tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post5842701149056696428..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: contracted havelynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-90063875783420832682013-08-05T15:55:23.703+01:002013-08-05T15:55:23.703+01:00For "I've (I have) no idea" I think ...For "I've (I have) no idea" I think I (AmE) would say something like "I'ev no idea". (Well, that and other wordings.) If I wrote "I've no idea" it would likely simply be the closest written approximate to "I'ev no idea". I don't think I'd actually say it with /aiv/.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-46317184862927732122012-12-16T20:13:45.437+00:002012-12-16T20:13:45.437+00:00'They're not' is more common than '...'They're not' is more common than 'They aren't' in English generally, but BrE uses 'They're not' 20x more than 'they aren't, and for AmE it's only 10x more, according to Algeo (2006). So, 'they aren't' is more frequent in AmE, but still not the preferred form there. lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-71140326805340095852012-12-16T14:11:52.495+00:002012-12-16T14:11:52.495+00:00Always thought "I've not been" sound...Always thought "I've not been" sounded more AmE than "I haven't been". Does the same apply to "contracted be" as in "you're/we're/they're not alone" compared to "you/we/they aren't alone"?<br />Elianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16930398121025074531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-43144898549664425592010-11-27T16:24:46.988+00:002010-11-27T16:24:46.988+00:00This makes me think of the film Anita and Me, set ...This makes me think of the film <i>Anita and Me</i>, set in the English Midlands in the 70s... as I recall, "am" seemed to be used as pretty much any form of the verb "to be" (e.g. "you am", "they am")John V.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03797446614799654346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-29682702083992266092008-12-17T11:52:00.000+00:002008-12-17T11:52:00.000+00:00I came back to this post after reading a comment o...I came back to this post after reading a comment on 'I'd no idea' - this sounds perfectly OK in BrE... it reminds me that I definitely feel there is a regional variation in the UK: Scots tend to say 'we've to catch the bus from here'; 'you've to beat the butter and sugar together first', whereas you wouldn't find many English people saying that.<BR/>Another Scots and irish contruction is 'Did you not think to check your diary first?'; 'Do you not agree this is a good party?'. I have just heard a clip from the courtroom scene in the new kate Winslet film 'The Reader' in which this construction is used, but I don't know enough to say whether the speaker is British or American (difficult in movies!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-41280602300034327482007-05-02T23:25:00.000+01:002007-05-02T23:25:00.000+01:00cameron, je ne dinna ken pas.cameron, je ne dinna ken pas.deariemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654632450454559188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-66249635484728881432007-05-02T22:32:00.000+01:002007-05-02T22:32:00.000+01:00Another context where "I've" is natural is in the ...Another context where "I've" is natural is in the phrases "I've a good mind to" and "I've half a mind to". Google suggests that usage is split roughly evenly between "I have" and "I've", but "I've" feels much better to me.<BR/><BR/>Ginger YellowGinger Yellowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06103410278129312943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-79500262647350124712007-05-02T12:43:00.000+01:002007-05-02T12:43:00.000+01:00The photo that Dean refers to relates to the previ...The photo that Dean refers to relates to the previous post on terraced housing, etc. Will put a link to it there!lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-43744929448062860992007-05-02T11:21:00.000+01:002007-05-02T11:21:00.000+01:00Ah, dear Dearieme, Scottish usage of "am"..."Amn't...Ah, dear Dearieme, Scottish usage of "am"...<BR/><BR/>"Amn't" is lovely, but far more wonderful are "ah'm ur" and "ah'm urny". Standard usages in Glasgow at least. But of course they expand to "I am are" and "I am are not." And that has for years confounded me. Where on Earth does it come from?? (Not a geographical enquiry)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-31613332885005746162007-05-02T00:29:00.000+01:002007-05-02T00:29:00.000+01:00I've posted a photo which i think you placed a req...I've posted a photo which i think you placed a request for over at Brighton Daily Photo.<BR/><BR/>All the best<BR/><BR/>deanharveydeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15477816408093493260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-43347430108041653552007-05-01T09:28:00.000+01:002007-05-01T09:28:00.000+01:00"Amn't" isn't a solecism, it's standard Scots usag..."Amn't" isn't a solecism, it's standard Scots usage. I'm a Scot, amn't I?deariemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654632450454559188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54543126608140114512007-05-01T05:41:00.000+01:002007-05-01T05:41:00.000+01:00American here. I'm fairly sure I say "I've no idea...American here. I'm fairly sure I say "I've no idea" relatively often. But I don't think I use that construction with other nouns, and I don't use it without the negative, ever. It wouldn't occur to me to say "I've no time" or "I've no money left" -- I use "haven't got" or "don't have" for those.<BR/><BR/>Is it just me, or is "I've no idea" a common set phrase? Maybe I'm just eliding "I have", but then why only with "no idea"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-60408224996842090932007-05-01T04:00:00.000+01:002007-05-01T04:00:00.000+01:00Thank you for this post. I recall having pondered ...Thank you for this post. I recall having pondered at some point which form of contraction'd be more 'correct'. By which I mean, would sound most natural (for reference I'm trying to weed Americanisms from my English).<BR/><BR/>I have grown fond of Jangari's solution in informal print (blogs, journals, forums, msn). "Amn't" is another favourite solecism of mine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-71588423152576919842007-05-01T00:14:00.000+01:002007-05-01T00:14:00.000+01:00OK, Sharon, I get it now. There is probably a reg...OK, Sharon, I get it now. <BR/><BR/>There is probably a regional thing going on here, with northern Englishes more likely to contract <I>have</I>s, but I don't have that information from the corpus (since it wasn't my corpus). However, it's not clear from the description of the corpus that it was geographically balanced.<BR/><BR/>Still, there's no claim here that anyone would usually say <I>I've a...</I>, just that when it is said, it's more likely to come from a BrE speaker than an AmE speaker. <BR/><BR/>Some of the contexts in which it seems most natural to me are:<BR/><BR/><I>I've a good idea (what he's talking about)</I><BR/><I>I've no idea (what he's talking about)</I><BR/><BR/>In fact, I think <I>'ve</I> sounds better with <I>no</I> than with <I>not any</I> (i.e. <I>I've no idea</I> versus <I>I've not any idea</I>, but <I>'ve no</I> is not one of the collocations that is discussed in the Algeo book...<BR/><BR/>The fact that people don't like any contraction with a main verb <I>have</I> seems to be the main purpose for sticking a <I>got</I> in. Compare:<BR/><BR/>(1) <I>I don't have a clue</I><BR/>(2) <I>I haven't got a clue</I><BR/>(3) <I>I haven't a clue</I><BR/>(4) <I>I have not got a clue</I><BR/><BR/>(1) and (2) avoid contracting <I>have</I> in different ways and sound pretty natural (though (2) may be more idiomatic for this example). (3) sounds dialectal. (4) sounds really distressed!<BR/><BR/>But when there's no negative, do we like the <I>got</I> as much?<BR/><BR/>(5) <I>I have a clue (why she's left).</I><BR/>(6) <I>I have got a clue (why she's left).</I> <BR/><BR/>In BrE, (6) is ambiguous between the meanings that AmE expresses with <I>got</I> and with <I>gotten</I> (see back <A HREF="http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/06/irregular-verbs-gotten-fit-knit.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>). To me, it seems that (6) in BrE is more likely to have the 'acquire' sense (i.e. what AmE would express by <I>gotten</I>) than the 'possess' sense of <I>got</I>, and the more natural way to say that you have a clue is without the <I>got</I>--i.e. the <I>got</I> is more natural in the negative. <BR/><BR/>Hm, I wonder if someone's already done a corpus study on this. Maybe I'll set it as a student research project for next year!lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-65070498685963657252007-04-30T20:20:00.000+01:002007-04-30T20:20:00.000+01:00I've got a luverley bunch of coconuts. Oh no you ...I've got a luverley bunch of coconuts. Oh no you haven't. Oh yes I have. Haven't! Have! ...<BR/><BR/>Or (Scottish Borders) You have nut. Have sut. Nut! Sut! ....deariemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654632450454559188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-89183883392076898252007-04-30T14:29:00.000+01:002007-04-30T14:29:00.000+01:00Lynne, sorry I didn't make it clear - I wasn't ref...Lynne, sorry I didn't make it clear - I wasn't referring to the specific sentence but to the construction - using 'I've' without 'got' to talk about possession. In speech, I would never do that. 'I've got a blog. I've got a great job. I've got a problem.' <BR/><BR/>[Writing is different. Looking at my own blog, I notice that I rarely write "I've got" (and nearly all the examples that come up are actually "I've got to", meaning either 'I must' or 'I've reached'). It seems that I nearly always write "I have [a whatever]". I'm OK with "I have a..." but "I've a..." feels strange. Go figure.]<BR/><BR/>Hmm. I just googled UK sites only "I've a" (141,000) and "I've got a" (964,000).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-25481892102076922382007-04-30T13:10:00.000+01:002007-04-30T13:10:00.000+01:00Though a BrE speaker (Middlesex, RP, of a certain ...Though a BrE speaker (Middlesex, RP, of a certain age) I have never used contracted have ('ve) as a main verb = 'possess'. It strikes me as odd when I hear, as I often do, announcers on BBC Radio 3 saying 'We've X, Y and Z...' in trailing upcoming programmes. I could only say 'We have ...', or less formally, 'We've got...'. And for people of my generation the negative is either 'We haven't got X, Y and Z...' or more formally 'We haven't X, Y and Z...'; the pattern 'We don't have X, Y and Z...' stills sounds American, though now widely used in UK. (Maybe more widely than 'We haven't got X, Y and Z...'? Another one for the Google searchers.)<BR/><BR/>Old joke: American researcher to British woman:<BR/>'How many children do you have?'<BR/>BW: 'One at a time. Doesn't everybody?'Max Wheelerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08488671125464364189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-89380865112695141572007-04-30T09:35:00.000+01:002007-04-30T09:35:00.000+01:00Sharon, I worried that it might be misleading tha...Sharon, I worried that it might be misleading that I used <I>secret</I> as the object of the contracted main verb <I>have</I>-- because <I>I've got a secret</I> is a fairly set phrase. (In the US, it was a name of a (orig AmE) <B><A HREF="http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/I/htmlI/ivegotase/ivegotase.htm" REL="nofollow">game show</A></B> in the 1950s, and it's been in many song lyrics.) I just couldn't think of another noun to put in the spot that didn't sound silly. But do note that I was talking about patterns, not actual sentences. AND, I've just checked with Google, searching only .uk sites, and there were 717 results for <I>I've got a secret</I> and 2700 for <I>I've a secret</I>. (Some of those <I>secret</I>s are adjectives--e.g. <I>I've a secret stash of chocolate</I>.)<BR/><BR/>James, the material from the Cambridge International Corpus comes (according to their website) from: The English in the CIC comes from "newspapers, best-selling novels, non-fiction books on a wide range of topics, websites, magazines, junk mail, TV and radio programmes, recordings of people's everyday conversations and many other sources."lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-8379248747235958172007-04-30T08:31:00.000+01:002007-04-30T08:31:00.000+01:00I know the point of the post was that the AmE rati...I know the point of the post was that the AmE ratios (26, 140, ...) are much larger than the BrE, but I'm actually surprised they're as small as they are. If an American said something like "I haven't any wool", I'd think they were trying to sound English or like they're in a nursery rhyme or something. In other words, I'd expect these forms to be all but nonexistent in standard AmE speech.<BR/><BR/>Could it be that it's more common in literary and hence written AmE, and that that's what most of the corpus is drawn from? Or could it be that these forms are more common in certain US regions that I don't have much familiarity with?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-12542283161439465702007-04-30T08:15:00.000+01:002007-04-30T08:15:00.000+01:00"I've a secret"? I can't recall ever using or hear..."I've a secret"? I can't recall ever using or hearing any other Brits say that. "I've got a secret" is far more usual, surely?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-59791020265435506532007-04-30T04:47:00.000+01:002007-04-30T04:47:00.000+01:00The more frequent BrE contractions of "have" may b...The more frequent BrE contractions of "have" may be influenced strongly by the Scots. (Surely ScE IS counted in BrE?!!) To me, "I've a secret" (especially) and "I've not VERBed" are aching to have "laddie" or "lassie" appended to them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-42124511090426876502007-04-30T04:43:00.000+01:002007-04-30T04:43:00.000+01:00Jangari: It's simple. Just start using sha'n't, w...Jangari: It's simple. Just start using <I>sha'n't</I>, <I>wo'n't</I>, and more subtly <I>ca'n't</I>.John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-39042783048787276692007-04-30T03:13:00.000+01:002007-04-30T03:13:00.000+01:00I want to start a trend in double apostrophication...I want to start a trend in double apostrophication, but <I>I'ven't got a clue how!</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com