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

Language nerds are nice people!

Yes of course. Do you have your coat? and Have you got your coat? are the same meaning in practice. AmEng tends to use the former whereas BrEng uses the latter.

I haven't done a DELTA so maybe I'll concede it's above my experience but I can't understand how got can be an auxiliary, don't auxiliaries usually come before the verb? Have done, is done, is being done, had been being done etc? I understand "to get something done" but that's a different thing entirely, isn't it?

I've not done no DIY again the day

My stock phrase whenever my kids talk like this (or drop their ts) is to feign bemusement and say "I'm sorry. I don't speak monkey. "

If you look at an utterance as a whole construction and then strip it down so you can examine which role each word provides then the use of 'get' is in an auxiliary or supporting role as 'have' already conveys the necessary information IYSWIM. It's really just a pedantic point that doesn't mean anything You are completely right in saying that it follows the perfect construction and therefore looks like it is the main verb, it's just that it isn't necessary. With a main verb, if you take it away then the utterance ceases to make sense.

I don't think there is any right or wrong answer btw, it's just my preference!

There's a great book called A Teachers' Grammar by RA Close (cannot find a link to it anywhere) that is really useful at looking at the way we use tenses from a completely different angle. Another one is 'Beyond The Sentence' by Scott Thornbury here. This post should have a nerd alert, sorry.

But Cunk, we don't use any language because it's necessary - we use it because that is the way the language works. You could by that rule argue that having both a simple past and a perfect tense is unnecessary as many languages don't have them, or having a continuous present and simple present tense is unnecessary as many languages only have the one present tense. English however does have them and we can therefore differentiate between their usages.

The use of 'get' in the example used by me and the others by Bertie is standard British English. In my dialect of British English (which is as close to standard British English as I think you'll find) people really don't usually say "Do you have your coat?" That's an American English usage.

Yes, I agree singer, that's why I love dissecting English and looking at why we choose the language we do (whether that be consciously or not).

Tenses are not really that prescriptive (except in basic cases), they are used to convey different moods or aspects. For example, what is the difference between saying "I am hoping to see you on Saturday." and "I hope to see you on Saturday."? The reasons for using each are highly personal and we may use both dependant upon our mood, whom we're talking to and the message we're wishing to convey. Neither are wrong or AMEng, where I live in SE England it is common to here 'Do you have your coat?'. It is acceptable formal English that has a long history here.

Well, I live in South East England and I honestly don't know many people apart from under 20s who say "Do you have your coat?" It sounds incredibly formal or American to me. And although in your example of 'hope' and 'hoping' there isn't much difference in the two present tenses (though one's more formal than the other and more likely to be used in writing), there are many cases where there's a significant difference, for example, "I read the newspaper" and "I am reading the newspaper."

Ah, then I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I think it's a coincidence that the meaning of the infinitive to have is to possess, and hence an accident that the sentence makes sense without the main verb. For me it's very clearly got here which is the verb because it's referring to the thing that you own. To own something, you have to have acquired, or got(ten) it at some point, right? But when the time period/place/method of the action is unsaid or unimportant we use the present perfect. "I got some apples [yesterday/at the shop/from Sally]" vs "I've got some apples" [you don't care when, where or how I got them, just whether I have them now or not]

If you add something like already or just into it then it's clearly present perfect, too. "I've just got a headache" (nothing worse) or "I've already got a headache" (so stop shouting at me). Here it doesn't make sense to simply remove "got" because "I have already a headache" is the wrong verb-adverb order, it would have to be "I already have a headache". In addition you would never say "I just have got a headache". That to me shows me that "have" is not acting as a verb in that sentence.

Hmm, but singers that's not comparing like with like. You're comparing future tenses with present tenses (although I know technically there is no future tense in English and we borrow present tense structures with cue words).

"Do you have your coat?" is just as valid as "Have you got your coat?" but I'd argue that "Do you have your coat?" is short for "Do you have your coat with you right now?" since having a coat means owning it, I think, not necessarily having access to it at the present time. If I met you and asked you "Do you have a cat?" I don't mean do you have a cat with you right at this moment, I mean do you have one at home.

(Love how we have totally hijacked the thread )

I'm not disputing the need for different tenses for differentiation of time but there is so much more to our choice of which tense to use than just that. I think we are incredibly lucky to have such a complex and rich language that allows us to not only give information but to give the listener or reader an idea about our attitude about this information.