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-   -   Like always/ever (https://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=7729)

Like always/ever


ookami April 21, 2010 10:24 PM

Like always/ever
 
Hello.

-Why "Like always" is right and "Like ever" no? with "as" instead of "like" it's the same no?

-"We was attacked" Why "was" instead of "were? (William Golding's book)

Thanks

chileno April 21, 2010 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ookami (Post 80461)
Hello.

-Why "Like always" is right and "Like ever" no? with "as" instead of "like" it's the same no?

-"We was attacked" Why "was" instead of "were? (William Golding's book)

Thanks

Because "ever" is used with "as", like this:

"as ever" ;)

pjt33 April 22, 2010 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ookami (Post 80461)
-"We was attacked" Why "was" instead of "were? (William Golding's book)

Vernacular - note that it's a boy speaking rather than the narrator. Some people (and I couldn't tell you which factors are relevant) decline the past of "to be" entirely with "was". This is also popular among writers of historical novels, although I couldn't tell you how accurate it is there.

The British National Corpus reports 428 instances of "we was" vs 14300 of the standard "we were".

poli April 22, 2010 06:14 AM

In common language the forms of verb to be are often used in ways you will not find in grammar books. Some Americans (African Americans in particular) often omit the verb to be altogether, because you can be clearly understood without using the verb at all. Example: Where she at?

It's important to be aware of these alternate ways of speaking but as a learner; it's much more important to speak English in the more official (precscriptive) way.
Like aways sounds less formal than as ever. The use of like and as is often controversial among people teaching grammar because the language is changing. It's not a bad idea however to remember that as is usually a conjunction and like
is traditionally a preposition.

ookami May 01, 2010 08:44 AM

Thanks for the answers, it's clear now.


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