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Mon 1 Jul, 2013 10:28 pm
Part of an article:
(Only about 20% of Americans live outside cities and towns. Life may be difficult for people who live in the country. Services like hospitals and schools may be further away and going shopping can mean driving long distances. Some people even have to drive from their homes to the main road where their mail is left in a box. In spite of the disadvantages, many people who live in the country say that they like the safe, clean, attractive environment. But their children often move to a town or city as soon as they can.)
-As in Britain, Americans like to go out to the country at weekends. Some people go on camping or fishing trips, others go hiking in national parks.
For AS IN BRITAIN, does the sentence mean?:
-Britons like to go out to the country; Americans like to go out to the country.
or
-Americans like to go out to the country in Britain. Even back in their homeland (the US), Americans also like to go out to the country.
@WBYeats,
Quote:As in Britain, Americans like to go out to the country at weekends. Some people go on camping or fishing trips, others go hiking in national parks.
(My two cents)
It means:
For Americans who live, work or stay in the United Kingdom, they (the Americans) like to go out to the country at weekends - some of them go on camping or fishing trips, others go hiking in national parks.
@oristarA,
No, it simply means, Americans, like the British, escape the cities and commune with nature on the weekends. Both have similar habits or weekend activities, like fishing and hiking. It's fairly common in the west to go camping on the weekend. You've got two days off from work, you pack up the camper and find a campground or an isolated spot, preferably near water and you set up camp.
@WBYeats,
It's obviously written for a British audience. Despite Americans doing really outlandish things like drive down a long driveway just to pick up the post, in other respects they're just the same as us Brits.
@izzythepush,
Quote:It's obviously written for a British audience.
Fer sure, fer sure, Izzy.
at weekends
@izzythepush,
izzythepush wrote:
they're just the same as us Brits.
Yes, I regularly wear plaid golf pants and white trainers when I am taking pot-shots at the neighbours with my pistol. Then I break for milk and cookies.
It wasn't written by an American. Americans do things on the weekend (and, by Ceili's post, so do Canadians)--they don't do things at the weekend.
@Setanta,
What's the difference between your no Americans saying at the weekend and the 85 quotations containing at the weekend from CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH?
@WBYeats,
It is entirely possible that those 85 instances (out of more the more than 450 million word text of the COCA) come from comparisons of the American language and usages in other English speaking countries. But if you want to believe that your book gives you a greater insight into American usage than a native speaker, you help yourself.
@WBYeats,
There are a lot of Brits that live and work in the US. Those at's could be from them , WB.
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