Editing Australian English (section)

==Grammar==
The general rules which apply to Australian English are described at [[English grammar]]. Grammatical differences between varieties of English are minor relative to differences in phonology and vocabulary and do not generally affect intelligibility. Examples of grammatical differences between Australian English and other varieties include:
*Collective nouns are generally singular in construction, e.g., ''the government was unable to decide'' as opposed to ''the government were unable to decide'' or ''the group was leaving'' as opposed to ''the group were leaving''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pena |first=Yolanda Fernandez |date=5 May 2016 |title=What Motivates Verbal Agreement Variation with Collective Headed Subjects |journal=University of Vigo LVTC}}</ref> This is in common with [[American English]].
*Australian English has an extreme distaste for the modal verbs ''shall'' (in non-legal contexts), ''shan't'' and ''ought'' (in place of ''will'', ''won't'' and ''should'' respectively), which are encountered in British English.<ref name="Collins 2012">{{cite journal |last=Collins |first=Peter |date=2012 |title=Australian English: Its Evolution and Current State |journal=International Journal of Language, Translation and Intercultural Communication|volume=1 |page=75 |doi=10.12681/ijltic.11 |doi-access=free }}</ref> However, ''shall'' is found in the [[Constitution of Australia|Australian Constitution]], Acts of Parliament, and other formal or legal documents such as contracts, and ''ought'' sees use in some academic contexts (such as philosophy).
*Using ''should'' with the same meaning as ''would'', e.g. ''I should like to see you'', encountered in British English, is almost never encountered in Australian English and is often contracted to ''I'd''.
*''River'' follows the name of the river in question, e.g., ''Brisbane River'', rather than the British convention of coming before the name, e.g., ''River Thames''. This is also the case in [[North American English|North American]] and [[New Zealand English]]. In [[South Australian English]] however, the reverse applies when referring to the following three rivers: [[Murray River|Murray]], [[Darling River|Darling]] and [[River Torrens|Torrens]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/planning-and-property/planning-and-land-management/suburb-road-and-place-names/geographical-names-guidelines |title=Geographical names guidelines |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=August 2020 |website=Planning and property |publisher=Attorney-General's Department (Government of South Australia) |access-date=8 February 2021 }}</ref> The [[River Derwent (Tasmania)|Derwent]] in Tasmania also follows this convention.
*While prepositions before days may be omitted in American English, i.e., ''She resigned Thursday'', they are retained in Australian English: ''She resigned on Thursday''. This is shared with British English. 
*The institutional nouns ''hospital'' and ''university'' do not take the [[definite article]]: ''She's in hospital'', ''He's at university''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Siegel |first=Jeff |date=2010 |title=Second Dialect Acquisition |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-51687-7}}</ref> This is in contrast to American English where ''the'' is required: ''In the hospital'', ''At the university''.
*''On the weekend'' is used in favour of the British ''at the weekend'' which is not encountered in Australian English.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hewings |first=Matthew |date=1999 |title=Advanced Grammar in Use |page=214}}</ref>
*Ranges of dates use ''to'', i.e., ''Monday to Friday'', rather than ''Monday through Friday''. This is shared with British English and is in contrast to American English.
*When speaking or writing out numbers, ''and'' is always inserted before the tens, i.e., ''one hundred and sixty-two'' rather than ''one hundred sixty-two''. This is in contrast to American English, where the insertion of ''and'' is acceptable but nonetheless either casual or informal.
*The preposition ''to'' in ''write to'' (e.g. "I'll write to you") is always retained, as opposed to American usage where it may be dropped. 
*Australian English does not share the British usage of ''read'' (v) to mean "study" (v). Therefore, it may be said that "He studies medicine" but not that "He ''reads'' medicine".
*When referring to time, Australians will refer to 10:30 as ''half past ten'' and do not use the British ''half ten''. Similarly, ''a quarter to ten'' is used for 9:45 rather than ''(a) quarter of ten'', which is sometimes found in American English.
*Australian English does not share the British English meaning of ''sat'' to include ''sitting'' or ''seated''. Therefore, uses such as ''I've been sat here for an hour'' are not encountered in Australian English.
*To ''have a shower'' or ''have a bath'' are the most common usages in Australian English, in contrast to American English which uses ''take a shower'' and ''take a bath''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cetnarowska |first=Bozena |date=1993 |title=The Syntax, Semantics and Derivation of Bare Normalisations in English |page=48 |publisher=Uniwersytet Śląski |isbn=83-226-0535-8}}</ref>
*The past participle of ''saw'' is ''sawn'' (e.g. ''sawn-off shotgun'') in Australian English, in contrast to the American English ''sawed''.
*The verb ''visit'' is transitive in Australian English. Where the object is a person or people, American English also uses ''visit with'', which is not found in Australian English.
*An outdoor event which is cancelled due to inclement weather is ''rained out'' in Australian English. This is in contrast to British English where it is said to be ''rained off''.<ref>"The Macquarie Dictionary", Fourth Edition. The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, 2005</ref><ref>"Collins English Dictionary", 13th Edition. HarperCollins, 2018</ref>
*In informal speech, sentence-final ''but'' may be used, e.g. "I don't want to go but" in place of "But I don't want to go".<ref name="Collins 2012"/> This is also found in [[Scottish English]].
*In informal speech, the [[discourse marker]]s ''yeah no'' (or ''yeah nah'') and ''no yeah'' (or ''nah yeah'') may be used to mean "no" and "yes" respectively.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=Honours |last=Moore |first=Erin |date=2007 |title=Yeah-no: A Discourse Marker in Australian English |publisher=University of Melbourne}}</ref> Extended discourse markers of this nature are sometimes used for comedic effect, but the meaning is generally found in the final affirmative/negative.