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Johnson13 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
how the English language is used
I know there are many more dialects in Britain than the US, and in England many people say, even not in a present or past hypothetical situation, I WERE, SHE WERE, THEY WAS; with such a big difference between standard English and those dialects, does any native English speaker know, for example, people in England will say IN SUNDAY etc instead of ON SUNDAY etc? (that means what is generally considered an error in China in fact is used by native English speakers)I try to find something like the English dialects archive on the net but nothing useful can be found.
Could you help me?
Could you help me?
Top answer
Johnson13 I WERE, SHE WERE, THEY WAS If I were you, if she were my daughter, these are counter factual conditional constructions which are standard English no matter where you live. On the other hand, "they was" is bad English. " but " on Sunday", or any day.
- Johnson13 I WERE, SHE WERE, THEY WAS If I were you, if she were my daughter, these are counter factual conditional constructions which are standard English no matter where you live.
- On the other hand, "they was" is bad English.
- " but " on Sunday", or any day.
- It is always : "I have to go the a wedding on Satuday".
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26 Answers
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Johnson13 I WERE, SHE WERE, THEY WASIf I were you, if she were my daughter, these are counter factual conditional constructions which are standard English no matter where you live. On the other hand, "they was" is bad English. I've never heard any native say " in Sunday..." but " on Sunday", or any day. It is always : "I have to go the a wedding on Satuday".
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I don't think so. Brits do use "in" sometimes where an American would use "on", for example they will say "in Walton Street" rather than "on Walton Street" as an American would. I'm not familiar with all British dialects, especially those from the north of Britain, but "In Sunday" doesn't sound likely.
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Thanks.
That is exactly the reason I said 'even not in a present or past hypothetical situation'.
But the fact was at university our teacher showed us a website that in dialects in England, there are really native speakers using SHE WERE and THEY WAS, and it's not a slip of the tongue.
If there are other native speakers, American or English, who want to weigh in, please
That is exactly the reason I said 'even not in a present or past hypothetical situation'.
But the fact was at university our teacher showed us a website that in dialects in England, there are really native speakers using SHE WERE and THEY WAS, and it's not a slip of the tongue.
If there are other native speakers, American or English, who want to weigh in, please
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Hi johnson13,
As a Brit, I completely understand your confusion and frustration with British dialects, and you're right that a lot of people in Britain say "I were/ He were.." etc, along with a lot of other grammatically "incorrect" phrases . However, i personally have no knowledge of any British dialect that uses "in" with a day of the week. Sorry.
As a Brit, I completely understand your confusion and frustration with British dialects, and you're right that a lot of people in Britain say "I were/ He were.." etc, along with a lot of other grammatically "incorrect" phrases . However, i personally have no knowledge of any British dialect that uses "in" with a day of the week. Sorry.
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Johnson13But the fact was at university our teacher showed us a website that in dialects in England, there are really native speakers using SHE WERE and THEY WAS, and it's not a slip of the tongue.There was a popular American TV series in the 1970s called All in the Family. In it, Archie Bunker and his wife Edith never said were. It was always
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Cool BreezeThere was a popular American TV series in the 1970s called All in the Family. In it, Archie Bunker and his wife Edith never said were. It was always was: You was right.That sort of reminded me of this Hollie's hit about the same time period: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. My feeling is this. The negative aspect of learning English t
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It could be said that there are three forms of English.
1) Standard, formal English like that which you used in your post, which is the kind that would be used by an educated English speaker in formal writing.
2) Colloquial English, which is used in everyday conversation. This includes, for example, widespread use of contractions like I've and can't. This is con
1) Standard, formal English like that which you used in your post, which is the kind that would be used by an educated English speaker in formal writing.
2) Colloquial English, which is used in everyday conversation. This includes, for example, widespread use of contractions like I've and can't. This is con
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Blue Jay1) Standard, formal English like that which you used in your post, which is the kind that would be used by an educated English speaker in formal writing.I agree. Yes, and no. I've worked with foreign engineers who have a
You will indeed hear non-standard English like this used by native speakers, but it's mostly used by the less educated
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grammarfreakBut from a learning persepctive, learners should learn academic English, which is formal and the language foundationIf 'academic English' exists, it is hardly relevant to most learners, and I don't think it's true to say it's the language foundation, whatever that might be.
Most languages were spoken, and spoken 'informally, long before t
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fivejedjonMost languages were spoken, and spoken 'informally, long before they were ever written or formalised. What we tend to speak of today as 'formal' English is to some extents an artificial creation. It is the language accepted and used by people in some position of authority when they write for publication and speak in moderately formal situations. In an ideal worl
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