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Fri 21 Sep, 2007 09:37 am
There goes my auntie, bragging about her son's talents. It was a weekly routine. My aunt would visit us every Friday night, hand us expensive gifts with their price tags still on them and boast about her 'wonderful' son.
Should 'goes' be 'went'? Is 'auntie' fine or should it be 'aunt'?
I don't see why you are using the colloquial and conversational "there goes", especially since it is usually used to refer directly to some event or utterance which happened in the very recent past. "There went" would be intolerably clumsy and ugly and is practically never seen or heard in the speech or writing of native speakers.
"My son was voted top brain surgeon last month", said my aunt, "And he saved a whole busload of babies from drowning in a river!". "There goes Auntie(1), bragging about cousin Jimmy's(2) talents again", muttered my brother, Yoong Liat.
My aunt was always bragging about her son's talents. It was a weekly routine. She(3) would visit us every Friday night, hand us expensive gifts with their price tags still on them,(4) and boast about her 'wonderful' son.
(1) Auntie is OK in reported speech or for some special purpose eg satire or whimsy. Capital A for Auntie, since it is a nickname.
(2) My aunt's son is my cousin, and presumably I know his name.
(3) Repetition of "my aunt" is avoided.
(4) The "Cambridge comma", used to separate the penultimate item in a list from the "and" which precedes the last item. A matter of style preference.