Hi, I don't think I've ever seen this type of language exchange posted. I wonder if it would make sense or be of interest to anyone? I am a native U.S. American English speaker. I work primarily as an academic editor but taught ESL in language schools in the U.S. through grad school and currently am tutoring English part-time face-to-face in Chicago on a regular basis.
One book that I use is Mastering the American Accent by Lisa Mojsin. I would be happy to compare notes about accents with native British English, Australian English, New Zealand English, or South African English speakers (or another related linguistic group that I am overlooking). Comparison of some vocabulary could be interesting, too. Would look forward to hearing from you. Regards, Peter
An interesting suggestion, Peter. I'd like to hear more about this idea.
I'd be glad to share what I know about English from a British perspective.
I'll answer your questions here so that other members can chip in (GB?) or chime in (US?) if they want to,.
Revise
Yes, an interesting one. In BE, this has two main meanings:
1. One is the same as in AE - to amend and improve. "The guidelines have been revised" ( i.e. updated) means the same in BE as it does in AE, as does the noun "revision" when used in this sense.
2. BE also has another use of revise/revision in a studying context which, as far as I can see, has no exact equivalent in AE. For every British person who has ever taken an exam, 'revise' means to look over the work that you've done during the course in preparation for an exam or test. It's not the same as 'review', as far as I can tell, because 'review' - at least to the BE-speaker's mind - suggests looking over material with a critical eye, perhaps with a view to amending it. When we revise for an exam, this is not a 'review' process, but one of revisiting and memorising. The other difference between 'revise' and 'review' is that 'revise' is often intransitive. Schools will often timetable 'revision' periods into their schedule to allow students to prepare for exams, and a common conversation at exam time might be this:
"Coming to pub tonight?"
"No, sorry. It's my history exam tomorrow and I've got to stay home and revise".
'Revise'. Intransitive verb. No object. It's just an activity. Not the same as 'review', and far more specific and targeted than simply 'study'. So, if anyone would like to chip/chime in, would I be right in thinking that there isn't an AE equivalent of the BE concept of 'revise' in this sense?
