Whilst - My family used it and my Mum did use it in her essays while attending the same university as me at the same time. Yet, I had marks taken off for using it and she did not!
The phrase 'compare and contrast'. I find people use that here. To me from my UK orgins find that redundant!!! You only need the word compare. Comparing two things is to note their similarities and their differences - is it not? I get blank stares when I bring that up. Please tell me if I am wrong!
Also, another thing that always gets to me. I looked it up so I don't have to get a headache.
“Altogether” is an adverb meaning “completely,” “entirely.” For example: “When he first saw the examination questions, he was altogether baffled.” “All together,” in contrast, is a phrase meaning “in a group.” For example: “The wedding guests were gathered all together in the garden.” Undressed people are said in informal speech to be “in the altogether” (perhaps a shortening of the phrase “altogether naked” ).
I find here they use it interchangeably. But over yonder they don't. Unless the group, where I have used that word is
.
I found this for the whole got/gotten discussion:
In England, the old word “gotten” dropped out of use except in such stock phrases as “ill-gotten” and “gotten up,” but in the U.S. it is frequently used as the past participle of “get.” Sometimes the two are interchangeable, However, “got” implies current possession, as in “I’ve got just five dollars to buy my dinner with.” “Gotten,” in contrast, often implies the process of getting hold of something: “I’ve gotten five dollars for cleaning out Mrs. Quimby’s shed” emphasizing the earning of the money rather than its possession. Phrases that involve some sort of process usually involve “gotten”: “My grades have gotten better since I moved out of the fraternity.” When you have to leave, you’ve got to go. If you say you’ve “gotten to go” you’re implying someone gave you permission to go.
This may not be entirly related, but it does come up in my mind when we are taking about words usage differences.
Many Canadians and Latin Americans are understandably irritated when U.S. citizens refer to themselves simply as “Americans.” Canadians (and only Canadians) use the term “North American” to include themselves in a two-member group with their neighbor to the south, though geographers usually include Mexico in North America. When addressing an international audience composed largely of people from the Americas, it is wise to consider their sensitivities.
However, it is pointless to try to ban this usage in all contexts. Outside of the Americas, “American” is universally understood to refer to things relating to the U.S. There is no good substitute. Brazilians, Argentineans, and Canadians all have unique terms to refer to themselves. None of them refer routinely to themselves as “Americans” outside of contexts like the “Organization of American States.” Frank Lloyd Wright promoted “Usonian,” but it never caught on. For better or worse, “American” is standard English for “citizen or resident of the United States of America.”
That has always poked at my brain. I am an American, if you go with North American. But I cringe b/c I know that means, for many, that you are from the US. And I am not, I am Canadian and North American. No offence, but up here we try really hard to seperate ourselves from the 'Americans' below us.
Oh my goodness. I am doing it again. Babbeling and of course devieating into antoher tangent!!!! I am so posting this and running away, errors and all. I am just talking too much.
