Notes

There is no official authority to decide what is correct do their best to describe how the language works and which words it uses but they do not always agree. The language is constantly evolving and ideas about what is acceptable change over time. As English has spread around the world variations have developed in each region. The most obvious differences are in accents. Some regional accents are so strong that they are almost INCOurstUEMs (2) to other English speakers. Films with British regional (3) accents are sometimes shown with sutTI the USA. There are also variations in vocabulary and the use of particular expressions which can lead to misunderstandings, for example, the 'first floor' of an apartment building in the USA would be the ground floor' in the UK. Regional differences in grammar less noticeable but they do exist, especially in the use of prepositions and word order. Within the British Isles there is a geographically (4) called 'received neutral, educated A CEN pronunciation' but this is only spoken by a minority. Most people have regional accents and it is often possible to l DEN (5) where they are from as soon as they speak. The English, Scottish, Welsh and rish have their own distinctive accents but, within these nations, individual cities regions can also clearly distinguished: Liverpool and Manchester, Yorkshire and Lancashire, Dublin and Belfast. Each area also uses its own particular words and expressions Other important VA IES (6) of English around world include, above all, North American English but also Caribbean English, Australian English (with neighbour New Zealand), South African English and Indian English. Each of these has a distinctive style of CINmo (7) and numerous words used only within that region. The Atlantic coast of North America, settled for many centuries, can be broken down into sub-regions: the accents of Boston/New England, New York and the South, for example, are all immediately REC60 VISABut (8) However, despite the differences between all these varieties of English, they remain clearly part of same language. The tendency to create local variations is counter-balanced by other pressures dowo H (9) to a standard. Travel and communications have become much easier. Books, films, TV series, songs, newspapers and magazines CL (10) all over the English speaking world with few problems of misunderstanding.