Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Parts of Speech
- 1 Verbs
- 2 Determiners
- 3 Nouns
- 4 Pronouns
- 5 Adjectives
- 6 Adverbs
- 7 Qualifiers
- 8 Prepositions
- 9 Conjunctions
- 10 Interjections
- Part II Syntactic Constructions
- Bibliography of British book citation sources
- Bibliography of studies, dictionaries, and corpora
- Index of words
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Parts of Speech
- 1 Verbs
- 2 Determiners
- 3 Nouns
- 4 Pronouns
- 5 Adjectives
- 6 Adverbs
- 7 Qualifiers
- 8 Prepositions
- 9 Conjunctions
- 10 Interjections
- Part II Syntactic Constructions
- Bibliography of British book citation sources
- Bibliography of studies, dictionaries, and corpora
- Index of words
Summary
Derivation
British has some verbs lacking or comparatively rare in American, many of which are denominal.
bath Bathe: In CIC British texts, bathe is 5 or 6 times more frequent than bath as a verb, whereas the verb bath is very rare in American use, bathe occurring about 40 times more often. 1. intransitive Wash oneself in a (bath) tub <We must all bath twice a day.> 1990 Aug. 13 Times 10/2. 2. transitive Wash (someone) in a (bath) tub <He got her to bath herself.> 1992 Dexter 292. Note: In common-core English use, transitive bathe also means “apply water or other liquid to something to clean or soothe it,” but in British English it does not usually mean “wash someone in a bath,” for which bath is used; that difference in meaning explains the following: <“Is it all right” she asked. “Not gone gangrenous, has it? I can't see very well.” [¶] I assured her it wasn't gangrenous, that I'd bathe it and that it would be better left exposed. [¶] She misunderstood or pretended to. “A bath,” she said. “I haven't had a bath for two years. I need someone to get me out. You'll bath me.”> 1991 Green 40.
beast Behave like a beast: The verbal use of beast is very rare. < … provost sergeants appear at work at 8am and don't stop shouting, bullying and beasting until they clock off at 4.30.> 1995 Aug. 28 Independent 2 7/5.
bin Trash; junk; put into a bin “trash can”: The noun bin is not used in American English of a container for trash, so no corresponding verb exists. <Junk mail? Don't bin it, enjoy it.> 1990 Aug. 20 Evening Standard 22/3–4.
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- Information
- British or American English?A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns, pp. 11 - 42Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006