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Deicide

I recently got into an argument on an expat site about sit.

Someone had written the following:

'She was sat on my knee'.

I thought this screamed out against prescriptivistic rules. Surely he should have written 'she was sitting on my knee' in lieu of the other strange construction.

What is your take?

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:14 pm Post subject:

"Was sat" sounds as wrong as can be, to me. "Was sitting" would be the usual construct, I would think. But I wouldn't rule out the possibility that somewhere it's common usage.

Where I'm from, we often use it as a reflexive verb. ("Come on in and sit yourself down.")

So anything is possible.

Best,
Justin

guty · Joined: 10 Apr 2003 Posts: 365 Location: on holiday

This is common usage of 'to sit' in the north of England, strangely enough, I can't think of another verb which is used in this way. It is more than likely to be found in close proximity constructions such as
'Where's Dave?'
'he's went'

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

I take it to mean that someone else placed her upon your knee. (Like "she was set" or "she was placed.") It is strange, though.

d

ESL Hobo · Joined: 23 Oct 2008 Posts: 262

Santa Claus might say, "She was sat on my knees. She began crying and there was nothing I could do."

I would say this statement depends on context.

MO39 · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:09 am Post subject:

ESL Hobo · Joined: 23 Oct 2008 Posts: 262

I agree, sounds better. But colloquially, say in a novel, it would be acceptable.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Don't see how sat would be correct. We don't sat people, we seat people. At least in all of my upbringing, you could say, especially in formal situations, please be seated, Please seat your self. let me seat you. Please let me sit you???

johnslat · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 4:28 am Post subject:

He's went. He's done gone. She was sat.

The abstruse technical term for all three: wrong

Mike_2007 · Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 349 Location: Bucharest, Romania

It's fairly common colloquialism where I come from too (S of Eng) and is used as a kind of participle adjective. It doesn't imply a passive form or transitive form. It's similar to 'He is gone' implying 'he is away/departed/out of town". It's very informal though.

It can also be used as a transitive verb used a little differently to 'to seat'. Whereas 'to seat' suggests the allocation of a particular chair ("We were seated in the back row") 'to sit' someone has the implication of arrangement in a sitting position:

"BA sat corpse in first class" (The Times)

So that's what you have to do to get an upgrade with BA!

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

It's certainly a common form in the UK and doesn't sound at all strange to me. The intended meaning is exactly the same as "was/were sitting", though I suppose technically it is not correct usage. Another example: They were all sat in front of the TV, watching football.

guty · Joined: 10 Apr 2003 Posts: 365 Location: on holiday

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

Another S of England vote here too! Deicide, you were being too prescriptive. Smile

In a colloquial context it has the advantage of being shorter than 'sitting', which in any case would probably end up with no g and a glottal stop.

ESL Hobo · Joined: 23 Oct 2008 Posts: 262

English is a living language that is always changing, new forms are generally accepted when a large portion of a population uses forms or terms with above average frequency.