Search results for 'tag:Present perfect tag:Dialects' matching tags 'Present perfect' and 'Dialects'

Re: Is it possible to use present perfect with "long ago"?

Lovebug — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:59:29 GMT

Hi Goodman.

I have been living in California since 3 years ago = that'll be so unacceptable in my camp.
I have been living in California for the past 3 years. = that's acceptable and will make a student pass their English test in a non-native land.

Yes, the word 'ago' with a present perfect tense, will appear to be a direct translation from a dialect or another language usually non-native English. I see this being practised.

cheers.

Re: Native-speaker/native language

Tanit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:03:57 GMT

Forbes

I remember listening to a radio programme about the varieties of forms of speech in Italy ... They simply change language like they change clothes without worrying about the status of their "home" speech.

There's some truth in that article. My parents, for instance, used to speak in Sardinian (not a dialect, but recognised as an endangered language by the UNESCO) when talking to each other or to their relatives, but they would only speak Italian with my brother and me. I grew up monolingual, and although I can understand Sardinian, I am unable to articulate a sentence that contains more than a few words!

Many people who speak both Italian and their dialect, although able to switch from the first to the second depending on the context, speak a form of Italian that I would classify as regional and sub-standard. I noticed that people from Southern Italy (I have little experience of Northern Italy) who speak also a dialect usually don't speak standard Italian, but a form of language deeply affected by their dialect. Accent is not an issue. I find some grammatical structures odd, as well as the choice of some verb modes, tenses and aspects (ex. past simple versus present perfect, indicative versus subjunctive), and have problems with some vocabulary (let alone idioms, of course). I am usually able to understand the general meaning, though.

Re: recently / not long ago / a short time ago.

Ti:Ê§É — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:53:57 GMT

I've just had lunch is an example of the Present Perfect, a tense used to connect past actions to the present. It is correct in this case, because it connects the past action of eating to the present state (being full) and the consequences (not wanting to eat any more).

It is not so common in many American English dialects: they will use the past simple (I just had lunch) instead.

Re: The "Totem Pole" feature has been off-bounds to climbers...

MrPedantic — Tue, 15 May 2007 23:37:46 GMT

Grammar Geek wrote:

...Perhaps another speaker from the UK or elsewhere will come to tell us that off-bounds is okay in their dialect...

Not in my part of the UK â I would take "has been" as a main verb too, and not as a part of the passive present perfect.

(Perhaps "out of bounds" and "off-limits" could also be parsed as adverbials.)

MrP

Re: I'v said it years ago.

MrPedantic — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 12:06:22 GMT

Often, with the present perfect, we can only determine whether a sentence is acceptable if we can read it in its wider context. And even then, there may be slight differences from dialect to dialect and speaker to speaker.

I believe that such is the case with both examples.

MrP

Re: Backshifting in conditional sentences -- NAmE

Kooyeen — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 19:04:23 GMT

Thank you for having pointed this out:

In English, the past is often used instead of the past perfect, so there is a reading of that if clause in which was can be taken to mean had been, thus indicating the past meaning that I think you are talking about, but that creates an ambiguity, so I did not mention it earlier because I didn't want to add complications to an already complicated subject.

I see. For the same reason (that is, since lots of Americans tend to use the past simple instead of the past perfect or the present perfect), I think this sentence,

If my father finds out I have been at that party, he would...

could sometimes be written: If my father finds out I was at that party, he would...

Interesting. You don't need to use had been in that case (in your language) to be absolutely clear about the past meaning?

I thought about it. Actually, it is more common have been. I think Had been could sometimes be used in my regional dialect, in Italian wouldn't sound very good.

Re: Present perfect tense question

Goodman — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:07:44 GMT

Umâ¦.Where do I begin? Well, I am almost sure one or two of you on this forum may have already heard the story before. As Iâd said many time before, learning English is much harder for Asians than Europeans for the simple fact that Asian langauges are not made up of alphabets, except Vietnamese. For Asian born Chinese, the movement of their tongue and jaw has been trained into the muscles from speaking their native dialects. Itâs difficult to re-train them to move in the ways English speaking demands them of moving which in turn causes pronunciation problems for them.

So for a young immigrant who never learned the basics of English, it would seem extremely impossile to learn this language, as least for a period about 2 years. I was 17 when I arrived Calif. But not until 2 years later that I really seriously spent a lot of time studying. The way I learned English is not what you would call academic. In fact, I donât have a college degree because I had to work right away to survive. I couldnât go to regular high school for I wonât understand anyway. My existence for next 5 years was working in the Chinese restaurant at night and went to ESL classes during the day. After I felt confident with my English, I enrolled into a technical college to take the next step, not knowing if I could make it through. I can confortablly now tell you, if you had enough will in you, you can conquer almost anyting. Through my experience, I found out if you are humble to learn people will teach you. Through the years, Iâve kept up with this attitude of practicing what Iâd learned and refining it.

Iâd also like to shar ewith you that television, up till today, has been my best learning tool. It helped me build my speech patterns and word usage by listening and visuals. I am still trying to keep improving my written skills by emulating others writing style. Thatâs why I want to do what little I can to help others because I know how confusing, depressing and frustrating it can be to become fluent in English. To answer your question about proficiency, I would say this, I feel condifident about my English and my ability to express my thoughts clearly. Whether my English is better than native American is not really imporatant to me. Hope my story didn't bore you to tears!

Re: She don't?

elviajero — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 16:20:32 GMT

I can't agree more with you, Casi. Purists may call this speech pattern non-standard English, but all said and done, it is English. All varieties of English, any language for that matter, including this one, have their own set of established standards and are governed by their linguistic and cultural rules which are followed by most speakers of that dialect. This particular dialect of English that's being discussed here is called African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called Ebonics in linguistic terms, and black or African-American English in common language. It's believed that AAVE has grammatical origins in, and pronunciational characteristics in common with, various West African languages. Here's a quick peek into its grammar (in no particular order):

1. Uninflected present-tense verbs:
I go, We go, You go, He go (=He goes, in Standard English), She go (=She goes), It go (=It goes), They go
I don't go, We don't go, You don't go, He don't go (=He doesn't go), She don't go (=She doesn't go), It don't go (=It doesn't go), They don't go
2. No -s to indicate possession: My baby mama (=My baby's mama)
3. Double negatives: I didn't go nowhere (=I didn't go nowhere), He don't want to do nothing (=He doesn't want to do anything)
4. Modified Present Continuous form: She talkin' (=She is talking)
5. Modified Present Perfect Continuous form: She bin talkin' to him (=She has been talking to him)

What I've described above is only tip of the iceberg; there's much more to it explaining which would be out of scope of this discussion. An ESL learner would be better off mastering the standard dialect first, and then explore other varieties of English.

Thank you for reading.

Re: Is American English lazy English?

mattman — Sun, 12 Sep 2004 08:41:10 GMT

It is perhaps better to dispense with the idea that there is only one English that is correct. In a nutshell American and British English are but two dialects of ENGLISH.

"They have enough respect for the language to use correct spelling, clear enunciation and to observe the correct use of prepositions and general grammar." SPELLING: Both forms are only different and are acceptable in their forms. Consistency in spelling within the same document i.e. British or American is important and just looks better if nothing else. CLEAR ENUNCIATION: I dare say that individuals will enunciate differently regardless of which English they are speaking. *Perhaps a reflection on education, social status, and other cultural influences. CORRECT USE of PREPOSITIONS: I am not so clear on as to what you mean on this one. IF you mean, for example, AT vs. ON the weekend, well, simple two differnt ways to say the same thing. Neither being wrong or better. GRAMMAR: Yes, there are some differences in grammar but, and I'll go out on a limb here, area better considered tendencies instead of clear-cut differences. For ex: Speakers of American English tend to use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less than speakers of British English.

On the other hand, some Americans seem to like reinventing the language as they go." This is an absurd and misguided statement.

The "dumbing down" is not a reflection of the language but a reflection of your personal view.

The reasons for the variations lie in history, time, and social change to name but a few. (without going into details).

Different doesnât mean wrong. Statements like "British English is better than American English" or âAmerican English is inferior to British Englishâ only represent the speakerâs opinion. The truth is that NO language or regional variety of language, for that matter, is inherently better or worse than another. They are just different.