American English (was Re: [lbo-talk] five pundits in the dock)

ravi listmail at kreise.org
Thu Dec 1 12:32:59 PST 2005


At around 1/12/05 1:14 pm, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> After Packer's talk, I politely asked him if he regretted his support
> for the war. He did. "I wish I would have had more information at the
> time," he told me.
>

"Would have had" -- what's that called in grammar: past continuous? Shouldn't that be "I wish I had had more information" or simply "I wish I had more information at that time", or if you must "I wish I could have had more information"?

If I am right about this, why do Americans, in particular make such mistakes? I mean, this guy is a journalist... shouldn't he know the language a bit better?

Another peeve of mine, if I haven't already ranted about it is "bring vs. take": Americans say "Could you bring this to Mrs. Smith?", when they really mean "Could you take this to Mrs. Smith?". Why?

Why do these things drive me up the wall?

--ravi

-- If you wish to contact me, you will get my attention faster by substituting "r" for "listmail" in my email address. Thank you!



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list