In Dialects^x, Verbs^x

Hello, I have a question concerning the use of the past participle 'brung'. I was wondering what the origin and use of this form is. I could think of several possibilities: - analogy (like children would make) with verbs like ring (-rang-rung). - dialectic forms. I.e. used regional. If so...

In my dialect, it's always "were". Anytime there's an "If I" + the verb "to be" it's gonna be "were" no matter what follows. I heard that usage was dying out in British English? Is that true? To me, "If I was" sounds quite incorrect.

Webster's 1828 MAY, n. 1. Had sufficient strength or physical power. A sick man could not lift his hand. Isaac was old and could not see. Alexander could easily conquer the effeminate Asiatics. 2. Had adequate means or instruments. The men could defray their own expenses. The country was...

No, I'm not a teacher.As I've said before, I know that traditional grammar calls it the subjunctive. My point is that the distribution of the "if I were" form is very different from the "I demand that it be done" form. It makes sense, from a linguistic point of view, to give them different names....

Our Living Language In many Southern U.S. varieties of English, might can be paired with other auxiliary verbs such as could, as in We might could park over there. Words like might and could are known as modals, since they express certain “moods” (for example, I might go indicates an uncertain...

Alienvoord wrote:"I might could be persuaded to try that."Which dialect is this grammatical in? http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001120 Take a look here: 2.4 Modal stacking The complement of a modal cannot be a Finite verb, as there is no room in INFL for a second instance...

Phrasal verbs appear to have their origin during the Hundred Years War when the English went to fight the French in 1337. The nobles who led the common soldiers had their own lingua-franca, Anglo-Norman, but the men in the ranks spoke only their own particular dialect of old English. Phrasal...

The Antonym of Sin In order to arrive at a suitable antonym for the word “sin”, one must understand the word as it is correctly used in the English language. This explanation will address the meaning of sin and its antonym in an attempt to assist in gaining a more thorough understanding. As a...

Julielai wrote: Just out of curiosity, Mr. P, how do you distinguish a native speaker who's learned a non-standard form of English from a decent non-native speaker? (e.g. How can you tell if a speaker born in India, Singapore or other Asian countries is native?) Hello Julie I'm not sure I...

Note; I look at verb usage from the point of The Principal of General Use. If there are inconsitencies in the way "have to" and "must" are used in BrEng, that is not an unusual thing. Dialects, idiolects and grammaticalization all effect usage choices. I'm more interested in general...