differences. What bothers me is that you do not seem to want to permit any input at all about standard or common American usage. You seem to have become convinced that what sounds natural in British English will always be natural (and comprehensible) in American English. That just isn't the case. And I think it ought to be quite obvious that I give input about American English BECAUSE I am American.

As I've also CLEARLY stated on a number of occasions, I think that tests that categorize a standard American usage as incorrect ought to be modified.
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Amy
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Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:20 am Meaning of "high street"

Torsten wrote:

As for calling from a prison cell I think the correct American phrase would be "I'm calling you from my cell" or "I'm calling you from jail".

I hear the sentence "I'm calling from my cell" on an extremely regular basis -- and not one of the people who has said that to me was in jail. However, if by chance someone who had been jailed called me and said that, then I might ask for clarification. Wink

I don't hear people say "I'm calling from my mobile."

Torsten wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong. As far as I know, Sprint is a US American company and the title of their US American homepage reads "Cell Phones, Mobile Phones, and Wireless Calling Plans from Sprint".

Don't you think it's admirable that Sprint includes the word 'mobile'? In this case, I'm not saying that Americans don't know the word 'mobile'. What I'm trying to get across is that I basically don't hear anyone use anything other than 'cell' or 'phone' when they refer to the phone they carry with them. And I think I can safely rule out the possibility of someone saying "I'm calling you from my wireless" unless they're purposely trying to sound odd. The word 'wireless' is used to talk about all sorts of wireless services -- not just cellular phone service.

Torsten wrote:

Why harp on the differences between British and American English

Why the continual resistance to my posting information about American usage?

Torsten wrote:

What difference does is it make whether you say 'at the weekend' or 'on the weekend', 'public transport' or 'public transportation', 'driver's license or 'driving license', 'cell phone' or 'mobile phone'?

Well, then what difference does it make whether you say 'look forward to see' or 'look forward to seeing'?
As regards the examples you noted, those don't make much difference. So, why would you want to hide or deny the fact that they exist? What should people make of an English test site that categorizes a standard American usage as incorrect simply because one of the founders wasn't aware that a difference existed? What should people make of an English test site that continues to categorize a standard American usage as incorrect despite the fact that information about the US usage had been posted?
.
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.
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Yankee
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
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Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:18 am Meaning of "high street"

The difference between 'look forward to see' and 'at/on the weekend' is simply that 'look forward to see' is incorrect while 'at/on the weekend' is correct. It doesn't make much of a difference whether you say 'cell phone' or 'mobile phone' because both are correct. As for information about standard American language usage, the only thing I can say is "the more we talk about here on the forum, the better". _________________ Test Of English for International Communication TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

Torsten
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Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:37 am Meaning of "high street"

Torsten wrote:

The difference between 'look forward to see' and 'at/on the weekend' is simply that 'look forward to see' is incorrect

But that is exactly what some of your tests do with American English. They categorize a standard American version of something as 'incorrect' because it happens to be different from the British version.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

Yankee
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 7855
Location: USA

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