calling all pedants/ EFL teachers

[BratFarrarsPony]

I said this to my daughter tonight..

'Don't you be telling me.....blah blah'

What tense would that be then.....?

Can it ever be used in a positive sentence?

I suspect it is Irish English..another one that springs to mind is 'don't you be going on now....'

I'd say it's present tense, but it's incorrect.

"Don't you tell me..." would be correct.

Pluto , 'incorrect' is not the point.

English grammar is descriptive not prescriptive.

I am interested in what people actually say.

As I have said many times , there is no Academy of the English language to say what is 'correct' or 'incorrect' and that it one of its strengths as a world language....

I'd classify it as some kind of present negative imperative.

It would definitely be one of those thingies that only exist as a kind of set phrase, and only in the negative form.

I imagine it has a regional colloquial origin. Another which springs to mind is the "I was after getting a new dress" which my N Irish friend says.

Agree with Vintage but there's a strange juxtaposition of present participle (telling) and infinitive (be). I expect it's colloquial/dialect, like you say.

lol I was just googling 'Hiberno English ' and I found this...
Perfect example of this construction in the first minute...

It is the present continuous tense, also called the present progressive. It is an imperative as well.

Came on to say present continuous, but Madamfrog has beaten me to it!

well maybe but it is not the 'present continuous' as it is taught in EFL is it? Imagine if I taught that to my student in Spain!