DRM
Guru
- Location
- West Yorks
Can I lend is down here too, there’s no getting away from it
Do they teach American language in Primary schools nowadays?
- Thread starter gavroche
- Start date
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Can I lend is down here too, there’s no getting away from it
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
Indeed.
It's the job of the old to be irritated by the young, and many on here are showing our age very clearly.
Also, a reminder : not every feature of modern English that you dislike in the UK is an americanism.
Accy cyclist
Legendary Member
- Location
- The hills of Accrington
If the yanks use 'guys' to refer to men (not boys) only then that's ok by me, but it's used over here to refer to both genders and all ages. I remember going to vote in May. Two old folk in their must've been late 80's turned up without their posted to their address voting cards. The woman doing the checking said "Can you guys confirm your names and addresses". The old bloke looked at me and quietly said "guys", as In WTF does she mean?!
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Accy cyclist
Legendary Member
- Location
- The hills of Accrington
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I understand what it means, and I suspect you do too. So it's sense, rather than nonsense.
And "done" is a verb. Past participle of "to do"
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
The first time I ever heard the heard guys to mean a group of people, not necessarily all male, was in the 80s in New York. I suspect it originated in the US. Could be wrong.
One feature of (Southern) US English that I find interesting is the (re) introduction of plural you pronoun: y'all. I think it's great, what do y'all think?
Seems logical as a contraction of “ you all “
we don't say what we think we are saying, there's an excellent YouTube channel by Dr Geoff Lindsey:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNcS0S__WlQ
DaveReading
Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
- Location
- Reading, obvs
And "should" is also a verb, come to that.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
"should" isn't a verb, unless I'm being dozy, which is a possibility
DaveReading
Don't suffer fools gladly (must try harder!)
- Location
- Reading, obvs
Profpointy
Legendary Member
I couldn't possibly comment.
Even though I should.
Apparently it's a "modal verb", which I confess I'd never heard of. Every day is a school day, and I verb isn't quite what I thought it was
Not correct.
"should" is an auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verbs, also known as helper verbs or helping verbs, are minor verbs that support the sentence's main verb to communicate complex grammar concepts like aspects of time or modality.
"He should of done that."
The basic structure for should is:
| subject | + | auxiliary verb should | + | main verb |
An auxiliary verb without a main verb simply compounds the nonsense.
figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
As it should.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
The thing to remember is that the spoken language is the thing that is described by spelling and grammar rules. The rules follow the spoken language, not the other way round.
Spoken languages existed quite happily before scholars invented concepts like spelling and modal verbs.
Thus, if an idiom like "should of" is in common usage by native speakers then it is "correct", and it is the job of the grammarians to describe it by making sure that their rules accommodate it.
Grammar rules are fantastically useful to language learners, who need a fast track to understanding the mechanics of the language. But they are no real use to native speakers.
My dad was well qualified engineer, whose education was entirely technical. In later life he worked in Norway and had a bash at learning a bit of Norwegian. This was the first time he had ever had to deal with the concept of a "verb". Yet he'd managed to speak English all of his life.
Spoken languages existed quite happily before scholars invented concepts like spelling and modal verbs.
Thus, if an idiom like "should of" is in common usage by native speakers then it is "correct", and it is the job of the grammarians to describe it by making sure that their rules accommodate it.
Grammar rules are fantastically useful to language learners, who need a fast track to understanding the mechanics of the language. But they are no real use to native speakers.
My dad was well qualified engineer, whose education was entirely technical. In later life he worked in Norway and had a bash at learning a bit of Norwegian. This was the first time he had ever had to deal with the concept of a "verb". Yet he'd managed to speak English all of his life.
BoldonLad
Not part of the Elite
- Location
- South Tyneside
I can identify with that. I first encountered the idea of verb, noun etc etc when I started "Senior School", age 11, and, we were taught French. For many years, I assumed I must have been absent on the day(s) we were taught Grammar in Primary School. I eventually concluded, that we simply had not been taught it (Grammar).
Does it show?
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