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hey I'm writing a personal narrative and my topic is about this grl in great britain who is adopted (lame but I didn't know wat else to write

)

so I want to try to make her sound like a british teenager, but I'm an american so I dunno how they speak. I heard in a few TV shows they say:

"I loved her as if I loved me own mum"

is that correct?

how can i change this statement: "i loved her as if she were my real mother" into the british way of saying it

please help!

MrPedantic · Accepted Answer

Hello GraceM

Does she have to be British? Couldn't she be an adopted American girl (in Gt Britain)?

If not...you could say:

'I love her like my own mum.'
'I love her like my real mum.'
'I love her like she was my own mum.'

(You can put 'me' for 'my' in all of these. I just can't bring myself to do it.)

Then too, you sometimes hear the phrase 'love s.o. to bits':

'I love her to bits. She's like my real mum.' (Horrible but true.)

If she were de-Cockneyfied, she might say:

'I quite like her, really. She's rather like my own mother.'

Or (this while clutching a mug of cappuccino in a Starbucks):

'Oh, she's really really cool, you know? like she was like my own mum or something?

Or (this while waiting to have another body part duly infected at Hygienic Harry's Piercing Parlour):

'Well, she's, er, all right, I suppose, like, er, well, a bit like my own, er...' [Gruff voice stage left: 'Next!']

Or at the other end of the spectrum (60s teenager):

'The old cow isn't too bad. Bit like my own mum, really.'

But if I were you, I'd have her run over by a red London bus in chapter 1 and then switch rapidly to the adventures of some visiting American teenagers.

MrP

GraceM · Answer

thanks -
I'm not sure what I should do yet, but making her a british girl seems more interesting. I'm probably going to write "I loved her as if she were my real mum"

GraceM · Answer

also, would this work as a thesis statement?

"Isn't your mum suppose to love you no matter what happens? boy was i wrong"

I'm not sure if the boy was I wrong right. or what about "how ever wrong was I"

-Grace

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello GraceM

Probably a British girl would be more likely to say 'I loved her as if she was my own mum'. Otherwise there's a slight discrepancy between the formal 'were' and the informal 'mum'. Or you could have 'were' + 'mother'.

For the thesis statement, if you want to include the 'was I wrong' part, you have to have a connection between it and the main sentence. There isn't a connection at the moment, because the subject of the 'wrong' part is 'I', but 'I' doesn't appear in the main sentence.

But you could try something like:

'I thought/used to think your mother was supposed to love you no matter what. How wrong I was.'

MrP

Taiwandave · Answer

My uncle is British and I have noticed that he often fails to use "I" in the genitive case, but instead (incorrectly) uses the accusative. In other words, he often says "me" when he should say "my", for example:

It's me own fault that I'm so broke.

So, I think that Grace would be quite accurate in having her British character say:

"I loved her as if she was me own mum".

Taiwandave · Answer

Or:

"I loved her like she was me own mum."

MrPedantic · Answer

Yes, both those versions could be heard; though since they would identify the speaker as a member of a particular social group, her other speech patterns would have to be consistent.

By the way, taiwandave, your screen name has an interesting 'Necker cube' effect: switching between 'taiwan-dave' and 'taiw-and-ave'.

MrP

Taiwandave · Answer

Mr P: is "Necker cube" a Star Trek reference? Do fill me in. Thanks.

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello TD

You'll know it when you see it:

[url="http://www.yorku.ca/eye/necker.htm"]Necker Cube Illusion[/url]

I find the same effect with your screen name. The eye picks out the 'and' in the middle, then suddenly sees 'dave'!

(It may just be my eyesight.)

MrP

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