(单词翻译:单击)
Get gets Brits in another expression: “Can I get…?”, now nearly as ubiquitous in London restaurants as it is in Seattle. Part of the British complaint is that the American expression wrongly uses “can” rather than “may”. But possibility often requires permission, which is why the two overlap in meaning. Can has been used for permission at least since 1489, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. May is in steep decline in America in general, partly as can further colonises its role in signalling permission. But it is in almost as stark a retreat in Britain, too. According to one study, may’s frequency in British speech declined by 40% between 1961and 1991. That is well before American influence was magnified by shows such as “Friends”—often blamed for the “Can I get…?” invasion.
英国人在另一种表达中使用 get：“Can I get…?”，如今这种表达在伦敦的餐馆就会和西雅图一样常见。英国人抱怨的部分原因是美国人错误地使用了“can”而不使用“may”。 但是可能性通常需要得到许可，这就是为什么这两者在意义上是重叠的。根据《牛津英语词典》发现，Can至少从1489年起就被用于表达许可的意义。在美国，May 总体上是急剧下降的，部分原因是它在信号许可方面的进一步殖民作用。但在英国，这几乎同样是赤裸裸的撤退。根据一项研究得知，1961年至1991年间，May在英国讲话的频率下降了40%。这远远早于美国的影响力被诸如《老友记》这样的节目放大之前，《老友记》常常被指责为“Can I get…?”的入侵。
In a striking case, a piece of grammar was virtually dead in Britain and moribund in America, before an unlikely revival there and subsequent re-export to the mother country—the subjunctive, as in formulations like “The teacher asks that each student bring [not ‘brings’] a pencil.” In 1926 H.W. Fowler, godfather of Englishusage writers, considered this subjunctive “dying” in “A Dictionary of Modern English Usage”, except in archaic phrases such as “so be it” or in “pretentious journalism”.
一个引人注目的例子是，英国已经不再使用的语法在美国还垂死挣扎，后来又出人意料地复苏，接着又将虚拟语气重新带回到英国，如“The teacher asks that each student bring [not ‘brings’] a pencil（老师要求每个学生带一支铅笔）.”1926年，英国用法作家教父 H.W. Fowler 在《现代英语用法词典》中表示，除了在“so be it”等古语或“装腔作态的新闻体”中，认为这种虚拟语气“正在消亡”。
The subjunctive had also been on its way out in America, but started to reappear in the mid-to-late 19th century, as Lynne Murphy, a linguist, recounts in “The Prodigal Tongue”.
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