69
votes
Is "she don't" sometimes considered correct form?
You should understand that, in school, you will be taught a certain kind of "formal" (or "standard") English, much the same as what native English speakers are taught. This is not necessarily the ...
- 88.1k
38
votes
Is "she don't" sometimes considered correct form?
3d-person singular don't is quite common and unremarkable in speech communities where formal correctness is not held in particular esteem. It should not disturb you.
But it's not acceptable in ...
- 175k
35
votes
Is "she don't" sometimes considered correct form?
Your question is clear and concise, and warrants a clear and concise answer, without equivocation:
Is “she don't” sometimes considered correct form?
The answer to that question is:
No.
The ...
34
votes
Who is/are they?
Short Answer: Because Person B is referring back to Person A's sentence.
Long Answer:
A: I assume you know about the latest goings-on with Hessington oil.
B: I wouldn't be much of a partner if I ...
- 3,760
28
votes
Why do we have to use 'have got' instead of 'got'?
In the first sentence, "got" is redundant. You can just say "I don't know how much money he has." This refers to the amount of money he already possesses.
The second sentence, "I don't know how much ...
- 1,339
25
votes
Accepted
"None of the kids were hungry" Or "None of the kids was hungry"
Both sentences are grammatical.
When you use the phrase "none of" in front of a plural noun or pronoun, you can use either a singular or plural form of a verb.
However, the plural form is common ...
- 27.1k
24
votes
Accepted
Who is/are they?
Use-mention distinction
This is an example of the use-mention distinction. In the sentence "Who is they [sic].", "they" isn't being used as a pronoun, but instead is being used a word. That is, it's ...
- 934
20
votes
What's the difference between "Was this supposed to be...” and “Wasn't this supposed to be…"?
Let's look at a simpler example. Someone you haven't spoken to for a while phones you up, and you say "Great to hear from you!"...
1: ..."Was it a month ago when we last spoke?"
2:...
- 68.7k
18
votes
Grammatically correct: 'are you hurt' and 'do you hurt'
Both are grammatically correct; however, they mean slightly different things. "Are you hurt?" asks if the person is injured; "Do you hurt?" asks if the person is in pain.
- 1,127
18
votes
Accepted
Why is "I'll be", wrong as a short answer?
Heh, I think you answered your own question in your own question. It's wrong precisely because it's a response with an auxiliary verb, and therefore, we do not repeat the other verb in the short ...
- 3,760
17
votes
Accepted
Which is the correct phrasing: Do any or Does any?
The subject in both sentences is "philosophy," which is singular.
The verb in both sentences is in the present tense. Singular, third person verbs in the present tense (except for modals) terminate ...
- 31.9k
15
votes
Is "she don't" sometimes considered correct form?
What the other respondents fail to mention is that there is a whole dialect in American English (i.e., black inner-city English), that uses "don't" in the third person singular as a matter of course.
...
- 14.4k
15
votes
Accepted
"May (might,can) could have" and "Must should have/should must have" impossible?
English auxiliary verbs combine into more complex constructions according to wholly inflexible rules: the sequence is always
the modal component first (if it is present), with the following verb in ...
- 175k
12
votes
Accepted
Can the auxiliary verbs be optional sometimes?
His son was smart and his daughter ___ intelligent.
This website has been shut down and its name ___ turned over by court
order.
This is called ‘gapped coordination’ (or just ‘gapping’).
The ...
- 15.8k
11
votes
Grammatically correct: 'are you hurt' and 'do you hurt'
The other answers are correct, but as a native speaker, I'd like to note that "Do you hurt?" may have unwanted connotations here. To me, it sounds like you're asking about a periodic or indefinite ...
- 1,969
11
votes
When to use don't + pronoun
In all the varieties of English that I am familiar with, a tag question on a sentence with an auxiliary (or a form of be even when it is a full verb) uses the auxiliary in the tag question, not do:
...
- 73.7k
11
votes
Can the auxiliary verbs be optional sometimes?
These sentences are examples of ellipsis, where text that is duplicated in two clauses is omitted from the second clause. They are both
perfectly correct.
The particular type in these example is ...
- 59k
11
votes
She is at next door
In general when describing a person's location we say they "are in" or "are at" some place. "She is at Aunt Sally's house." "He is in the store." "He is at work." Etc.
If we are using a preposition ...
- 62.1k
10
votes
Do I use 'was' or 'did' as an auxiliary in an interrogative clause?
Because you're using "taste", you need to use "did".
Did the cheese taste delicious?
However, if you omit "taste", you would use "was". I would argue that this form is much more common because, in ...
- 25.4k
10
votes
Help explaining "Where am I?" vs "...where I am"
The subject and auxiliary verb are normally switched order in a question. This process is called a subject-auxiliary inversion. That's why the auxliary verb precedes the subject in your first example. ...
- 8,774
10
votes
Accepted
Do you ever put stress on the auxiliary verb in AUX + NOT?
One context in which it is common to speak the auxiliary is in imperative sentences. This makes the instruction sound more serious and more important
Do not hurt your brother.
This could be spoken ...
- 202k
9
votes
Accepted
Use "got" or "have got"?
HAVE got is an idiom equivalent to HAVE.
I've got a report to do = I have a report to do
Have you got time to read this? = Do you have time to read this?
In Standard English (whatever that is),...
- 175k
9
votes
Accepted
.... I was being! / what does it mean?
When BE is cast in the progressive construction (BE + present participle), it describes the subject's current behavior, as opposed to his more or less permanent nature or character:
I was being ...
- 175k
9
votes
Use of "have to" vs "am to"
"Be to", oddly enough, means that you have been directed or destined to do something by someone else.
I can't. My mother says I am to clean my room.
I am to go to London in a fortnight and ...
- 12.7k
9
votes
may(=possibility) vs. can(=possibility)
We may see you tomorrow. = It is possible that we will see you tomorrow.
Epistemic Modality and Other Modalities An epistemic modal is an epistemic use of a modal term, such as “might”, “necessarily”,...
- 41.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Emphatic do-form with do as main verb
I would say that yes, they are acceptable. For example, a kid talking to his mom:
Parent: Did you do your homework?
Child: Yes I did!
Parent: No, I don't believe you.
Child: I did do it!
...
- 4,403
8
votes
Accepted
'Wouldn't wake up' vs. 'didn't wake up'
Wouldn't, in such sentences, means roughly "couldn't be caused to"; that is, "X wouldn't Y" means roughly "[someone] couldn't get X to Y". For example:
Cathy tried to tell her husband and son to ...
- 4,508
8
votes
Repeating HAVE (or other auxiliary verb) in one sentence
No, you don't need to repeat it.
The perfective auxiliary throws us into the near past (have/has) or distant past (had), and the rest of the sentence is clearly locked in that time by context.
By ...
- 196
8
votes
"None of the kids were hungry" Or "None of the kids was hungry"
The key here is that there is actually a plural and singular sense of none.
Rule: The word none is versatile. It has a plural sense (“not any”) as well as a singular sense (“not a single one”). ...
- 1,010
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible