need comments from native English speakers (willing and able to give good advice to learners)

One can distinguish the third person (or the first person) objective pronouns from the subjective pronouns just by hearing them spoken. That is not true of the second person plural pronouns. If i heard someone say: "I think you a good person," i'd just put that down as glaring ineptitude, and attribute it the typical badly spoken English of the middle and upper classes on the other side of the pond. Really, your best-educated classes are hopeless English speakers.

If someone said to me: "I think you a good person," i'd reply: "I think you no speak the good English."

1 Reply

@Tes yeux noirs,

This is just me wondering aloud. Sorry. But: what compels one to use that phrase in everyday conversations in the 21st century? I would've understood if the speaker was an old fashioned Brit but he claims that he speaks American East Coast English since he lived there for 30-odd years. But his speech shows nothing eastcoasty, okay, I won't be able to tell even if he did. What I mean is, he doesn't have any distinct, consistent style. It's just some ugly mishmash of random styles from different time periods, different regions in the U.S. as well as the UK, representing various age groups too (he even mimics teenage text talk). I'm genuinely curious what is the source of his English education and where he actually lived.

2 Replies

@Setanta,

Quote:

If i heard someone say: "I think you a good person,", i'd just put that down as glaring ineptitude

Of course, that is your right, but many people might think you an intolerant person.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

I could live with that.

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@Jaqen,

The east coast of the United States stretches from Bar Harbor, Maine to Miami, Florida. There are at last dozens of distinct accents in that stretch. I think your boy is blowing smoke.

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@Setanta,

Alright, he said he spent most years in New York, Philly, and Washington DC and he identifies his speech with New Yorkers'.

http://www.freesmileys.org/emoticons/tuzki-bunnys/tuzki-bunny-emoticon-032.gif

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Quote:

I could live with that.

What use is telling learners "Brits speak crap English" when presented with examples of verified usage?

1 Reply

@saab,

saab wrote:

Setanta,
I am just curious about the question and long hair.
I have long hair and always wear it up. Sometimes native English speakers (female relatives) have asked me "Do you ever let your hair hang down ? ...leave it open? or something else like that
But never been asked if I wear it long - it is long not matter what hairstyle I have
For me wear means I can take it off like a wig.

No one has ever asked me, "Do you ever let your hair hang down?" This doesn't sound like common English to me. I have also never, ever heard the expression, "leave it open." Ever. I wouldn't know what it meant if someone asked me that question.

In my opinion wearing it long is different from having long hair. To me, wearing it long suggests a style rather than a length. This differs from what Setanta said.

Note: I'm from New York. It's possible that my understanding is colored by regionalisms.

1 Reply

@Tes yeux noirs,

First of all, i think you've drifted off into hysterics here. It is not intolerant to think ill of someone for the way they speak the language you have in common. If i attempted to interfere, to rant, to try to tell him he can't say those things, that would certainly be intolerant. But to make a few facetious remarks? I think our friend here can see the difference between humor and intolerance.

1 Reply

@Jaqen,

People in New York do not speak the same as people in Philadelphia. There is really no such thing as a Washington, D.C. accent, unless it were the way black people on the north side whose families have lived there for generations speak. The great majority of the population in the D.C. area, which is to say, the suburbs, come from somewhere else in the country, and that can be anywhere in the country.

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@Setanta,

Then I think he's Humpty Dumpty.

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@Roberta,

I think I put a hang in which do not belong. Do you ever let your hair down?

I guess there is a difference from New York to Scandinavians in the middle of Midwest.

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@Setanta,

Sorry, I misinterpreted your tone.

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@Setanta,

This is a collection of his responses to you guys' comments on his writing today. As a New Yorker, do you detect anything distinctively New York about this?

UNLEARN everything you know about English.
Learn English as a spoken language, not written. Good day to ya.
From the getgo you ain't interested to learn what really matters.
Nice effort but no thanks as usual.
Amazes me how little you know about English and yet you keep bringing up one nonsense after another.
Nice effort but no cigar. No thanks. Again, learn how to SPEAK English.

2 Replies

No problem, Tex yeux.

******************************

You don't need to tell us what he says. I, for one, have no interest in what this joker has to say.

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@saab,

To most Americans, "to let one's hair down" means to be candid, to tell how one really feels about someone or something. It also means to be uninhibited.

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@Setanta,

Oh, oh I would only let my hair down - amongst very good friends. Whatever it is my hair or my feelings

1 Reply

@saab,

Good thinking . . .

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@Jaqen,

Jaqen wrote:

This is a collection of his responses to you guys' comments on his writing today. As a New Yorker, do you detect anything distinctively New York about this?

UNLEARN everything you know about English.
Learn English as a spoken language, not written. Good day to ya.
From the getgo you ain't interested to learn what really matters.
Nice effort but no thanks as usual.
Amazes me how little you know about English and yet you keep bringing up one nonsense after another.
Nice effort but no cigar. No thanks. Again, learn how to SPEAK English.

Good day to ya ain't even American. Sounds like an Aussie.
The third sentence had some Noo Yawk potential, but the words following "interested" aren't quite right. So it ain't Noo Yawk. It ain't nuttin'. (From the getgo you ain't interested in learning what really matters.)
Incorrect usage of nonsense. Nonsense is not countable. One nonsense suggests that there would be two nonsenses. No such thing.

It upsets me that you're getting wrong information from a teacher.

1 Reply

@Roberta,

http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/l/lol/graphics-lol-443148.gif

Thank you Roberta. It was so funny. I know, it bothers me so much.

0 Replies

need comments from native English speakers (willing and able to give good advice to learners)

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