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Interesting findings I have seen the desperate housewives many times and I find some interesting things. For instance, in our textbook we study the word " policeman", but in oral English we use " cop". And "I'm kind of in a relationship right now" instand of " I already have a boyfriend". last but not least, " she freaks out" replaces " she is angry". Anyway, these are differences between spoken English and written English, am I right?

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Interesting findings

I have seen ' Desperate Housewives' many times and I found/discovered some interesting things.

For instance, from our textbook we learn the word " policeman", but in conversational English we may use the word " cop", and "I'm kind of in a relationship right now" stands for " I already have a boyfriend", and the last but not least, " she freaks out" means " she is angry".

Anyway, these are differences between spoken English and written English, am I right?

 

Not really , they are interchangeable depending on the user , with subtle differences for some .

Im kind of in  a relationship - seeing someone but not really a BF-GF relationship yet

Cop is American word for policeman

Freaks out - went crazy, maybe out of anger

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Interesting findings

I have seen "Desperate Housewives" many times and I find somethings interesting. For instance, in our textbook we learn the word " policeman", but in oral English we use " cop". And "I'm kind of in a relationship right now" instead of " I already have a boyfriend". Lastly, but not least, " she freaks out" replaces " she is angry". Anyway, these are differences between spoken English and written English, am I right?

 

Hi, Interestingly enough there are a number of differences between written and spoken English. I see that you used the example, "policeman/cop". But this is mainly difference of where people are from. To further this, in the Southern United States -- we usually use, simple, "police" or "officer". But you can also hear youths say "police officer", where as during my childhood "policeman" was more common. This is due to the fact that English is moving towards a gender neutral language. Instead of saying "fireman" (which was common 20 years ago), people use "firefighter". 

Another difference is the proper use of contractions. In spoken language, using contractions are acceptable. However, in formal written language -- contractions should be avoided. 

With the other example that you stated, I believe this goes to the manner someone wants to express something. "I have a boyfriend already" sounds very straight-forward and may be considered rude; depending on one's tone. Whereas, "I'm kind of in a relationship." I more passive, indirect, and is more subtle.

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Interesting findings

I have seen the "Desperate Housewives" many times and I have found/discovered some interesting things. For instance, in our textbook we study the word "policeman", but in oral English we use "cop" (no 'we' don't). And "I'm kind of in a relationship right now" instead of "I already have a part-time boyfriend". Last but not least, "she freaks out" replaces "she goes beserk is angry". Anyway, these are (a few) differences between street-level spoken English and written English, am I right?

 

No space after the leading quote mark '"' - similarly with left-barcker - most other punctuation does need a following space 

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