American English Professor hates British English

[TilMorrow]

Wait isn't there no such thing as American English? Isn't it either English or Butchered-English-Language-Created-By-The-People-Over-There aka. American?

 

[Continuity]

What is British English grammar anyway? How is it different from the grammar used by Americans? Hmmmm... To the internet! *opens new webpage*

(Edit: here's a page that explains things nicely I think: http://esl.about.com/od/toeflieltscambridge/a/dif_ambrit.htm)

That's interesting, I never realised that that was correct grammar in American English... I just assumed that it was a common American error. Also, if this sentence has to make sense then I'm going to need a drink: "In British English the present perfect is used to express an action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on the present moment. "

however the examples explain it well.

Wait isn't there no such thing as American English? Isn't it either English or Butchered-English-Language-Created-By-The-People-Over-There aka. American?

Yeah that's just two ways of saying the same thing though.

This may be too late in the thread but question:

"Why and how did Americans (who were first British) change their own language to a slightly different version just because they were in a different land mass? How did this change come to happen?"

I honestly have no idea...

This idiot is responsible I believe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster

 

[Fraught]

Wow. That's... yeah. Well, tell him we're sorry for misspelling the English language that Americans must've come up with.

Also, my Captcha has a word with an umlaut. This bugs me, 'cause I don't have a German/other language with umlaut privileges keyboard.

You only have to type in one of the words. If one of them is written with a different font and/or has any accents/umlauts etc., then it's often the word you don't have to type.

Try it out. When you see any weird tacked-on features on any letters in one of the words, type something random, like "shit", instead of what is displayed.

OT: Also, I haven't read through the entire thread, but honestly, to me, he's overreacting. I like some spellings of British English more (for example, colour against color), but then I like some American spellings more (defense against defence). I kind of use them randomly; one day American, the other day British (talking about the last example, the 'ou' thing I always use).

Doesn't really make much of a difference, and I can pad the language to suit my wants and needs. Others can understand me, I'm happy, everything's jolly.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

That reminds me of my International English teacher too.
For those who don't know, I speak very British influenced English instead of American influenced English as the rest of my Norwegian classmates.

This made my International English teacher angry at me, telling me to speak more 'Merican.
I started ranting, and now he hates me. I've gone from a 6 (Best grade in Norway) in English last year, to 4- (Almost 3) because he hates me so much.

 

[Ixal]

He would not like me. I mix British in with a bit of fake German (like saying ze instead of the, and mein instead of my).

"Ze" is not German at all, not even "fake" German.

 

[LupusDei]

American english does not really exist in my head, Of course yanks have adapted their own way of speaking the language but for educational purposes it should be British english, the original. Of course theres nothing wrong with Americans using the language differently as america is unique to themselves, but to be a complete ass about ''British English'' Is just plain insulting.

 

[ZiggyE]

'American' English should be wiped from the world.

I'll spell 'colour' with a 'U', thank you very much.

 

[Death-of-Penguins]

Wow. That's... yeah. Well, tell him we're sorry for misspelling the English language that Americans must've come up with.

Also, my Captcha has a word with an umlaut. This bugs me, 'cause I don't have a German/other language with umlaut privileges keyboard.

You only have to type in one of the words. If one of them is written with a different font and/or has any accents/umlauts etc., then it's often the word you don't have to type.

Try it out. When you see any weird tacked-on features on any letters in one of the words, type something random, like "shit", instead of what is displayed.

Thanks. I gathered that after being told rather a lot. It wasn't a problem, just... Oi, I was grumpy and tired. Cheers though.

 

[Treblaine]

I wish I were joking. I'm apparently beginning to blend some bits of American grammar with British grammar... and he hates it. I got a paper that I wrote back today with marks all over the damned thing with one large comment down at the bottom:

"We don't use British grammar here."

It's strange. You'd think that the English... know a thing or two about the English language.

Any other Escapists have experiences like this?

#1 don't argue with your Teacher, they are PAID to know what they are talking about.

If they ask you to use American dialect then you'd better do it, unless you think you know better than your teacher in which case why the hell are you being taught by them?

There is no "Universally correct" way to speak English, there are different dialect for different regions of the world and even within a country. Respect that.

 

[TipsyPeaches]

My creative writing professor when i was in japan was like that; he was America, and I was the only Brit in the class, so writing in "British English" seemed natural to me, but he dropped me a grade for it. So I put Gaelic speech in my next story (I'm Scottish), and he soon shut the hell up. He clearly understood what you had written if he could spot it was "british english" grammar, it just seems a tad picky if you ask me.

 

[Mandalore_15]

Your in America being taught by an American English teacher.

So why would you use British grammar. Maybe if you're with friends or in Britain, but not in a academic paper!
Yes it sounded wrong, but your supposed to use proper grammar.

One could argue the OP *IS* using proper grammar. Also, while we're arguing grammar, it's 'you're', not 'your'. Maybe you shouldn't be posting on this thread


I *cannot* *STAND* the terms 'British English' and 'American English'. The Chinese language has about a million different dialects, and they all have different names. I think 'British English' should be called English (because it's the proper, ORIGINAL one), and that rubbish the Americans distorted it into should be called something else. As for your professor, as long as it is considered correct in 'British English', he shouldn't have marked you down, but morons will be morons

Good God, get off you're high horse. You don't mean to tell me that British English hasn't changed in the 200 years since America won its independednce? And that a teacher of American English should teach British English to his students? And its not even like there is any big difference between the two. I know the U.K. fiercely bitter over America, but all you Brits in here who are acting like this teacher should be burned at the stake for doing his job correctly are making complete fools of yourselves.

Now who's on their high horse? Most "Brits" honestly couldn't give a flying fuck about America... if there's anything for us to be bitter about, it's either our lame-arse politicians getting into bed with your idiot presidents, or the fact that your unregulated banks and stock markets fucked us in the arse in the biggest show of financial irresponsibility in the last century.

Also, you've contradicted yourself. You say there's not a big difference between American and British English, yet you think the professor is simply doing his job by pointing it out and docking marks. If it's not a big deal then he should have the common courtesy to shut the fuck up and mark it as he would anyone else. It's not as if the alternate spelling stops him reading the paper, and it can't even be labelled "wrong" with any authority, they're simply different interpretations. If British students transfer out to America on an exchange program would he act the same way towards them? The guy was being prick, end of story.

 

[Pilkingtube]

I never understood why it's "British-English" to Americans. It's just English, no?

For example, when Canadians speak french, it is "French-Canadian" or "Canadian-French" but when a Frenchman speaks french, it's just "French".

 

[Mandalore_15]

I wish I were joking. I'm apparently beginning to blend some bits of American grammar with British grammar... and he hates it. I got a paper that I wrote back today with marks all over the damned thing with one large comment down at the bottom:

"We don't use British grammar here."

It's strange. You'd think that the English... know a thing or two about the English language.

Any other Escapists have experiences like this?

#1 don't argue with your Teacher, they are PAID to know what they are talking about.

If they ask you to use American dialect then you'd better do it, unless you think you know better than your teacher in which case why the hell are you being taught by them?

There is no "Universally correct" way to speak English, there are different dialect for different regions of the world and even within a country. Respect that.

This is the worst advice I've ever heard... I have a lot of experience in academia and I can tell you that the ONLY way to ensure good quality in education is to challenge your tutors CONSTANTLY. When people get complacent or introduce elitist hierarchies then the quality of teachers goes downhill. It's as much the student's responsibility as it is the faculty's to ensure they are being taught properly.

 

[MasTerHacK]

I wish I were joking. I'm apparently beginning to blend some bits of American grammar with British grammar... and he hates it. I got a paper that I wrote back today with marks all over the damned thing with one large comment down at the bottom:

"We don't use British grammar here."

It's strange. You'd think that the English... know a thing or two about the English language.

Any other Escapists have experiences like this?

The fact is that the USA doesn't have a national language in it's Constitution. You're free to talk any way that you like, outside of the classroom. If the class IS called American English, then your professor is right, but if it's called just English, you have the right to mix both versions.
If the professor bothers you again, just slap him in the face with a copy of the Constitution of the USA and tell him: "Fuck you, I can speak however I want to!". That's, of course, if the class is just English.

 

[Squidden]

Unless you used a whole bunch of words like Spotted Pillock and Knocker and "Sixes and Sevens", I wouldn't have a problem. I like the way British people speak/spell. I sometimes spell "Realize" like "realise", "Color" like "Colour" etc.

 

[murphy7801]

I wish I were joking. I'm apparently beginning to blend some bits of American grammar with British grammar... and he hates it. I got a paper that I wrote back today with marks all over the damned thing with one large comment down at the bottom:

"We don't use British grammar here."

It's strange. You'd think that the English... know a thing or two about the English language.

Any other Escapists have experiences like this?

Send him to Australia

 

[The Cake]

I was an english teacher, and my american student wrote "mom" on his paper, i would be tempted to fail him, and he would get worce marks. If my german student wrote mum in german i WOULD fail him.

Your don't spell out a forigen languge in a languge class. its that simple.

Look, I know you were already called out on this, but seriously you're an English teacher.

And it's not just the blatantly wrong words that spell-check will fix for you, it's also your failure to use proper capitalization in proper nouns and the like. (Which spell-check will correct)

Spoiler: correct way to spell it

I was an English teacher, and my American student wrote "mom" on his paper, I would be tempted to fail him, and he would get worse marks. If my German student wrote "mum" in German I would[footnote]Personally, since you can underscore words, I would instead of "CAPS LOCK"[/footnote] fail him.

You don't spell out a foreign language in a language class. It's that simple.

 

[Ninjamedic]

I'm just going to leave this here,

 

[Treblaine]

I wish I were joking. I'm apparently beginning to blend some bits of American grammar with British grammar... and he hates it. I got a paper that I wrote back today with marks all over the damned thing with one large comment down at the bottom:

"We don't use British grammar here."

It's strange. You'd think that the English... know a thing or two about the English language.

Any other Escapists have experiences like this?

#1 don't argue with your Teacher, they are PAID to know what they are talking about.

If they ask you to use American dialect then you'd better do it, unless you think you know better than your teacher in which case why the hell are you being taught by them?

There is no "Universally correct" way to speak English, there are different dialect for different regions of the world and even within a country. Respect that.

This is the worst advice I've ever heard... I have a lot of experience in academia and I can tell you that the ONLY way to ensure good quality in education is to challenge your tutors CONSTANTLY. When people get complacent or introduce elitist hierarchies then the quality of teachers goes downhill. It's as much the student's responsibility as it is the faculty's to ensure they are being taught properly.

I don't appreciate your argumentative stance and resorting to hyperbole. Maybe you would like to rephrase your last post?

"to ensure good quality in education is to challenge your tutors CONSTANTLY."

There is a difference between demanding the best and overstepping your authority, telling your teacher how to teach. The OP's teacher has every reason to demand local vernacular and the OP has given no reason why he should be allowed to use British vernacular on submitted work.

By the way, I don't know how much you will be swayed by personal positions but I myself am British. Americans studying in British Academic establishments should use British vernacular if asked to, and the same inverse on the other side of the Atlantic.

I have lived in many many different and contrasting cultures, and it does no good at all to force foreign cultures where they are NOT WANTED! It's a matter of respect.

Remember the Teacher is not asking for them to stop using them altogether... just in the work submitted to him/her.