English Teachers: Please Help Me!!

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

For the past couple of years, I have witnessed a trend in the way Americans speak English.

A few years ago, there was a movement to certify Ebonics as a language. Ebonics, as far as I was concerned was just a bunch of slang words added to the improper conjugation of the verb “TO BE” coupled as the helping verb to a main verb which often ended in “ing”.

Now there is a new way of speaking English which is epitomized by the McDonald's commercial that states. “I'm loving it.”

“I'm loving it” is of course short for “I am loving it”.

Why not “I love it”? Why do we need the helper or auxiliary verb “am”?

The difference between “I love it” and “I have been loving it for a long time” is obvious. The first statement is showing the present condition, while the second sentence shows an existing and past condition simultaneously.

Proper ********* New Alternative********** Ebonics

I run *********** I am running ************** I be run or I be running

He runs ******** He is running ************* He be running

You run ******** You are running ********** You be running

They run ******* They are running ********* They be running

Why would anyone use the longer alternative way.

I called up a customer service person and after I explained my problem, she asked, “So, what are you wanting me to do about it?”

How about the more easily constructed question, “So what do you want me to do about it?

It seems that in Ebonics they didn't conjugate the verb "to be" before placing it before the main verb which often ended in “ing”, but this new way of speaking is conjugating the proper helper verb properly, but always using a main verb which always ends in “ing”.

One step better, but still incorrect.

Can any English teachers out there tell me if I am right or wrong?

I am wanting to know. :confused:

[K@t 38]

1. I don't see what exactly your questions is. Whether or not you have grammatically pinpointed what exactly Ebonics is? Or why is Ebonics used in the first place? And 2., do you not have any thing better to do then nit pick at things like this? This kind of energy would seem better served in some kind of charity or public service.:faint:

[donali 57]

I don't think "I'm loving it." is a new way of using English, or even an improper/less formal/slang way.

"I eat it." That's a lot different than "I'm eating it."

Using "I eat it." to indicate something that's happening right at this moment, or something you intend to do in the future is like that bad pigeon English depicted in old Westerns for American Indian version English.

I don't see how "I love it." and "I'm loving it." is any different than my example above. To me the implications of "I'm loving it." is that it is something you are actively doing in the moment, not some abstract feeling...

Okay, I'm obviously no English teacher, but this does not strike me as bad or misused English...

Hopefully that doesn't mean I have just become desensitized! lol

[onlygo 0]

Tired Old Man I Love Him....I am Loving him....I be loving him

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

1. I don't see what exactly your questions is. Whether or not you have grammatically pinpointed what exactly Ebonics is? Or why is Ebonics used in the first place? And 2., do you not have any thing better to do then nit pick at things like this? This kind of energy would seem better served in some kind of charity or public service.:faint:

The improper usage of English causes as many communication problems in this country as the USA trying to be a country that speaks English and Spanish simultaneously.

I have heard someone say something and the person that was with me could only agree on one thing; "the exact words that we had just heard".

When two people who have spent over 100 years combined living in the USA can not agree over the meaning of a simple 10 word sentence spoken in English, how does anyone expect to hold our elected officials to their word? When no one knows what their word is, even though we know the words that they used, we are in for a rough ride.

Yes, it does depend on what the definition of what the word "IS" is. Just like it matters what the definition of the words "sexual relations" is.

We, in order to become more inclusive have allowed our dictionaries to become sanctuaries for slang and misused and incomplete words.

I am not wasting my time, I am trying to figure something out. And I am not too proud to ask for assistance from knowledgeable people. Proper communication, to me, is of the up most importance.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

I don't think "I'm loving it." is a new way of using English, or even an improper/less formal/slang way.

"I eat it." That's a lot different than "I'm eating it."

Using "I eat it." to indicate something that's happening right at this moment, or something you intend to do in the future is like that bad pigeon English depicted in old Westerns for American Indian version English.

I don't see how "I love it." and "I'm loving it." is any different than my example above. To me the implications of "I'm loving it." is that it is something you are actively doing in the moment, not some abstract feeling...

Okay, I'm obviously no English teacher, but this does not strike me as bad or misused English...

Hopefully that doesn't mean I have just become desensitized! lol

No offense, but we often speak, write and think in the grammar that we continually hear.

My wife is British and every time she spends a month in the UK visiting her relatives, she comes back speaking totally differently than when she left.

[green 6]

Ooh, there are big problems with language. I am always distressed by the confusion between lay and lie. One is intransitive and one is not but now everyone is laying down not lying down. In order to hold on to my sanity I remember what my linguistics professors told me: language is alive and thus is always changing and it is common usuage that makes for correct usuage. This doesn't make me any less unquiet when I hear language that offends me but it helps me shut my gob when I hear my husband tell me that he was laying down when he really was lying down. I also get pissed when I hear about people gifting each other when it would be so much easier to give each other. I know that I have a number of gifts and so might be called gifted but the most that I will ever do when it comes to relating to another human being is give 'em something.

And as for "I'm loving it," this sounds kinda like South Asian English, doesn't it? "Excuse me sir, but I am having to disconnect your power bar cord, and so you should be saving your information." I mean no respect by this; it is just an observation that I am having.

[green 6]

Green would be interested to hear how TOM's wife's language changes after she has spent a month in the mother country.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

Green would be interested to hear how TOM's wife's language changes after she has spent a month in the mother country.

Her accent comes back. She has been in the USA for 51 of her, never mind. :faint:

She starts using words that British people use, but US people don't.

[Carlene 12]

TOM...

I am not an English teacher. I do have a BA in English, so people often assume that it's the same thing, but it isn't. I had one semester of grammar. The rest was literature and composition - mostly composition. Which is why I can't write anything to this day - even a recipe - without an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Having said all that...

I think I understand what you are getting at. You have the right string, but the wrong yo yo. In the McDonald's example - I'm loving it - the verb is "am". "Loving" is a gerund - a present participle which works as a noun. So it isn't improper English, per se - just awkward English.

Conjugation of the verb to run

Today I run

Yesterday I ran

Tomorrow I will run

"I am running"....the verb is am and running is a gerund. Not improper, and sometimes it is THE proper form. How about, "I am running for office"...as opposed to "I run for office". Same thing with the other examples. "He runs for office" just does not work, but "He is running for office" does. (There is, by the way, nothing "new" about these verb forms.)

As for Ebonics....just ignore it and hope it goes the way of Valley Girl speak. (Gag me with a purple Twinkie!) But if you MUST go there..."I be running" is essentially the same thing as "I am running" - running is a gerund (noun), not a verb. The verb "be", however, is improperly used. Be is an irregular verb having 8 forms: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being.

A complete conjugation includes person (I, you, he, we, they), tense (past, present, future), and number (singular or plural). Present tense plural form of "to run" is "We are running". Future plural tense is "We will be running". So...."We be running" is just some weird bastardized English, no different than "We is from Arkansas", or "Has you folks ate yet?" People who actually speak Ebonics on purpose, in my opinion, are eager to be pointlessly different just for the sake of being....well, pointless. Like wearing their pants so low-slung that they can't carry a box without fear of losing their trousers.

And while I'm on the subject I'd just like to say....PULL UP YOUR PANTS, AMERICA. No one wants to see what color thong/boxers you're wearing today. Really....we don't.

[nursekathy2u 0]

For the past couple of years, I have witnessed a trend in the way Americans speak English.

A few years ago, there was a movement to certify Ebonics as a language. Ebonics, as far as I was concerned was just a bunch of slang words added to the improper conjugation of the verb “TO BE” coupled as the helping verb to a main verb which often ended in “ing”.

Now there is a new way of speaking English which is epitomized by the McDonald's commercial that states. “I'm loving it.”

“I'm loving it” is of course short for “I am loving it”.

Why not “I love it”? Why do we need the helper or auxiliary verb “am”?

The difference between “I love it” and “I have been loving it for a long time” is obvious. The first statement is showing the present condition, while the second sentence shows an existing and past condition simultaneously.

Proper ********* New Alternative********** Ebonics

I run *********** I am running ************** I be run or I be running

He runs ******** He is running ************* He be running

You run ******** You are running ********** You be running

They run ******* They are running ********* They be running

Why would anyone use the longer alternative way.

I called up a customer service person and after I explained my problem, she asked, “So, what are you wanting me to do about it?”

How about the more easily constructed question, “So what do you want me to do about it?

It seems that in Ebonics they didn't conjugate the verb "to be" before placing it before the main verb which often ended in “ing”, but this new way of speaking is conjugating the proper helper verb properly, but always using a main verb which always ends in “ing”.

One step better, but still incorrect.

Can any English teachers out there tell me if I am right or wrong?

I am wanting to know. :confused:

Yo TOM, don't be hatin' dude!!!

The new thing at my neices High school is making the peace sign or victory sign or the number 2 sign but holding it sideways with your palm toward your body and saying "Dueces".... I am constantly asking her what is a "Dueces".. what does it mean?? Wouldn't it just be duece?? Why is it plural if it is just one hand??? I have no clue... She just says "Its Dueces man".

Seem like she be flashin' some gang sign to me.......

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

TOM...

Conjugation of the verb to run

Today I run

Yesterday I ran

Tomorrow I will run

My point was that instead of "Today I run" why would anyone say "Today I am running"?

"Yesterday I ran" becomes "Yesterday I was running".

"Tomorrow I will run" becomes "Tomorrow I will be running".

They are changing a verb of action into a verb of being, by exchanging the verb "to run" for the verb "to be" for example.

"I am loving it" is a state of being while "I love it" is a state of sense.

[Carlene 12]

My point was that instead of "Today I run" why would anyone say "Today I am running"?

"Yesterday I ran" becomes "Yesterday I was running".

"Tomorrow I will run" becomes "Tomorrow I will be running".

They are changing a verb of action into a verb of being, by exchanging the verb "to run" for the verb "to be" for example.

"I am loving it" is a state of being while "I love it" is a state of sense.

There are any number of instances where "I am running" would be better than "I run". For example:

"I am running for office; God help us all."

"I am running the Water for your bath, so get your sorry behind in here."

"I was running a poker game in the back room when the cops showed up and busted me."

"I was running around the house naked before you got here."

"I am running to the store after breakfast"...now there's another sticky wicket. Am I literally going to jog to the store, or will I be driving? If I'm driving, then why would I say I'm going to run?

"I'm loving it" is just more appealing as an advertising catch phrase than "I love it". It's hip and different, which is what advertising is all about anyway. And it sounds more immediate....I am loving it = I love it right now. "I love it" is passive. "I'm loving it" is active. I think it beats "you deserve a break today", don't you?

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

There are any number of instances where "I am running" would be better than "I run". For example:

"I am running for office; God help us all."

"I am running the Water for your bath, so get your sorry behind in here."

"I was running a poker game in the back room when the cops showed up and busted me."

"I was running around the house naked before you got here."

"I am running to the store after breakfast"...now there's another sticky wicket. Am I literally going to jog to the store, or will I be driving? If I'm driving, then why would I say I'm going to run?

"I'm loving it" is just more appealing as an advertising catch phrase than "I love it". It's hip and different, which is what advertising is all about anyway. And it sounds more immediate....I am loving it = I love it right now. "I love it" is passive. "I'm loving it" is active. I think it beats "you deserve a break today", don't you?

The use of running in all those sentences is not the run like in walking fast. If I asked you, "when you go to the exercise track, do you walk or run?" "I run" is not the same as "I am running".

Most of the time when I hear the sentences that cause me to feel that there is a problem, they contain words like want or love, which are verbs of state rather than action. Instead of "I love it", "I love you" or "I want a car", they say "I am loving it", "I am loving you" or "I am wanting a car". They are not correct in my book, even though I do not know what rule they violate. I think the difference is that "I want a car" means "I (do) want a car (now)" which is a sentence that shows actual desire at a given time rather than "I am wanting a car" which show a state of being for an indefinite time.

[Carlene 12]

"I am wanting a car" IS a badly constructed sentence. I can't think of a single instance wherein "I am wanting" would be grammatically correct. I hear similar usage all the time, though. On King of Queens the other night, Doug's wife said, "I'm not hatin' it." Now if that's not going all the way around the vocabulary farm to get to the outhouse, I don't know what is. Does that mean she likes it, but stops short of loving it? That would be my interpretation. I guess "I like it" would have been too uninspired.

As for "running"....it still depends on the context, no matter the form of the word.

I am running in the Boston Marathon.

I was running when he hit me with the bottle.

Our concept of good English changes with time, so maybe part of the problem is that us old people just don't always "get it". I have heard a number of people complain that the HBO series Deadwood was great, but the dialogue sometimes made no sense. The scriptwriters went to great lengths to use the vernacular of the times, just as Shakespeare did, and sometimes that makes for a tough read in 2006. Our high school kids would probably appreciate Romeo and Juliet a lot more if Juliet had cried out from the balcony, "Romeo, Romeo....you best be gettin' your sorry self over here 'fore I open up a can of whup ass on you."