About use of "done". 10 year old DS thinks I am a loon

[redskyatnight]

So. I can just about cope with the use of "epic" and "awesome" every other word (though I have told DS the correct meaning of both and suggested he may wish to consider using them in their original sense in his writing.).

But AIBU to be so cross at the grammatically incorrect use of "done" as in

"Today at school, we done science"
"I done my homework already".

I have pointed out to DS that it is "did" or "have done" or possibly even "finished", "completed" or "carried out" or a variety of other synonyms depending on the context. He sighs. Possibly because I point this out EVERY time he done* it which makes for somewhat stilted conversation.

He says that "everyone" else uses "done" in his way (and thinks I am a loon although thankfully it seems I have done something right and he realises this would not be a good thing to actually say to me).

So AIBU?

• deliberate incorrect use before 25353787879 people point this out

I must admit of all the childhood phrases And then they went and gone and did is our favourite.
Now she has children of her own I look forward to trotting it out at some stage ! Nana's revenge !

AvoidingEasterDIY
Horsey, doggie etc are fine. Studies have shown that by pronouncing words this way we give them a sing-song sound which small children are attracted to and are therefore more likely to listen to. Similarly, when small children speak it is easier to end a word with the ee sound than the harsher more guttural sudden stop of a g, for example. Doggy is actually easier to say than dog.

It looks as if our concerns are completely valid. This school in Leeds is going to teach EFL to its English students.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-26731999

I am a former EFL teacher and agree, a lot of our young people wouldn't pass English tests set in other countries. I know language is in a continual state of flux but when its usage impedes communication it must be challenged.

Poor DS is 3 and has already started to correct his grumps' English

The went and gone and done sentence is very common usage where I'm from too. It's not unusual, anyway. It's not grammatically correct, but then a lot of expressions aren't.

One of my friends when I was a kid used 'I won him' and 'I took over him' all the time. It annoyed when I was nine, imagine how it makes me feel now.

Literally. That's the one that's bugging me at the moment. Is there a word to describe a word that has both a meaning, and its own opposite? In other words, can a word be its own antonym, and if so, what do you call that?

"My hair literally stood on end." No, it didn't. Your hair figuratively stood on end. That's the opposite of literally, you figurative fathead.

MrsSteptoe

One of mine has got the idea that it's correct, and more polite to ask "May you give me a biscuit?"

MrsSteptoe

Misuse of the word literally, figuratively drives me insane

Ds1 has a completely different accent and dialect when talking to his friends, he's 7 and already knows I won't tolerate the thick roscommon accent and misuse of language in my home (although I let him get away with it when he has friends round)

Hos teacher last year actually rang me to query why he was speaking in two accents

Dropping his th sounds is my current bugbear... It gives me the rage!

Dd tries the baby talk nonsense, she's 9 ffs and gets told off every time yet she still does it... Why?!

JonesRipley - One of mine has got the idea that it's correct, and more polite to ask "May you give me a biscuit?" - DD sometimes does that too. At least she is trying to be polite, but I do correct her.

Otherwise, she is shaping up to be a nice grammar pedant herself, just like her older brother - the other day she was complaining about the bad grammar and spelling in the texts she gets from her friends (aged 10/11).

SummerRain - my FiL grew up in a middle-class/anglicised family in Glasgow in the 1940s, and used to switch between BBC English and Glaswegian depending on who he was talking to. When his school friends came to his house, he sometimes used to have to translate for his mother...

MIL does the "I done it" thing and it drives me mad. SILs both do the same but I've managed to beat it out of DH Really hoping the kids don't pick it up as I can't stand it.

DS says "can I go for a toilet?". I thought it was just him mixing the words up rather than an actual thing!

When MIL (now causing annoyance in another world) used some of her silly expressions round DS when he was small I corrected her in front of him and to hell with her feelings. The used to say The thing is this much and I told her We don't say that here, we say The thing is this and she could like it or lump it.

We managed to be polite to each other most of the time . . .

Ooh, Witchway, someone else who reacts to the incorrect use of the auxiliary verb in an answer!

My children do this all the time and it really annoys me. I'll ask something like "Have you got your coat?" and they'll reply "Yes, I do". No! The correct response is "Yes, I have" because the rest of the sentence, "got my coat", is implied. It doesn't make sense to say "Yes, I do got my coat".

"Yes, I do" would be the correct response to the question "Do you have your coat?" which I never say because I speak British, not American, English.

And the ugly "I already did it" is not acceptable in my house. It is acceptable in American English, but in British English 'already' is only used with the perfect tense: "I've already done it".

MrsSteptoe and JonesRipley, the OED has now changed the meaning of 'literally' to include it as being a word used for emphasis while not being literally true

singersgirl the use of the verb 'get' as an auxiliary is something I don't like. I'd rather say "Do you have your coat?" than "Have you got your coat?".

When studying English I looked into reasons why people use 'get' as an auxiliary, it is very common but not necessary.

What would you say is the difference between:

1. I have a headache.

2. I've got a headache.

That isn't using got (or have) as an auxiliary, though, it's using them as the main verb in the clause. "Have" is an auxiliary in the second sentence but not the first.

I have a headache is present simple. I've got a headache is present perfect. Usually with this combination of got and have it makes no difference, because present simple "I have" means "I own" or "I am in possession of". The present perfect "I have got" means "I acquired this at some point in the past and I still have it". Effectively in this sentence, no difference in meaning.

However we tend to use present simple for situations which are permanent or likely to be true for the forseeable future. "I work at Ford" "I live in London". "I love cheese". "I have a headache" is a little bit wrong in this sense because we know intellectually that the headache isn't going to last forever. Therefore, it's more correct to use the present continuous, which is for temporary situations. However, we don't say "I'm having a headache". There are some verbs that we don't ever use in the present continuous (and some which we only use in the present continuous in certain contexts) - this is one of them, which is probably where the split comes from. It's more correct to use "I've got a headache" which means "I acquired this headache in the past and it's still with me" rather than "I have a headache" which implies that the headache is a permanent state.

Why the Americans tend to say "I have a headache" "I see him" etc is beyond me, but I don't have to pretend to understand American English because I teach British English - any AE I drop in is a bonus really

For example it would be correct to say "I have epilepsy" but "I have a headache" is definitely American English although it's creeping into general usage.

My younger brother used to get mixed up between "on my own" and "by myself" and used to announce he was going to play "on myself".

In my home, it isn't uncommon to hear the phrase "butter has two 't's" trotted out by anyone from the eldest (me, alas!) and the youngest verbal child (5).

I also channel my inner Miss Annersley from the inimitable Chalet School series and announce "you certainly can, the question is may you".

Sadly I started my school education in the late Seventies, a period of time in which children were supposed to learn grammar and punctuation via osmosis. Since none of us ever received any teaching on this subject, I'm not quite sure who we were supposed to pick it up from. Our German teacher in secondary school, in desperation, had to give us some basic English grammar lessons as we all looked at her in complete bemusement when she started telling us about where the verbs were meant to be placed in a German sentence. Only one soul was brave enough to stick her hand up and ask "what's a verb?"

Bertie I would disagree with you. The verb 'get' in this sense is acting as an auxiliary agent, it is not used in a way to form a perfect tense.

For example, 'I've got brown eyes'. This is a permanent state and yet people still use 'get'. It is in common usage but is not correct.

There is some evidence that it may be a class thing here, but I am not sure. There is an idea that it may be related to the phonological aspect (as in it is easier for our mouths to create the 'I've got' than to distinguish between 'I have' as the /h/ sound requires more concentration after a vowel sound) and also that, as always, our minds are usually way ahead of our utterances and so we use 'get' as a default position.

Sorry, this is very poorly explained, I am currently playing with DS whilst writing .

I agree, "done" drives me quite insane. As does "Would of" "should of" "could of".... AAAARRRGGGHHH.

No, "got" is the main verb in that sentence. "have" is the auxiliary. Your basic present perfect sentence is made up like so:

subject + have + verb in past tense + object.

I (sub) have (aux) got (past tense "get") a headache (obj)

I get a headache when you do that. I've got one now.

I agree that "I've got brown eyes" is incorrect although in common usage. "I have brown eyes" is better.

Interesting that you're interpreting it as the sentence being formed differently, though. I suppose that's the problem with English, all of our auxiliaries can also be used as main verbs so it's not always clear which way a phrase originated.

"Have you got your coat" is the same, it's a present perfect question.

Oh except with a question mark of course!

You could also ask 'Do you have your coat?' As 'have' carries the notion of possession.

I love chatting about English!

I would still disagree but understand your point. This was part of my DELTA studies and I'm still unsure as to the reasoning behind why people choose to use 'get' when it isn't necessary but that's part of the fun.*

*Yes, it really is fun for me because I am that much of a nerd.