Mwlsamwel
Member
- Dec 13, 2017
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- #21
All that about English originating in England, yes, it's obvious, and I already addressed this in my past message, albeit in my poor Swahili. So, here goes in English, since I'm guessing you can read it:
American and British English differ quite a bit, it's true. For the most part, however, you're looking at differences in spelling and pronunciation. The British accent is famous in America for its tone of formality, and we laugh at how we spell things differently. They differ quite a bit in word choice as well, for example, saying "biscuits" instead of "cookies". They are much more similar than they are different, however. In terms of word usage and grammar, you will find that American and British English have many similarities. "Somewhat" and "somehow" are simply too common to exhibit variety in usage between America and Britain. An American talking to a Englishman will know exactly what he/she says when they use either of these words.
If you can find any source that shows a British English speaker using "somehow" and "somewhat" backwards, I'd gladly concede the argument.
Just because there are small differences in vocabulary between these two varieties of English doesn't mean that any mistake made by a Tanzanian speaking English noticed by an American can be attributed to those differences.
Edit: It seems your reply was intended for my other thread.