What type of English is taught to students in England?

Answer 1

In Engish schools, schoolchildren learn what is commonly called 'the Queen's English'. or sometimes it is called 'Oxford English' because the City of Oxford is supposed to have the purest form of English without any regional accents. The English schools' National Curriculum (a set of subjects and topics that have to be taught to all pupils) dictates that English as spoken (and particularly as spelled) in Britain must be taught to pupils and not American English. "British English" is considered by some to be the purest form of the language as the language used by Shakespeare, Milton, Blake, and Charles Dickens. American spellings are generally regarded in Britain as incorrect, and vice versa.

As an example in America one might say 'I'll write you next week', but in Britain we would say 'I'll write to you next week'. Also, in the US one might say 'I'm away Monday through Friday' but in the UK we would say ' I'm away from Monday until Friday' or 'I'm away from Monday to Friday'. Similarly some words are diffferent such as Math (US), Maths (UK); Sidewalk (US), Pavement/Footpath (UK); Automobile (US), Car (UK); car (US), coach (UK). If you asked for a Swede in the UK you would get a rutabaga - in the US you would get someone from Sweden. There are so many differences it is no wonder that Winston Churchill referred to the US and the UK are called 'Two nations divided by a common language'

Therefore, In England, schoolchildren would learn 'The Queen's English' because that is what is spoken and used most often in the media, literature and so on in Britain - not American English.

Alternative answer

Doesn't that depend on who their teachers are? Many people learn British English, and many learn American English. There are several Englishes.

Correction of the above

The questioner asked about what sort of English was taught in England. Whilst there are many forms of English such as 'Oxford English' (or 'the Queen's English') which is regarded as the purest form, and is the language of Dickens, Hardy and Shakespeare, there are many others such as pidgin, dialectic English, and English as it is spoken (and in its spelling) in the US. However, in the UK American English is regarded as something of a bastardisation of correct English as spellings (colour/color, initialise/in initialize, sulphur/sulfur etc) and grammar (eg the use of the word 'gotten') are regarded as a corruption of the original language in England, but 'correct' in the US. Whereas an American teacher would be free to teach American English in the US, if he or she moved to England then Oxford English would be expected to be taught.

Answer

I disagree with the claim that British English is the language of Shakespeare. Modern British and American English are much more similar to each other than they are to Shakespearean English. Reading a script of an unfamiliar Shakespeare play, it takes some effort to work out what is going on. But American and British English today are almost indistinguishable, if you ignore the accents. When English settlers founded the colonies in America, they took their language with them.

The division isn't always clear cut because British people sometimes use American words. A common one is "movie", probably because of the ubiquity of Hollywood films.

American English is the official language of WikiAnswers.

Other differences

labeled - labelled

jewelry - jewellery

gas(oline) - petrol(eum)

soccer - football

football - rugby

underpants - underwear

pants - trousers

jello - jelly

jelly - jam

movie - film

meter - metre (unless you mean some kind of measuring device, such as an electricity meter)

check - cheque (if you mean a piece of paper you sign to pay money to a named person)

aluminum - aluminium

commercial - advertisement

Confusingly, dates are done differently in America and Britain. In the US, 11/5/09 means the 5th of November, but in Britain it means the 11th of May.

Even further differences:-

In written English and American the most obvious differences are in spelling. These include eg

Colour (Br Eng) - color (Am Eng)

Suphur (Br Eng) - sulfur (Am Eng)

Specialisation (Br Eng) - specialization (Am Eng)

The reason for this is that in british English, there is a greater influence on spelling of the Normandy French, brought over by William I where the French softer spelling is used (eg Centre). However, in American English the word is spelled as it is said and hence the 'center' version is used.