We was....

[Blueuggboots]

We was talking in the phone.....
We was sitting on the settee....

WHY?????

Surely it should be we WERE talking on the phone? We WERE sitting on the settee.

Can you please explain to me why this is incorrect? It doesn’t sound wrong to my ears.

The formal correct version is needs to be done. Needs done and needs doing are common regional variations.

We was is regional. It wouldn't be used here, but "I seen", "should have went" and others are. Most people would know the correct form though and only use the regional version in conversation or when writing informally (messages, social media and the like).

'We was' is common in my region. I don't know whether that means that it's part of the dialect. It is incorrect. I undoubtedly speak with an accent and I use local idioms and dialect words when appropriate, because I like them, but I don't say 'we was'. It's 'we were'.

In the French and Latin and Spanish and Italian books it says
I was, you were, he/she/it was, we were, you were, they were. They get it right.

If know someone who is interested in words. I think the only mistake I ever hear her make is 'we was'.

If you were teaching seven-year-olds to write stories, and one of them wrote 'we was', what would you do? Would you point out that it should be 'we were'?

Edit to ask that if you let it go on the grounds of not wanting to inhibit the child's natural flow and creativity, would you care that at some stage the child would learn and understand that 'we were' is correct, that someone, somewhere in the future would teach the child what is correct?

Should the nation bother to teach English to children who already speak some sort of English? Is GCSE Eng. Lang. a total waste of time?

Should the nation bother to teach English to children who already speak some sort of English?
I can't believe that you are asking this.

Is GCSE Eng. Lang. a total waste of time?
Of course not.

We was is common where I am. It makes people sound thick. I have had to drill it out of my children.

I hope you read my post of 11.43 on 17th.

I hope that you get my drift that I think we should teach English and that there is a correct version of English.

I notice that no-one has replied to my question about whether a teacher should correct a child who writes 'we was'.

East Kent here so 'we was' is everywhere. Along with 'them' instead of 'those'.
I can't understand why you wouldn't want your children to speak correctly.

Where was it to?

... I think we should teach English and that there is a correct version of English.
So do I. I find that those who have been taught English formally as a second language tend to have a better command of the language than people who have learnt it by immersion.

It’s awful and not very hard to beat it out of your children

mostly a London thing but I’m up north and one person I know does it and it’s incredibly jarring. Thankfully her daughter doesn’t do it.

Surely it should be we WERE talking on the phone? We WERE sitting on the settee.

You would actually also be judged for saying “we were sitting on the settee” in some quarters!