Don't + be +verb.ing
Hi guys,
Sometimes I encounter sentences like "don't be starting a fight" and other variations of this sentence template.
I'm not familiar with this sort of sentence structure.
Could you please explain when you use don't + be +verb+ing ?
Thanks,
Top answer
anonymous Could you please explain when you use don't + be +verb+ing ? Not easy to do. It is a habit of some speakers, for one thing, and not of others.
- anonymous Could you please explain when you use don't + be +verb+ing ?
- Not easy to do.
- It is a habit of some speakers, for one thing, and not of others.
- It generally carries a tone of complaint at a recurring bad action (in the speaker's opinion).
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anonymousCould you please explain when you use don't + be +verb+ing ?
Not easy to do. It is a habit of some speakers, for one thing, and not of others. It generally carries a tone of complaint at a recurring bad action (in the speaker's opinion).
0It's not common, but you might encounter it in spoken form in some varieties of English.
For example,
Don't be thinking that I'll let him get away with it again. I forgive, but I don't forget.
Don't be worrying about the children. They'll be just fine with their granny.
Don't be spreading rumours about her.
I suppose you can basically think of
0anonymousCould you please explain when you use don't + be +verb+ing ?
It is not standard English. This is a typical grammatical pattern of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a dialect.
e.g.
Don't (you) be messin' with me.
0
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