Do they teach American language in Primary schools nowadays?

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DRM

Guru
Location
West Yorks
"can I lend", instead of "can I borrow" is a common one which irritates me, or, perhaps, it is just my daughter's usage as in "can I lend £20, dad".

I think it is a "local" usage, rather than national.

I seem to recall that, at school (1950s), we were regularly told ti use "may I", not "can I".

Can I lend is down here too, there’s no getting away from it
 

robjh

Legendary Member
Anyone heard from Victor Meldrew?
Indeed.
It's the job of the old to be irritated by the young, and many on here are showing our age very clearly.

Also, a reminder : not every feature of modern English that you dislike in the UK is an americanism.
 

Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
I think the Americans are less likely than we are to use guys to mean anything other than a group of men. "Guys and Dolls" was an American musical after all.
If the yanks use 'guys' to refer to men (not boys) only then that's ok by me, but it's used over here to refer to both genders and all ages. I remember going to vote in May. Two old folk in their must've been late 80's turned up without their posted to their address voting cards. The woman doing the checking said "Can you guys confirm your names and addresses". The old bloke looked at me and quietly said "guys", as In WTF does she mean?! :laugh:
 
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Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Zero is perfectly fine, and I have always used guys when talking to a mixed group - I don't think either of those are Americanisms particularly - in fact on the latter, I think the Americans are less likely than we are to use guys to mean anything other than a group of men. "Guys and Dolls" was an American musical after all.

Period, I'd agree with you on.

The first time I ever heard the heard guys to mean a group of people, not necessarily all male, was in the 80s in New York. I suspect it originated in the US. Could be wrong.

One feature of (Southern) US English that I find interesting is the (re) introduction of plural you pronoun: y'all. I think it's great, what do y'all think?
 

Tenkaykev

Guru
Location
Poole
The first time I ever heard the heard guys to mean a group of people, not necessarily all male, was in the 80s in New York. I suspect it originated in the US. Could be wrong.

One feature of (Southern) US English that I find interesting is the (re) introduction of plural you pronoun: y'all. I think it's great, what do y'all think?

Seems logical as a contraction of “ you all “
we don't say what we think we are saying, there's an excellent YouTube channel by Dr Geoff Lindsey:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNcS0S__WlQ
 

Profpointy

Legendary Member
And "should" is also a verb, come to that.

"should" isn't a verb, unless I'm being dozy, which is a possibility
 

PK99

Legendary Member
Location
SW19
And "should" is also a verb, come to that.

Not correct.

"should" is an auxiliary verb

Auxiliary verbs, also known as helper verbs or helping verbs, are minor verbs that support the sentence's main verb to communicate complex grammar concepts like aspects of time or modality.

"He should of done that."

The basic structure for should is:

subject+auxiliary verb
should
+main verb


An auxiliary verb without a main verb simply compounds the nonsense.
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
The thing to remember is that the spoken language is the thing that is described by spelling and grammar rules. The rules follow the spoken language, not the other way round.

Spoken languages existed quite happily before scholars invented concepts like spelling and modal verbs.

Thus, if an idiom like "should of" is in common usage by native speakers then it is "correct", and it is the job of the grammarians to describe it by making sure that their rules accommodate it.

Grammar rules are fantastically useful to language learners, who need a fast track to understanding the mechanics of the language. But they are no real use to native speakers.

My dad was well qualified engineer, whose education was entirely technical. In later life he worked in Norway and had a bash at learning a bit of Norwegian. This was the first time he had ever had to deal with the concept of a "verb". Yet he'd managed to speak English all of his life.
 

BoldonLad

Not part of the Elite
Location
South Tyneside
The thing to remember is that the spoken language is the thing that is described by spelling and grammar rules. The rules follow the spoken language, not the other way round.

Spoken languages existed quite happily before scholars invented concepts like spelling and modal verbs.

Thus, if an idiom like "should of" is in common usage by native speakers then it is "correct", and it is the job of the grammarians to describe it by making sure that their rules accommodate it.

Grammar rules are fantastically useful to language learners, who need a fast track to understanding the mechanics of the language. But they are no real use to native speakers.

My dad was well qualified engineer, whose education was entirely technical. In later life he worked in Norway and had a bash at learning a bit of Norwegian. This was the first time he had ever had to deal with the concept of a "verb". Yet he'd managed to speak English all of his life.

I can identify with that. I first encountered the idea of verb, noun etc etc when I started "Senior School", age 11, and, we were taught French. For many years, I assumed I must have been absent on the day(s) we were taught Grammar in Primary School. I eventually concluded, that we simply had not been taught it (Grammar).

Does it show? ;)
 
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