Grammar pedants?

I have a friend who is doing an online test that she has to pass to be a teaching assistant. In one section she has to say if the statement is correct grammatically. Things like:

We was walking in the garden.

We have had a difference of opinion on a statement so we are putting it to the RW vote to decide who is right (she has submitted her answers in case anyone is worried about the morals of this!).

Are we "allowed" to say

I was sat and thinking about things.

Should she have marked this as grammatically correct or incorrect?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please say my answer was right!!

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Comments

  • Hurrah!!!!

    She marked it as correct and it said she was right? 

  • She thinks the statement may have been "I was sat thinking about things". Not sure if that makes a difference?

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    To me sat means being in a sitting position so I would say it is technically correct but sitting would probably be the word I'd use.

     "I have ran" ??

     

     

  • Hmmmm, that's true. 

    I do kind of think it must be right if it is a Teaching Assistant proficiency test! (Disclaimer I am not an expert so make no claim to 'I do kind of think' being correct!). 

    She's onto the maths now and it is bringing back nightmares of my maths teacher image.

  • Nose NowtNose Nowt ✭✭✭

    I'd have said the grammar was incorrect.

     

    Don't understand.

  •  

    I would say it is incorrect

     I was sitting. Continuous action

    Or, I sat and thought..  completed action.

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    Mr Puffy wrote (see)

     

     "I have ran" ?? 

     

    This one is infuriating image

  • Mr PuffyMr Puffy ✭✭✭

    My own bugbear is the misuse of the personal pronoun by people who think it sounds posh But don't know the difference between the subject and the object of a verb.

    "Stevie G gave Leah and I a lift to the race." No he didn't, he gave me and Leah a lift.

     

  • Lou Diamonds is correct:

    I was sitting

    I sat

    There may be confusion because in northern dialects the expresson "I was sat" is often used (as in your example) - but it's still wrong:

    Sat: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sat

    Sitting: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sitting

     

  • Without making the usual divide of north/south, its definately incorrect.


    The statement definately was out there to confuse you. I agree with screampillar.

  • Nick Windsor 4 wrote (see)

    If a Northern dialect uses a different term it may be inconsistent with another area but is correct in the North, and is not wrong

    It makes it a term understoood, in common parlance, in a certain locality - gramatically it is still wrong. 

    There are a lot of people in the south that say "aksed" instead of "asked" - are you suggesting that they are correct too?

  • "I sat, thinking about things." would be fine though. Are you sure you've got the wording quite right?

     

    Grammar is up to 25% bollocks anyway. Like percentage statistics.

  • The example Leah gave is "I was sat", not "I sat".

  • Surely if you extended the sentence a little it might be right?

    "I was sat thinking abou things when I suddenly realised..."

    Oh and since this is a thread about english (please dont correct mine) but its spelt definitely. As in finite.

  • Nope, it's still wrong It's either:

    "I sat, thinking about things..."

    "I was sitting, thinking about things..."

    Perhaps the best way to explain it is: "was" = in the past and "sat" = in the past, therefore you don't need to use both. The word "sat" has already done the job  for you.

    Anyway, I can't believe Wilkie hasn't posted yet image

  • mikasamikasa ✭✭✭

    'course Screamy is right!! And I'm not even British...

  • MuttleyMuttley ✭✭✭

    You could in theory have "I was sat" if to sit is being used as a transitive verb. I was sat and was thinking ... ie, someone had sat me down and I was thinking. Bu this is stretching it a bit.

    As given, the example is incorrect.

  • Not really, you are still using "sat" and "was" together.

    In the scenario you gave you would say it as you said it, "Bill sat me down and I was thinking..."

    Or you'd say "I was asked to sit and I was thinking..."

  • I think you've all got far too much time on your hands.

  • BBC says:

    So, while a teacher might correct a child’s written English, I think we’re more tolerant of spoken variations, and these days, we use the term ‘non-standard’ to describe such features. I think it’s better than describing such variations as being wrong or incorrect, because these non-standard grammatical patterns are used consistently by millions of speakers every day!

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭
    Screamapillar wrote (see)

    Nope, it's still wrong It's either:

    "I sat, thinking about things..."

    "I was sitting, thinking about things..."

    Perhaps the best way to explain it is: "was" = in the past and "sat" = in the past, therefore you don't need to use both. The word "sat" has already done the job  for you.

    Anyway, I can't believe Wilkie hasn't posted yet image

    image

    Sorry!  Been busy!

    All of the above - the sentence is wrong image

  • I quite like the sound of ancient English nick!

    might sound better than the new 'gangster brap, brap' that most kids speak like these days! (With their trousers down below the arse)

  • Nick, there is black and white correctness and the reason it exists is to teach it consistently not only among native speakers but to foreigners as well. It's the same with all languages.

    As Tom's quote suggests there can be leeway in spoken grammar (as long as you can be understood) but written grammar has to remain constant. Apart from anything else, how do you narrow down the best applicant from a CV if everyone who applies for a job has a different interpretation of how grammar should be used?

    Language evolves through its words, not its grammar.

  • Screamapillar wrote (see)
    Nick Windsor 4 wrote (see)

    If a Northern dialect uses a different term it may be inconsistent with another area but is correct in the North, and is not wrong

    It makes it a term understoood, in common parlance, in a certain locality - gramatically it is still wrong. 

    There are a lot of people in the south that say "aksed" instead of "asked" - are you suggesting that they are correct too?

    Hmmm. There are a few who say 'aksed'. Without wishing to get into a racial area, it's very much a black thing, saying 'aksed'. There's a horrible bit in Neil Labute's film In the Company of Men, a study of misogeny, in which a black intern is lambasted by a manager for saying 'aksed'. It's uncomfortable viewing.

  • Screamapillar wrote (see)

    Nick, there is black and white correctness and the reason it exists is to teach it consistently not only among native speakers but to foreigners as well. It's the same with all languages.

    As Tom's quote suggests there can be leeway in spoken grammar (as long as you can be understood) but written grammar has to remain constant. Apart from anything else, how do you narrow down the best applicant from a CV if everyone who applies for a job has a different interpretation of how grammar should be used?

    Language evolves through its words, not its grammar.

    I disagree. I think grammar evolves too. Some of our forebears would have gone to the ends of the earth to avoid a split infinitive. It's not really seen as a mistake these days. Just one example.

  • Just seen my child's schoolwork in her classroom. Her teacher had written that her story needed to "make more sence" 

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