Grammar

Question

He made us work.  (Use : had)I wanna know the answer to this question.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

He had us work?
We had to work?

Yoong Liat · Answer

essam gaweeshI wanna know the answer to this question

What is 'wanna'?

Khoff · Answer

essam gaweesh
I wanna know the answer to this question.

"I want to know the answer to this question, please."

Yoong Liat · Answer

khoff
essam gaweeshI wanna know the answer to this question.
"I want to know the answer to this question, please."

Hi Khoff

I realise I have misunderstood your reply. You were putting in good English the poster's question.
My earlier post should be treated as cancelled.

Khoff · Answer

Is 'wanna' standard English? Can it be considered good English? Is it fine to use it in everyday conversation?

This will probably start a huge controvery -- but my answer is "No, no, and no!" "Wanna," (want to or want a ) "gonna" (going to, as in future tense. "What are you gonna do?", but never "I'm gonna the store.") "gotta" (got to, meaning "must" -- not arrived at. "I gotta go now", not "I gotta page 5 in this book and then stopped reading.") and so on are things that (in my opinion) English learners should be able to recognize and understand, but should not adopt. They are somewhere between very casual and slang. ("Wanna" in particular sounds like a whining child to me.)

I'm trying to determine who much I use these myself. I probably use them occasionally just when speaking quickly and slurring words together. "Gotta go" is pretty common (but very casual) -- I'd say it's a little more acceptable than "wanna" or "gonna." I would never write any of them, unless I was transcribing someone else's use. I think that a foreigner using them would sound as if he or she was trying too hard to sound like a native -- and a careless, not-very-well-spoken native at that.

This is strictly my opinion -- I'm sure there are people who would say that English learners are entitled to be just as sloppy with their English as native speakers!

Yoong Liat · Answer

Many thanks, Khoff, for the detailed reply. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' alt='Emotion: big smile'/>

Mister Micawber · Answer

The point, I think, is that 'wanna', 'gonna', etc are not words.  The words remain 'want to', 'going to'.  'Wanna' and 'gonna' are orthographic representations of the pronunciation in many mouths.  As such, they should be used in written quotations where speech patterns are of interest and for jocular purposes.

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