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Tuesday, January 06, 2004 Present[ly] Tense. I worked all day today. Shredded like you wouldn't believe... I kept thinking it would be much easier and/or cooler if the character Shredder, of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame, emerged from behind a door to complete my task. Alas, he did not. But I that did not stop me from thinking it over and over. And over. Anyway, I was in the tearoom on a break, eating lunch, listening to other people talking and what have you, and I kept noticing this one guy saying COME when he meant CAME. Example: Yeah, my parents [come] down for the weekend a couple of weeks ago... It was interesting at first, then it was all I noticed, until I found it excruciatingly painful. It then lead to me to question other "problems" or "errors" in the way people use the English language. After all, millions of people out there cannot be "wrong"... Case in point: the distinction between 'brought' [past tense of 'to bring'] and 'bought' [past tense of 'to buy'] is falling away. Often, and in context, one can understand the meaning. The nuance is very different... In some situations, you can get away with it... In the example below, you'll see that you can easily what is meant, but ambiguity reigns supreme... "We had to bring a plate of food to the party tonight didn't we?" "Yeah, I [bought] a salad. Did they BRING that salad, or BUY it then BRING it? Mmmmm... What do you reckon? Have you started mixing your 'brought's and your 'bought's? I know I have... And I wonder if it's specific to Australian-English... posted by AJ | 8:07 PM | | ||
