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We all know that there are many English accents in Great Britain, but did you know America has many accents and dialects as well? Not all people who speak the same language speak this language in the same way. There are around 42 recognised accents in the United States. In this article I will try to explain the most common accents with a video and quiz at the end.

We can split the different accents in three main categories:

1.     General Northern: This accent is also known as the General American way of speaking and is used in most parts of the country. For example ‘R's’ are mostly dropped, but an extra R is added to words that end with a vowel.

2.     Midland: In recent decades the northern- and the southern midlands created their own dialect. They use words that came originally from Ireland and Germany. For example a ‘TH’ at the end of words is mostly pronounced as ‘F’.

3.      General Southern: The French language had a big influence on the way people pronounce words in this area, because the western region was originally of the French. The African languages had also a huge impact on the language because of the African slaves. For example ‘I’ is pronounced as ‘AH’, and ‘OO’ is pronounced as ‘YOO’.

Sources:

- Nisen, M. (2013). This Map Shows How Americans Speak 24 Different English Dialects. Consulted on April 12th 2017 from: http://www.businessinsider.com/dialects-of-american-english-2013-12?international=true&r=US&IR=T

If you think you can recognize Americans accents after reading this article, test your skills in this amazing quiz!

People who live in different parts of America also use to have different ways to pronounce things. You see good examples of this in this video:

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Mapping How Americans Talk - Soda vs. Pop vs. Coke

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Many of us were shocked to hear that Trump won the elections in November last year. We were afraid that this famous businessman would not have enough experience and knowledge to rule over the United States. Unfortunately, those people have to get used to the fact that Trump is running for president for at least four years. To help them cope with that, here is a biography of Donald Trump to get to know our president better.

Trump’s youth
Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946. He grew up in Queens, New York with his father Frederick C. Trump, mother Mary MacLeod Trump and four other siblings. Trump did not acquire his business talent from a stranger, because his father was a well-known businessman who build and developed many apartments and buildings in Queens, Staten-Island and Brooklyn.

Trump wanted to follow his footsteps by graduating in economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. After his graduation he joined his father’s business, Elizabeth Trump & Son. Trump later renamed the company as ‘The Trump Organization’. He moved the company to Manhattan where he experienced many ups and downs in his following years as businessman.

His wives and children

Our president has been married three times and has five children. He first married to fashion model Ivana Zelníčková in 1977. In the years after the couple got three children: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka and Eric. Ivana and Donald divorced in 1992.

One year after the divorce Trump married Marla Maples. Maples gave birth in 1993 to a daughter named Tiffany. Maples and Trump divorced in 1999.

Melania Trump met Donald in 1998 at a party in Manhattan. The couple wed in 2005 and got their first and only child, Barron, in 2006. Melania and Barron will join Trump in the White House when Barron finishes his school year.

Believe what you want about Trump, but when they asked Hillary Clinton to name something positive about Trump, she said: "I respect his children. His children are incredibly able and devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald."

Sources:

-       Biography (2017). Donald Trump Biography. Consulted on April 12th 2017 from: http://www.biography.com/people/donald-trump-9511238

-       Reysen, J. (2017). Donald Trump's family tree: Melania, Ivanka, Tiffany, Eric and more relatives. Consulted on April 12th 2017 from: http://www.amny.com/news/elections/donald-trump-s-family-tree-melania-ivanka-tiffany-eric-and-more-relatives-1.12039888

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Bucket list: America’s most beautiful places

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Bucket list: America’s most beautiful places

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With 9.834.000 kilometres square the United States is the 3rd biggest country in the world. With so many surface it is impossible to explore all the beautiful places in America and for that reason I made this bucket list with spots you definitely have to visit someday!

Taos Pueblo

In the city Taos Pueblo in New Mexico Native Americans made houses out of mud and straw 1,000 years ago. Decades later Native Americans used the houses to shelter for the European migrants when they arrived in New Mexico at 1540. You should definitely visit them once in your life!

Grand Canyon
Is it a cliché if I tell you to visit the Grand Canyon at least once? The sandstone canyon walls represent two billion years of Earth’s history. The Grand Canyon is 227 miles long and reaches a maximum 6000 feet depth!

Grand Prismatic Spring

The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming looks like a giant aquamarine from above. Bacteria living in the hot spring created the beautiful yellow and orange colours around it. This one is surely is on my bucket list!

Northern Lights
You must have seen the northern lights just once in your life, because this is one of the most beautiful wonders of the world. You have the best change to see them in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska from September till April.

Find out more beautiful places in the video!

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10 Most Beautiful Places in America, Best Places To Visit In The USA (Part 1)

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10 Most Beautiful Places in America, Best Places To Visit In The USA (Part 1). (CNN) -- America has beaches, too. That's the message from the 2014 U.S. News and World Report "World's Best Places to Visit" rankings for the United States. On the U.S.

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We as Europeans find it often very strange that in the United States every state has their own laws. These laws can really deviate from each other. Therefore it is possible that in the state Arkansas people can still be convicted with the death penalty, while in Iowa this law has been abolished since 1965.

But why does every state have different laws?

Not all the laws differ from each other. The federal laws are generally the same in every state, but there are certain rules in which states are allowed to create and enforce their own laws, in addition to the existing federal laws. This has

advantages and disadvantages. An advantage is that each state can adapt their laws on certain circumstances in their area. Like laws for geographic and natural resources. A disadvantage is that laws in states next to each other can be very different.

To give you an idea how weird some laws can be; here is a list of a few crazy laws in the United States:

-       Did you know it is forbidden to give a moose a beer in the woods of Alaska?

-       In Idaho you can get 14 years of prison for cannibalism, unless you are in extreme circumstances where you had to eat someone to survive.

-       Giving alcohol to fish is strictly forbidden in Ohio.

-       You are not allowed to bite off someone’s arm in Rhode Island, unless it is an accident.

-       In Arizona it is illegal for a donkey to sleep in a bathtub.

-       The selling of plastic bags has been banned since 2012 in the state of California.

-       It is illegal to live on a boat for more than 30 days in Georgia.

Sources:

-       Death Penalty Information Center (2016). States with and without the death penalty. Consulted on April 12th 2017 from: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty

-       Hunt, K. (2015). The weirdest law in every state in America. Consulted on April 12th 2017 from: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/weird-state-laws

Ladd, K. (2016). 50 of the Craziest State Laws. Consulted on April 12th 2017 from: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/news/g4039/crazy-state-laws/?slide=3