Catching myself out

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:07 pm

I notice that I've just written this in an email:

"I'm inviting everybody, even people I've met a long time ago"

Present perfect and "ago"! But be honest: How much did you twitch when you read that? A raised eyebrow or a huge shudder?

Anuradha Chepur · Post by **Anuradha Chepur** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:51 pm

Actually your typo - 'people people' got me distracted. (Edit it asap)

Present perfect and 'ago' makes me frown, though.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:55 pm

A little poll, then: Shall we put "frown" somewhere between "raised eyebrow" and "shudder"?

oceanbreeze · Post by **oceanbreeze** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:23 pm

A huge shudder from me Juan!

Ago... a definite past

Sorry

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:46 pm

Definitely a raised eybrow from me but no shudder. It's certainly not in the"Only Angry from Tunbridge Wells, who would write a letter to the Telegraph about it, cares about such things" category yet.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:48 pm

I surprised myself, I must say. It's strange that I didn't censor myself as I wrote. I don't think I was changing grammatical tack at the time. But once it was there I thought "Well, whatever made me do that?" It's not very Spanglish so it's not that I'm "going native"( or should that be "non-native"?), which isn't a very PC expression, I'm afraid.

My vote is for something between "both eyebrows raised" and "slight wince". I agree, it's certainly not "Angry from TW" ( or its equally or more pernickety US equivalent) territory, i.e. some silly shibboleth.

So it's a NNS error committed by a NS. Which is odd, because I reckon to be generally a lot more self-aware than some of you are with your grocer's/grocers' apostrophes and mixed-up it's and its or there and their and they're.

Lolwhites, I notice you say "yet" in your post. What do you mean?

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:59 pm

I think this kind of mistake ocurrs more often in written English. You simply forget the time scheme you are in between writing one part of the sentence, and deciding what you will put for the second half.

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:54 am

Lolwhites, I notice you say "yet" in your post. What do you mean?

I think I'm noticing it more in native speakers, which makes me wonder if the form might not be considered acceptable at some point in the future. One to watch, maybe.

pikawicca · Post by **pikawicca** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:47 am

I don't think a NS would actually say this -- certainly I've never heard anything like it.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:33 am

Well a NS actually wrote it!

I agree with Stephen now despite what I said initially about not losing track.

There might be not so much Pinkeresque "blocking" when the PS is the same as the PP, both when the sentence is said/heard and written/read. So there may be less of a shiver with:

"I've heard a long time ago"
" I've met a long time ago"

than with "I've written a long time ago"
"I've seen a long time ago"

Perhaps when it's being written the eye slides to the left and sees the PS without looking any further and is reassured ( like Harzer's "one of the players were") , making the grammatical tack change less unbearable. When heard, that little "'ve" goes less noticed.

On second thoughts, the above may be baloney.