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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Children repeating bad grammar they hear at nursery

303 replies

caughtinthesnow · 03/01/2025 17:14

My little one is 2 and a half and I've noticed she repeats some grammatical errors. She definitely hasn't heard them from us..

The main one I've noticed is ' was ' instead of ' were '.

I know it hasn't come from us, because that's how the nursery teachers speak and write too...

It's not ideal is it? Has anyone had this issue with nursery or school ? I would expect a school teacher not to make grammatical mistakes like confusing was with were, but I don't know. I wouldn't have expected nursery teachers to make that kind of mistake.

OP posts:
BarbaraHoward · 03/01/2025 22:51

MadeInBarnstaple · 03/01/2025 22:43

It isn’t about accent.

It’s possible to say help and elp with an RP accent, or broad Somerset, even American or French. Try it, see for yourself.

The same goes for they were in the park vs they was in the park. Try it in a Cockney, Geordie, Edinburgh or Cardiff accent.

Do you see now that this has nothing to do with accent?

Lazy speech is lazy speech whether spoken by a prince or a pauper.

Do you pronounce the R in park? Or do you say pahk? Smile

pinkstripeycat · 03/01/2025 22:56

We moved from Suffolk to the midlands where DH and I are from. Worst accent and grammar ever! If you told someone you’d been shopping, instead of “Have you?” They say “Are ya?” Also “ain’t it” (without sounding the T) instead of isn’t it? Both DC went to a very traditional school and all the kids speak beautifully. Thank goodness

pinkstripeycat · 03/01/2025 22:58

MadeInBarnstaple · 03/01/2025 22:43

It isn’t about accent.

It’s possible to say help and elp with an RP accent, or broad Somerset, even American or French. Try it, see for yourself.

The same goes for they were in the park vs they was in the park. Try it in a Cockney, Geordie, Edinburgh or Cardiff accent.

Do you see now that this has nothing to do with accent?

Lazy speech is lazy speech whether spoken by a prince or a pauper.

100%

MadeInBarnstaple · 03/01/2025 23:14

Lostinmusic22 · 03/01/2025 20:53

I can not believe anyone imagines that the nursery workers are anything but minimum wage, usually working class, young adults. Maybe a handful of mothers returning to a part time job at best.

Your child will not receive RP training or anything like it. Their language skills will reflect the area they live in - and the colourful differences could be approached with kindness and possibly humour, but certainly not the horror some have expressed on here. Even pre preps have difficulty recruiting polished staff that are able to do almost anything else for a much higher salary!

Edited

This is the most disgustingly vile piece of classist snobbery I have ever read here.

Poor people aren’t clever enough to sound like us. Pity them for the area in which they live. Laugh at them in private though, but pretend to be kind to their faces.

I’m poor.
I’m working class.
I grew up on a council estate.
I sound like the rest of my family.

Laughably I’ve been accused of having a posh accent, which just shows that the accuser has never actually met any posh people. I don’t sound posh. I sound like everyone else who grew up in NW London at that time. Although I was born just over 50 years ago I have the same accent as my grandmother and great-grandmother.

They weren’t posh people, they were in service and worked in factories packing bombs. They did the work no one else wanted to do, certainly not posh people whose women tended not to work at all. And they sounded the same as me.

The ‘mockney’ accent now associated with London wasn’t common even 50 or 60 years ago. It’s an affectation born from a corruption of the Cockney accent which used to be confined to the East End when it was a true regional accent.

But yes, of course, be naice and kind, to the poor as you throw them a few crumbs of courtesy. They’re not the same as us, they don’t have the finances to speak properly, they can’t afford to say aitch, they’re too poor to understand grammar. But don’t worry, darling, we’ll make sure you grow up sounding moneyed.

You don’t have to pay a fee to use the word were in place of was.

It’s just as easy and affordable for a poor person to say we were laughed at for our lack of wealth as it is to say we was laughed at.

Why do you equate poor speech and grammar with low incomes? What do you think will happen if you suddenly lose all your money - will your children instantly develop glottal stops and the inability to pronounce the first letter of Harry?

Really???

ScaryM0nster · 03/01/2025 23:35

Nc54684 · 03/01/2025 22:50

Wrong.

My preschooler goes to preschool and is taught by a teacher with a degree! No fees paid ….funded hours!

And all the staff they interact with there also have teaching degrees?

Rachmorr57 · 03/01/2025 23:37

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

owlpineapple · 03/01/2025 23:42

Lostinmusic22 · 03/01/2025 20:53

I can not believe anyone imagines that the nursery workers are anything but minimum wage, usually working class, young adults. Maybe a handful of mothers returning to a part time job at best.

Your child will not receive RP training or anything like it. Their language skills will reflect the area they live in - and the colourful differences could be approached with kindness and possibly humour, but certainly not the horror some have expressed on here. Even pre preps have difficulty recruiting polished staff that are able to do almost anything else for a much higher salary!

Edited

Good grief. I have two friends who work in nurseries. Both obtained first-class degrees in biomedical sciences as mature students. One has just completed an MSc in immunology and is considering a PhD, the other is about to start a Speech and Language Therapy MSc. Granted, neither would offer lessons in elocution but I'm sure they'd be more than happy to introduce the little ones to the central dogma of molecular biology.

Jk987 · 03/01/2025 23:50

He's only 2, his language, vocabulary and grammar will change and adapt constantly!
The most important thing is play at that age.

Jk987 · 03/01/2025 23:55

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

This!

Playgroundincident · 04/01/2025 00:36

Oh my goodness kids whose parents are constantly correcting their speech deserve endurance medals. Imagine putting up with that day in day out.

Elizo · 04/01/2025 00:42

Don’t worry. I would correct it but don’t stress. It won’t stick

MrsSprouts · 04/01/2025 01:18

caughtinthesnow · 03/01/2025 17:14

My little one is 2 and a half and I've noticed she repeats some grammatical errors. She definitely hasn't heard them from us..

The main one I've noticed is ' was ' instead of ' were '.

I know it hasn't come from us, because that's how the nursery teachers speak and write too...

It's not ideal is it? Has anyone had this issue with nursery or school ? I would expect a school teacher not to make grammatical mistakes like confusing was with were, but I don't know. I wouldn't have expected nursery teachers to make that kind of mistake.

Yes!

One of mine was at the most expensive highest ofsted rated private nursery in the area and the language errors they picked up from staff was out of this world!

Thankfully when joining school nursery this changed!

I saw it from the point of view that they were happy and well cared for at nursery which was the main thing.

kkloo · 04/01/2025 01:40

dollybird · 03/01/2025 19:15

Haitch was absolutely not correct when I was growing up. It sounds awful, and is harder work to say, especially if you work for the N Haitch S!

As someone who says Haitch I always thought Aitch sounded awful.

Darknessandquiet · 04/01/2025 02:26

I find N Aitch S harder to say @dollybird.

Wordsmithery · 04/01/2025 02:30

I do get that people want their kids to speak correctly. It's reasonable to want your child to say were instead of was, brought instead of brung, etc. But I'm genuinely saddened at the posts here looking down on local accents. Britain has an amazing range of regional accents, astonishing given the size of the country. Isn't it something wonderful when our kids become identifiable as from a region, and a talking point for them when they move to university or the world of work? To want to stamp that out as they are growing up feels to me like the worst sort of snobbery.

Climbinghigher · 04/01/2025 06:34

RatRatPig · 03/01/2025 17:22

Mine started saying "go park" or "go Tesco" (instead of go to the park etc). Only a tiny thing but quite annoying! The standard of English on her reports was also 😲

I tell myself that it's not important though - the nursery carers' skills lie in being fun and caring and having endless reserves of energy - which is much more important than their grammar!

She's moved to a school preschool now and it's getting better I think🤞

Go park / go Tesco (or whatever the equivalent is) will reappear in teens. Enjoy the preposition years while they last.

LostBrainCell · 04/01/2025 07:27

I’ve just spotted a typo on BBC news. By the time they grow up, it’ll be a lot worse!

arcticpandas · 04/01/2025 07:38

Playgroundincident · 04/01/2025 00:36

Oh my goodness kids whose parents are constantly correcting their speech deserve endurance medals. Imagine putting up with that day in day out.

You should never "correct" a toddler's speech, only repeat the correct phrase back at them. Like "You was in the kitchen"
"Yes, I was. And you were in the living room."
I'm amazed at how you can have grown up in the UK and not get that right. I mean it's one of the first things you learn in school when studying English in other countries..

MadeInBarnstaple · 04/01/2025 08:19

MrsSprouts · 04/01/2025 01:18

Yes!

One of mine was at the most expensive highest ofsted rated private nursery in the area and the language errors they picked up from staff was out of this world!

Thankfully when joining school nursery this changed!

I saw it from the point of view that they were happy and well cared for at nursery which was the main thing.

One of mine was at the most expensive highest ofsted rated private nursery in the area and the language errors they picked up from staff was out of this world!

🙄

Were.

the language errors they picked up from staff were out of this world!

See that word errors, it’s a plural. It is therefore incorrect to use the singular was when the plural were is needed.

BarbaraHoward · 04/01/2025 08:31

MadeInBarnstaple · 04/01/2025 08:19

One of mine was at the most expensive highest ofsted rated private nursery in the area and the language errors they picked up from staff was out of this world!

🙄

Were.

the language errors they picked up from staff were out of this world!

See that word errors, it’s a plural. It is therefore incorrect to use the singular was when the plural were is needed.

Now now, maybe PP's parents were only able to send her to a normal, cheap nursery with working class staff. Wink

LondonPapa · 04/01/2025 08:32

Have not read the thread but I find it infuriating nursery staff cannot speak correctly. Was instead of were, think instead of thing etc. it is beyond dreadful! What’s worse is we don’t live in an area where you’d expect it.

I’ve taken to correcting their grammar as I repeat what they’d said as a question to DD. So far, I appear to be succeeding.

NameChanger91736 · 04/01/2025 08:35

Weareoutofwine · 03/01/2025 17:21

Don't worry at all. I live in the south west and both children picked up the local accent and many many mamy grammatical errors. By the time my children entered Yr1 at primary school all accent (bar the odd word) disappeared. It's the level of fun and care that matters most I think at nursery/pre school.

😅 My sister has a horrendous accent, I somtimes think she puts it on because she sounds like she is from Yorkshire, the rest of us have Manchester accents! Shes almost 30 now and she still speaks like that

I've never been able to understand it, we all lived in the same area as kids and went to the same schools ect

LetsNCagain · 04/01/2025 08:40

MadeInBarnstaple · 04/01/2025 08:19

One of mine was at the most expensive highest ofsted rated private nursery in the area and the language errors they picked up from staff was out of this world!

🙄

Were.

the language errors they picked up from staff were out of this world!

See that word errors, it’s a plural. It is therefore incorrect to use the singular was when the plural were is needed.

This is known as Muphry's Law. (Yep, not Murphy's)

LondonPapa · 04/01/2025 08:41

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

LondonPapa · 04/01/2025 08:42

30percent · 03/01/2025 22:12

Yeah I read that thread too I also found it quite insulting how apparently getting your child to practise reading is a middle class pursuit and the working classes apparently don't bother to get their children to do their homework? ESPECIALLY if the children receive free school meals. Like excuse me? I've been through some hard times in the past and the kids had to receive fsm I still made them do their homework every night and practice reading.

Oh yeah and visiting museums apparently working class people don't do that either. Or cook homemade food.

You know when I first started using Mumsnet and saw people complaining about snobs I thought they were exaggerating and being sensitive but I 100% see it for myself now. There are a lot of snobs here. I mean in all fairness though I think a lot of them don't mean to be nasty.

Based on a recent work event, I don’t believe working class people have ever set foot in cultural centres. They were proud to not visit galleries or museums. The mind truly boggles and I am at a complete loss as to how these people even made it into the department.