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Native ’ungrammatical’ phrases | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| epingchris Triglot Senior Member Taiwan shih-chuan.blog.ntu. Joined 7028 days ago 273 posts - 284 votes  5 sounds Studies: Taiwanese, Mandarin*, English, FrenchB2 Studies: Japanese, German, Turkish | Message 25 of 69 03 September 2005 at 4:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Yeah, I was talking about the "It-should-be-It's-I" things......I don't quite agree with it anymore because almost everyone use it anymore and it's strange and pretentious(?) to say "It's I." The year I was in the US the teacher taught it in grammar class.
In French it's different: "moi" is the stressed pronoun which doesn't really equal to "me" in English, although it can be translated that way. Grammatically speaking, it's a different structure. Another thing that I find I misuse a lot is to say "if......or not", since the "or not" should really only be put after "whether", right? How about the ", because......"? Are the comma needed? What I've learned is no, but a lot of texts I've seen seem to have that kind of usage. Is that grammatically incorrect but most people use it anyway, or was that correct from the outset? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7104 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 26 of 69 03 September 2005 at 9:07am | IP Logged | ||
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I did some searching for a page on comma usage and I found a page on this here. Scroll down to the first purple box.
Your example of "It's I" can you use this in a sentince? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7205 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 27 of 69 03 September 2005 at 12:30pm | IP Logged | ||
Knock knock. Who's there? It's I. It's I who? It's I who are at the door. I just made that one up. If you're unfamiliar with the knock knock joke form, try: http://www.kidsturncentral.com/jokes/knockjokes.htm. Edited by luke on 03 September 2005 at 12:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7318 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 28 of 69 03 September 2005 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know if you did it on purpose, but it should be "It is I who am at the door."
I find too many people are still saying things like "Me and my friends went to the park". And when corrected, they respond with "I know that!", and continue using it that way. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7205 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 29 of 69 03 September 2005 at 9:40pm | IP Logged | ||
That was the joke part. "It's me" is the colloquial phrase. "It is I" is proper. The joke is to be very proper in one phrase, and downright wrong with the other. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| epingchris Triglot Senior Member Taiwan shih-chuan.blog.ntu. Joined 7028 days ago 273 posts - 284 votes 5 sounds Studies: Taiwanese, Mandarin*, English, FrenchB2 Studies: Japanese, German, Turkish | Message 30 of 69 04 September 2005 at 7:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Oh, by the way, one time my American English teacher told us that people sometimes use the phrase "there's still a ways to go." to indicate that there's still a long way to go. It's interesting to see how they're using the plural of "way" as if it's a collective noun......
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| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7103 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 31 of 69 05 September 2005 at 2:48am | IP Logged | ||
It was precisely for this reason that I posted my original comment. What we are talking about is the so-called use of the subject complement following "to be" (and other copulative verbs) versus the use of the object complement. Too many grammarians (for my liking) will declare unilaterally that "It is I" is correct. My response to them is always - ok then stick it in the plural and then assure me that you're going to say (hand on heart) the following: Knock, knock Who's there? It is we The problem is that in far too many instances the so-called "proper"form sounds patently ridiculous. To me, it is of no more use than insisting that the second person singular of the verb to be is "thou art". It used to be but it isn't any more - get used to it. The use of "it's me" has been attested since the 16th century and Fowler (that most prescriptive of grammarians) writing at the beginning of the last century would only say that since the entire phrase is colloquial in nature using "it's me" instead of "it's I" was a lapse of no importance whatsoever. Andy. Edited by Andy E on 05 September 2005 at 3:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7205 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 32 of 69 05 September 2005 at 8:26am | IP Logged | ||
I agree. I'd only use "It is I" if whooshed into a hypersterile environment. Do we need a thread for highbrow phrases in grammar books? (another joke). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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