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Debate on a new store near the high school. Is that even a real word? How can 'worse' be an active verb??
English is getting worser every day around here.
wors·en
ˈwərs(ə)n
verb
make or become worse.
"her condition worsened on the flight"
Yes, dear I knew it was a word, but it just doesn't sound right. Worsen and lessen are among the worst and the use should be less.
"our lesson for the day"
There are other words that don't sound right to me.
"Sneaked" is proper usage, but "snuck" does sound much better to my ear when used in the active past tense. It just sounds more active. It's also another American word one doesn't hear in other English speaking countries.
English is full of historical peculiarities; it's incorrect to say a man was hung when he was executed. Everything else that hangs- drapery, pictures, do-dads, wallpaper, or what have you, including an animal, is hung- but a man is always hanged. The word implies it's specially reserved for humans only.
It's similar to "who". Everything that flies except for humans are creatures that fly. Humans who fly are humans, not everything else. Individual humans. A group of humans that fly is a group, so "that" becomes proper usage. "Who" applies only to individual people and their actions, thoughts, and all. "That" applies to everything else in nature.
"That" and "who" are the most commonly mis-used words in our language, I think. It's singularity makes it tricky.
Indeed it is!
While this is off-topic, I want to advise the forum members who have an ALDI store (otherwise known as "an Aldi's" to the poorly-educated) nearby that every year during Christmas season they stock German-made Mini-Stollen, filled with marzipan, and coated with dark chocolate. As my sister-in-law likes to say, when you eat them you might fear that the local PD will break down your door, because this confection is so good that it must be illegal!
There are other words that don't sound right to me.
"Sneaked" is proper usage, but "snuck" does sound much better to my ear when used in the active past tense. It just sounds more active. It's also another American word one doesn't hear in other English speaking countries.
English is full of historical peculiarities; it's incorrect to say a man was hung when he was executed. Everything else that hangs- drapery, pictures, do-dads, wallpaper, or what have you, including an animal, is hung- but a man is always hanged. The word implies it's specially reserved for humans only.
It's similar to "who". Everything that flies except for humans are creatures that fly. Humans who fly are humans, not everything else. Individual humans. A group of humans that fly is a group, so "that" becomes proper usage. "Who" applies only to individual people and their actions, thoughts, and all. "That" applies to everything else in nature.
"That" and "who" are the most commonly mis-used words in our language, I think. It's singularity makes it tricky.
All of those examples hit home with me.
In school we were always taught to say "hanged" when it applies to a person.
I don't think most people even know that you're supposed to say "who" when you're talking about people and "that" when it's non human. Lately I always see, "The girl that went..." Like nails on a chalkboard. We were always taught, "The girl WHO went..."
How about the subject not needing to agree with the predicate anymore? People seem to make the verb agree with the nearest noun instead. If I don't find an example, maybe someone else can find one. I see it all the time though.
Thanks, banjomike, for another lucid explanation of what is going on with what's left of the English language.
<>eople seem to make the verb agree with the nearest noun instead. If I don't find an example, maybe someone else can find one.<>
Local car commercial says, "No one will sell you a Kia for less than me."
Over the counter medicine ad, "If you have hemorrhoids like me . . ."
And any plural in a sentence will drive the verb to the plural form. Particularly obnoxious with entertainment groups:
"The Who is in town, next week the Beatles are here."
The couple had 7 children which were sent to live with...
7 children WHICH? Do people actually talk like this?
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