Is BrE past tense usage going the way of AmE?
Terence's explanation is very long and uses too many words.
I believe that US-Americans prefer the simple past, because they are simple people, and the present perfect is too difficult to them.
In German we speak more like British English. In Germany we usually say "Ich habe ein Buch schon gekauft" -> "I have already bought a book." Nobody really says "Ich kaufte schon ein Buch" which mean "I already bought a book.".
But in spoken German, unlike British English, you almost always use the present perfect. You use it to talk about what you did yesterday, last week or last month etc, where English demands the use of the simple past.
-I believe that US-Americans prefer the simple past, because they are simple people, and the present perfect is too difficult to them. -
-I believe that Britishers prefer the indicative, because they are simple people, and the subjunctive is too difficult to them. -
Someone from Britain is a Briton, not a 'Britisher'.
"But in spoken German, unlike British English, you almost always use the present perfect. You use it to talk about what you did yesterday, last week or last month etc, where English demands the use of the simple past."
True. As usual, the German doesn't know what he's talking about. LOL
The person above said 'Broadband Just Got Better'. This is interesting - A lot of films are American, so, subconsciously I was hearing this 'tense shift'. (I'm British), yet the first time I properly noticed it was when I was installing Windows XP, and it said '(something) just got better!'
<<Terence's explanation is very long and uses too many words.
I believe that US-Americans prefer the simple past, because they are simple people, and the present perfect is too difficult to them. >>
With regard to the simple past in German, most of us German learners favor the present perfect as it is actually simpler to learn than the 'simple' past.
-Someone from Britain is a Briton, not a 'Britisher'.-
There's also the word Britisher, in my dictionary.
'(something) just got better!'
Something just got better. or
Something has just gotten better.
Same difference.
Could it be that EU-Britishers might just simply be stuck in a culture of red brick buildings and funny long "a" sounds?
<<-Someone from Britain is a Briton, not a 'Britisher'.-
There's also the word Britisher, in my dictionary.>>
True, but so are Limey, Yank, Nigger, Pom, etc. 'Britisher' sounds like a strange mix between a derogatory and an archaic word. You're welcome to use it, as long as you are aware of how it might be taken.
Britisher is NEVER used by the British themselves, so anybody who uses that term is not from these islands.
As far the British themselves are concerned we are Britons, and Britisher has Germanic overtones to it, much like Englander, which is what the Germans use to refer to people from England anyway, I know that for sure. I'm not sure what word they use for us Scots - Schottlanders? I doubt it somehow...it doesn't seem right to me, but I'm not a Deutschlander.
Red-brick? That's the term we Britons use to refer to UK universities other than the traditional, long established ones of Oxford and Cambridge - in particular those whose foundation has been much more recent than O & C. There are a fair wee number of UK universities which were founded not all that much later than O & C and so would not take kindly to being called red-brick. The term red-brick no way implies that all the buildings are constructed of these materials - far from it.....it's simply used for effect, seeing that the ancient colleges making up the O & C seats of learning are built of stone hewed from local quarries back in the Middle Ages, and in both cities seems to be of a light honey colour for the most part, much like the towns and villages of the Cotswolds, not that far removed from Oxford, especially. Places like Bourton-on-the Water, Stow-on-the Wold and Chipping Campden, among many others.
Seeing all the university buildings at Oxford from the train window, along with all the other ancient buildings making up the city, including the famed "dreaming spires", in the late afternoon or early evening on a clear day with a sun beginning to set in the west over the Cotswolds themselves, you could swear they are made of gleaming gold.
"Britisher" isn't commonly used outside the UK, either.
<<The person above said 'Broadband Just Got Better'. This is interesting - A lot of films are American, so, subconsciously I was hearing this 'tense shift'. (I'm British), yet the first time I properly noticed it was when I was installing Windows XP, and it said '(something) just got better!' >>
Is that a tense shift? How else would you say it?
-Britisher is NEVER used by the British themselves-
It is used by the Indian British
LOL
"Britisher" isn't commonly used outside the UK, either.
India isn't outside the UK?
Hm...