Correct usages of English words
@LeaPea2417 (36382)
Toccoa, Georgia
September 29, 2017 11:52am CST
My Mom is in her 70s. When she worked, she was a school teacher. As a student in elementary and high school, she did very well when she took English. She learned a lot of rules of English and still to this day, she knows the rules and if any of us, my Dad or me or my husband or our kids etc, use bad English, she will let us know.
For example: the correct way to say "I am finished" , is to say "I am finished". If you say, "I am done", that is incorrect, because if you would put a word after "done", it would sound bad. For example: it sounds wrong to say "I am done eating", whereas it sounds better to say "I am finished eating".
She says you only use "done" when referring to baking. For example: "I baked a cake in the oven and now it is done". That sounds correct.
She reminds us of the correct way to use "I" and "we" and she has mentioned how double negatives bother her. An example of that is , it is not correct to say "I would not never do that". The correct way to say it is, "I would never do that".
14 people like this
13 responses
@sabtraversa (12805)
• Italy
29 Sep 17
I didn't expect native speakers to use the double negatives.
It's common in other languages, as @Asylum said. In Italian and French too.
There are plenty of informal expressions that "can't be heard" by some strict people, pretty much everywhere/in every language.
The Italian literal translation of "I am done" usually means "I am stoned", it feels weird but I'm guilty of using that too (in English), way shorter and easier than "I am finished".
5 people like this
@sabtraversa (12805)
• Italy
29 Sep 17
@MALUSE Oh yes, I have. The "your/you're; their/they're; were/where*" one most of the time.
Native speakers often make this orthographic mistake, probably because the words sound alike, while foreign speakers pay a lot of attention to how the words should be spelled.
By osmosis.
*I've seen "wear" instead of "where" too.
3 people like this
@MALUSE (69416)
• Germany
29 Sep 17
@sabtraversa Haven't you noticed that many native speakers of English make embarrassing grammar mistakes?
@Asylum @pgntwo The attitude towards the native language is different in English speaking countries from what it is in European countries. I've heard it repeatedly that many people think it's not necessary to study one's native language at school. They seem to think that the correct use is somewhat transferred by osmosis.
5 people like this
@RasmaSandra (73169)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
29 Sep 17
English can be a complicated language at times. Your mom is right about done. You know what would happen if you got that wrong? I baked a cake in the oven and now it is finished. Which makes it seem that the cake baked itself
5 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
30 Sep 17
To say that the cake was finished would imply that it had either not only been baked but eaten or that there was some necessary process which happened after the cake had been baked - frosting or icing, for example - which was now completed.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
29 Sep 17
The double negative is quite possibly the most common mistake made in English, often used regularly by English people.
This is perfectly acceptable in many languages, such as Spanish where it simply strengthens the meaning, but in English the two negatives would cancel each other out and reverse the meaning.
2 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
29 Sep 17
@LeaPea2417 In Spanish it is acceptable to use Nunca Nada, which would literally translate to Never Nothing. This would simply stress the sense of nothing in Spanish, but in English would infer something.
2 people like this
@LeaPea2417 (36382)
• Toccoa, Georgia
29 Sep 17
That is interesting that it is acceptable in many other languages.
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
30 Sep 17
@Asylum One not infrequently hears double (and even triple) negatives used for emphasis in English but mostly colloquially. "Not never, not nohow" is something which I associate with Tweedledum and Tweedledee, though I suspect that Lewis Carroll was consciously making a joke of a common error).
"I wouldn't never do that" might be used quite legitimately to say that 'I would normally never consider doing that but I concede that there might be occasions on which I might do it.' You'd expect to hear a distinct emphasis on the 'never', though.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
30 Sep 17
"Spelt" is only considered incorrect in America. In England (and most other English speaking countries) both 'spelled' and 'spelt' are legitimate forms of the past tense/past participle. There is, I believe, a slight tendency to use 'spelt' as the past tense (e.g. "I spelt the word incorrectly") and 'spelled' in other cases (e'g. "'Hay' should be spelled with an 'a' if you mean 'dried grass'.") but, often, it may be more a case of unconscious assonance since, when spoken, one ends in 't' and the other in 'd'.
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
30 Sep 17
@sabtraversa "Spelt" is also the name of an old variety of wheat (it was the grain that fed the Roman legions, so my packet of spelt flour tells me!).
I'm not sure whether I ever learnt any of the variations of these past participles/tenses at school - not consciously, at least. Whether we use the 't' ending or the 'd' ending seems to sometimes depend on the sound of the other words in the sentence, though in some cases, there's a definite difference in usage. 'Burnt' nearly always seems to be used for the adjective - 'Burnt Sienna' (an artist's pigment) - and the past tense ("I burnt myself on the stove"), whereas 'burned' is used as the past participle ("The house was burned to the ground").
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@sabtraversa (12805)
• Italy
30 Sep 17
@owlwings I like "spelt" more, anagram of "slept".
It's like learnt, burnt and so forth. Incorrect in American English only perhaps? But those are the past tenses we were taught at school, so I used them until I found out many people preferred learned, burned et cetera.
3 people like this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
29 Sep 17
I say I'm done eating alot . Just words to me
3 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
30 Sep 17
When we use the verb 'to be' with a past participle English grammar normally implies that the past participle is being used as an adjective. This is quite legitimate, of course, in certain contexts. We may legitimately refer to a 'done deed' and 'the finished article' or say 'the deed is done' or 'the artwork is finished', meaning that the action or actions needed have been completed. Properly speaking, the word 'done' should refer to one action, such as 'baking' [a cake], while the word 'finished' would more likely apply to a series of separate actions involved in a task.
It is not appropriate, grammatically, to refer to oneself as 'done' or 'finished', though one often hears it, unless one is on the point of dying! It is correct, however, to say "I have done [the action I was performing]" or "I have finished [the task or series of actions I was doing]".
You can say "I would never do that", meaning, "Under no circumstances would I ever do that." but it is also quite legitimate to say (for the purpose of emphasis) "I wouldn't never do that." if you mean "I would hardly ever do that but sometimes I might". There would always be quite a strong emphasis on the word 'never', though.
@hereandthere (45651)
• Philippines
30 Sep 17
i am done baking.
i am done with baking.
you cannot not attend my wedding. you're my maid of honor!
1 person likes this
@epiffanie (11326)
• Australia
2 Oct 17
Yes indeed.. English language can be confusing especially to people who speak languages other than English..
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79549)
• United States
29 Sep 17
The English language has become slaughtered and my grandmother is probably turning over in her grave listening to how people speak these days.
1 person likes this
@LeaPea2417 (36382)
• Toccoa, Georgia
29 Sep 17
Yes, and some students don't learn to spell and still graduate from High School. I know someone who is an adult today and still can't spell and he graduated from High School and even joined the military!
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
29 Sep 17
I am also quite aware when someone uses incorrect English, although I'm sure that I do from time to time. One thing that I try not to do, is to end a sentence with a preposition.
For instance. Most people would say: "What store are you going to shop at?"
The correct English is: "At what store are you going to shop?"
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@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
30 Sep 17
@LeaPea2417 Since we're talking about correct grammar, I'm going to pull you up on "my Mom would tell my Sister and I" Yes, many people say it but it's quite wrong! Take your sister out of it and you will hear that "my mom would tell I" is incorrect because you are the object of the verb and adding your sister to the mix doesn't change that.
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@LeaPea2417 (36382)
• Toccoa, Georgia
29 Sep 17
Yes, that is the other thing my Mom would tell my Sister and I, never to end a sentence with a preposition.
2 people like this
@peachpurple (13880)
• Malaysia
29 Sep 17
Your mom is a good teacher, mine doesn't even bother with my Broken grammar
1 person likes this