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English is weird (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by Anonymouse@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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I got hung up on contractions this morning regarding the word "you've". Normally, I'd say "you've got a problem", which expands to "you have got a problem", which isn't wrong, but I normally wouldn't say. Not contracting, I'd say "you have a problem", so then should I just say "you've a problem"? That sounds weird in my head. Is this just a US English problem?

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[-] rhythmisaprancer@kbin.social 7 points 11 months ago

To add to this, "have got" is perfect tense. "You're a man" is different because "are" isn't an auxiliary verb here, it is just added to "you" as a contraction. That phrase would probably be an existential clause.

I miss World Wide Words!

this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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