Could you name a grammatical or phonetic difference between these countries' English?

USA 

England 

Canada 

Australia 

SINGING UNDERWATER When we are asked to name an animal which can sing, we right away think of birds. And if you are a good singer, people would say that you sing like one. But why no one says 'you sing like a whale'? Well, we hear birds singing every day, while not everybody is able to go underwater or is reckless enough to get close to a whale. Those who do, are biologists and marine life researchers trying to understand these animals' behavior, and the way they communicate with each other, which they do by singing. Besides, I doubt there is a human who can sing like a blue whale since they do it within a register similar to 'the lowest, longest pipes of large cathedral organs.' In this case, 'you sing like a whale' maybe would not be a very good compliment. When humans sing, the pitch they use sometimes has to do with the feeling they want to express. Generally, low tones are sadder than high tones. We may not expect blue whales to know the difference, but for some reason, their pitch has been changing for the last decades, and the reason why it is happening still cannot be completely explained. Blue whales, more specifically males, can sing very loud. The frequency of their sounds can travel more than 1,000 km. The pitch of these sounds is dropping, apparently because they are singing less loudly. The most accepted explanation is that whales are not needing to sing louder to find other whales due to a rebounding population. Also, how fast and far sound can go underwater depends on the temperature, pressure and chemistry conditions. The more acid is the water the further the sound will go. As climate change is acidifying the oceans, this is contributing to whales not having to be so loud. There are other conditions which also affect the intensity of their calls. The amount of noise from their surroundings is an important one. That is why during summer, when icebergs start breaking causing a lot of noise, they have to sing louder to hear each other, and this makes their pitch go up a little. But this is something that occurs in a short-term, during a specific season, and as a consequence of having to sing louder. The long-term tendency is a lowering of their pitch at 0.14 hertz (Hz) per year. Humans can hear from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, and whales' songs have a frequency of typically 15 to 30 hertz, so their sounds are at the bottom edge of our audition capacity. If this continues, perhaps someday we won't be able to hear them.

FACING AN UNKNOWN ENEMY Have you ever been stung by a bee? If so, then you were considered such a threat that a bee gave up its life in defense of its colony. But bees face bigger threats than just humans, they have found themselves fighting an enemy who lives inside of them. Some people consider them as annoying insects, and they may be ignorantly glad of their disappearing. But what people ignore is that bees play an extremely important role in the preservation of our existence. Honey is just a minor benefit that we get from them, their role in pollination, on the other hand, it is the greater benefit. If there were no bees, then there were no crops and no food. It is said that 'bees pollinate one out of every three bites of American food'. Moreover, bees have been considered 'biological indicators', that means that the environment state is as good as the bees' health state is. However, in the United States, some beekeepers recently reported 50% to 90% of losses in their colonies, and this happened within few weeks, which means that thousands of colonies and millions of bees have suddenly died. These bees contribute to an income of billions of dollars to the agriculture industry. The mysterious thing is that nobody knows what happens to the bees, they just disappear, no dead bodies are found near the colonies, they simply vanish. The hives are left almost empty, with maybe a few worker bees, the queen, and honey. This phenomenon has been called 'Colony Collapse Disorder' and nicknamed 'disappearing disease'. This enemy that is causing the massive disappearing of bees, not only in America but around the world, it is still unknown. Although it has been under investigation for several years now, researchers have not been able to come up with an accepted explanation. But they think it may be caused by a combination of multiple factors such as contamination by chemical toxins in the environment (like pesticides used in crops), genetically modified crops, pathogens, parasites, poor nutrition, etc. While specialists still try to find out how to save the bees, people can help at a small scale by planting bee-friendly gardens and reducing the use of pesticides. So next time you see a bee, don't see it just like an annoying bug, but as a little friend in danger.

THE VALUE OF WHAT YOU CAN DO As we grow, we learn and acquire abilities to perform activities which become routines and things we do daily without thinking, just mechanically. Walking, chewing, opening the door, feeding and cleaning ourselves, etc. are capabilities that make us autonomous beings, able to survive by our own. Some people even boast of how good they are, since they may be fast runners, fast typers, impressive problem resolvers, skillful handymen, etc. However, our ability to remember how to do these things it is something we take for granted. When people get old they might start forgetting things, and the mockings of those around them make it harder for them to understand that what is happening to them is a normal process, and they tend to ignore it. There are more serious problems than just forgetting where they have left the keys, or the names of people. Some people's brain can go under an accelerated degenerative process which leads to a state of complete forgetfulness, to the point that they can't remember whether they have already eaten, or even how to chew. Dementia or Alzheimer, are scary words, and it is a diagnosis that can jolt anyone. Millions of people are struggling with it. Since it is such a disabling disease, not only the ill person suffers but also his family because they literally watch disappear all the traits that make their loved one to be who he is. We could definitely think that a person is his memories. Because in a way, a person's personality is based on what has lived and learned. People with Alzheimer start forgetting until they completely forget who they are. It is heartbreaking. Even though Dementia it is known to be a condition that may never improve but aggravate, some researches are showing that patients may still be able to learn again (although for a limited time) through what it has been called 'cognitive rehabilitation'. This therapy can help the ill person to preserve some of his abilities, returning him a little of independence and making his daily life easier. Hopefully, as time passes by and studies progress, there will be more we can do for people facing this terrible condition. In the meantime, we still can support them and their families showing love and comprehension. I have written this essay inspired in this article. In case you wish more information about this type of treatment, here is the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/health/dementia-rehabilitation.html

VIRTUALIZING THE REALITY A long time has passed since people would drive through all of that traffic to the crowded mall in order to do some Christmas shopping. Long queues, people acting impatiently, and scuffles everywhere have made of it an experience to avoid. That may be the reason why the number of British shoppers hitting December sales is decreasing at a percentage of 4.2 annually, while the percentage of people choosing to do their shopping online is rising up. Add to this, every day there are more retailers that offer greater discounts online than in store, which may be a contributing factor to the preference of online shopping. In any case, what is true is that people are preferring to stay at home. However, I wonder how far this behavior will go. We have heard that communication technology is tearing people apart. Wherever we go, on the train, our jobs, in coffee shops or even at our family's tables, holding a conversation is becoming more difficult as we see our peers constantly dazzled by the bright screen of a device. Today, stores are empty but online comments sections are full. Tomorrow, what will it be? Maybe people will go all the way through to full virtual reality. No more Christmas, New year or birthday in-person reunions. Let's save petrol expenses, avoid car pollution and traffic accidents (which is not a bad idea). Let's hold a Skype meeting, no need to get out of our homes, everyone brings his own food, gifts are bought online, and we will photoshop our pics so we appear together. All our actions and wishes will be accomplished by just one click. Perhaps this future doesn't look so bright, but no worries, nothing that Photoshop can't fix.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS ERASING BORDERS There is an article titled 'Bad Wheather Leads to a New Olive Oil', which portraits how climate change is forcing producers from the USA to team up with olive oil producers from other countries. An extremely cold winter affected 2017-2018 oil crops, leading to a poor harvest. Producers had to buy oil from countries like Argentina, Chile and Portugal, and blended them with their autochthonous oil, creating new products that could satisfy market demands. In order to avoid any region's characteristics dominate in their products, they made sure to combined them in equal proportions, but they subtle incremented the American oil proportion over the others by just one shade (1% more). Reasonably, the price of these new blended oil products is lower than those made of 100% American oil, which they keep producing to conserve their distinctive flavors and brands. This type of mutual contribution may not be uncommon among local producers. Since it can happen that a farmer has a bad harvest season and choose this type of association to save his business. In the same way, we may know products that are also made with ingredients from different countries. However, the fact of having to resort to other countries reserves to maintain their businesses sounds like a very expensive option to small producers. Nevertheless, one thing is certain, climate change may be forcing people from all over the world to work together, which I personally think, it would have helped to decrease world hunger a long time ago.

NATURAL PHENOMENA The power of nature can be frightening. Hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sandstorms, floods, etc. have caused the death of many people around the world. According to scientists, all these phenomena cannot be anticipated. However, some of them develop in a slower way and give some time to people to prepare or evacuate their homes. Despite they cannot be foretold, there are places where these events are more frequent, and they tend to occur in certain seasons of the year. Although people cannot know the exact day when they are going to happen, they know in which months are more likely to take place. That period of time is called hurricane or tornado season. The way these phenomena develop and behave, as well as the type of damage they can cause, is also known. In order to prevent massive migrations when a natural event is about to happen, governments and people have come up with ways to endure them and protect their lives in situ. They have built more resistant buildings, basements, and tornado and seismic sensor alarms that give them some time to get refuge before the tornado strikes or get out of buildings before soil movement increase. There is still a lot to improve concerning how people prepare to face these situations that come along every year. Hopefully, there will be fewer casualties in the future, as new and better preventive measures are implemented.