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Mackygood Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary
Was never?
I was watching the movie "Couple's Retreat" when I heard a character say
" I was never bit by a shark"
Is this correct, or would
" I have never been bit by a shark " be better?
Thanks
" I was never bit by a shark"
Is this correct, or would
" I have never been bit by a shark " be better?
Thanks
Top answer
" "I was never bitten by a shark" is an abbreviated form that you may hear in conversational English. To me, the use of "bit" for "bitten" sounds either uneducated or dialectal. American English speakers may have a different take on it.
- " "I was never bitten by a shark" is an abbreviated form that you may hear in conversational English.
- To me, the use of "bit" for "bitten" sounds either uneducated or dialectal.
- American English speakers may have a different take on it.
- [ Edit ] Sorry, I forgot to mention that "I was never bitten by a shark" is the "fully correct" (not abbreviated) form if you're talking about a period that lies wholly in the past (rather than the period up to the present).
- "
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2 Answers
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The full, formally correct version (at least in British English) would be:
"I have never been bitten by a shark."
"I was never bitten by a shark" is an abbreviated form that you may hear in conversational English. To me, the use of "bit" for "bitten" sounds either uneducated or dialectal. American English speakers may have a different take on it.
[Edit] Sorr
"I have never been bitten by a shark."
"I was never bitten by a shark" is an abbreviated form that you may hear in conversational English. To me, the use of "bit" for "bitten" sounds either uneducated or dialectal. American English speakers may have a different take on it.
[Edit] Sorr
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