Friday, October 29, 2010

영어 Hint of the Day #19: 촌놈처럼 말하고 싶습니까? "She don't know where it's at."

영어 Hint of the Day #19:  촌놈처럼 말하고 싶습니까?  "She don't know where it's at." 

Today, I was talking with someone, and he said that.  I couldn't believe it.  I could not believe that a native English speaker actually made not one, but two, grammatical errors in one short sentence.  To me, he sounded like an uneducated person from the countryside.

What were the errors?
1.  Number agreement.  The words "She don't" cannot ever be used together. 
(x)  She don't....
(o)  She doesn't....

2.  Sentences should not end in a preposition.  Sometimes, this rule is difficult to follow.  That is particularly true in English.  However, in written English, prepositions should not be the last word in a sentence.
(x)  "...where it's at."
(o)  "...where it is."

So what should the sentence be?
(x)  She don't know where it's at?
(o)  She doesn't know where it is.

Good Luck

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