Timeline for UK vs USA grammar, past tense usage of "were stood" and "found…stood" that jars my American mind
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
25 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| S Jan 20 at 21:51 | history | notice removed | CommunityBot | ||
| S Jan 20 at 21:51 | history | unlocked | CommunityBot | ||
| Jan 20 at 4:20 | answer | added | Peter | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 20 at 2:20 | history | became hot network question | |||
| S Jan 19 at 21:21 | history | notice added | Laurel♦ | Comments only | |
| S Jan 19 at 21:21 | history | locked | Laurel♦ | ||
| Jan 19 at 21:18 | comment | added | Andy Bonner | Problem word: correct. "Standard" is another matter! | |
| Jan 19 at 20:41 | comment | added | user 66974 | Related: english.stackexchange.com/questions/449476/… | |
| Jan 19 at 20:03 | comment | added | Lambie | @WeatherVane Well, look at the only answer so far. Just opinions from FF and Edwin. I did say that I now see it is not standard but I still say that it is colloquial and very used. Are you Brits embarrassed by this usage? It would seem so. And FF talks about accents. This is not about accents; it's about class prejudice, isn't it? | |
| Jan 19 at 19:49 | comment | added | Weather Vane | @Lambie i don't think you should answer "Is this correct British grammar?" with "I hear it all the time colloquially." | |
| Jan 19 at 19:18 | answer | added | Edwin Ashworth | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jan 19 at 19:07 | comment | added | Lambie | @WeatherVane Yes, that is standard for sure, I now know. BUT it is used colloquially all the time in the UK, as I have said because I have heard and hear it a lot in British movies and TV series. My mother (AmE) would correct me too: I have seen him recently, not I saw him recently. So, mothers can be good carriers of standard grammar. | |
| Jan 19 at 19:03 | comment | added | Weather Vane | As a BrE speaker, I would say "standing" for a person, but an object might be "stood in a corner" because it was placed there. | |
| Jan 19 at 19:03 | history | edited | Laurel♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 15 characters in body; edited title
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| Jan 19 at 19:01 | comment | added | Lambie | bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/… Read that blog post. Very good explanation of this: [...] you might be intrigued to learn that regional accents (although not dialects) have become very fashionable in broadcasting, but the announcers do read scripts written in standard English grammar! So good-bye and thank you for the question [...] /I was delighted to see that Brits use: I've went, just like Americans. Of course, very non standard in both! | |
| Jan 19 at 18:57 | comment | added | Weather Vane | @KateBunting not a "stood joke", even now? | |
| Jan 19 at 18:57 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | (UK) A friend and I have a standing joke that when we hear someone say "I was sat [somewhere]", we both hear our late mothers say "Sitting!" | |
| Jan 19 at 18:52 | comment | added | Lambie | @FumbleFingers Ok, I said standard but it is extremely common in TV shows (police procedurals, for example) and movies. And one thing, FF, is for sure: AmE speakers don't use were sat and were stood over the ing forms at all. Also, re accents, it was time for the British media (TV presenters especially) to get rid of posh, U accents-only presenters. Widening the choice of accents does not necessarily mean poorer grammar. I love all those accents on the BBC, it's charming. | |
| Jan 19 at 18:49 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | It's misleading to present this as AmE and BrE "alternatives". The PP form is extremely informal / dialectal in BrE. But I also have the impression that Brits today are in general less concerned about "correct" grammar than Americans. It's probably relevant that British TV features ever more presenters with strong accents, and there been a huge increase in glottal stops from people telling us the news and weather, in recent years. They'd never have been hired at all a few decades ago, but nowadays, "ordinary people" are much sought after for such jobs. | |
| Jan 19 at 18:44 | comment | added | Zan700 | That doesn't read like conventional UK English. I suspect that stood is used in the sense of "place." A teacher stood the student in the hallway when he wouldn't stop talking. The "were" is to make it passive. | |
| Jan 19 at 18:44 | comment | added | Lambie | Yes, the Brits use "were stood" for "were standing" and "were sat" for "were sitting". It is fine and it is standard in British English, I believe. Funny though for an AmE speaker. I am very surprised by what people say here because I see/hear these forms in series and movies all the time. Am I the only one watching British stuff and listening to the speakers? | |
| Jan 19 at 18:43 | comment | added | Quack E. Duck | It almost seems like the UK usage is an example of the middle voice, or even a true deponent verb. (Because, as the answers to the other question state, being "sat" somewhere doesn't have to imply someone else "sat" you there.) | |
| Jan 19 at 18:27 | comment | added | Stuart F | You don't fancy telling us who the author is? This question is primarily about "am sat" but also mentions "were stood". | |
| S Jan 19 at 18:16 | review | First questions | |||
| Jan 19 at 18:17 | |||||
| S Jan 19 at 18:16 | history | asked | dlbruce | CC BY-SA 4.0 |