|
|
Odd dialectal things
I'm talking about certain words you use or dont use in certain situations.
such as how I, in spoken langauge, use 'much' instead of 'many' I heard some people would use "since" instead of "because"
I'm not sure where your much/many example points. I would use both, such as "Many thanks" or "thanks very much" and I think the choice would be more dependant on the context than my dialect... though it is possible I could be responding to the dialect of the person to whom I was speaking.
I dont think I would use much when I meant many, or the reverse. Even when speaking in slang. As for since/because...well I would just be guessing here, but there are still lots of "alternative" words in english, because of the differing anglo-saxon and norman-french roots. I would guess "because" is norman-french and "since" is probalby anlgo-saxon in origin. Just a thought... David
Just my interpretation of what the OP is referring to;
1. I can't think of an example where much and many would be used interchangeably; however, one hears often people using "fewer/less" that way (usually "less" subtituting "fewer"). Not sure if it is a dialect thing or just a normal, universal evolution of the language - it's just that the OP's first example looks like it might be referring to something like that. 2. Since/because - I assume the OP means something like "since he hadn't studied for the test, he got an F" or something. In my experience, that's not dialect specific either; as a matter of fact, many languages have many ways to express causality, so I wouldn't say it is specific to English either. Disclaimer (before the Francos of the board get all worked up about it): I am not a native English speaker, so if you are, feel free to correct me.
I've heard many elementary school children use "much" this way: "Too much dollars".
Interesting point 2 Calliope. I wonder if the two words because/since are developing separate meaning, perhaps based in their etymology.
Thinking about it more now. I would definetly prefer the word "because" in your sentence rather than "since". Because "because" suggests a logical relationship, whereas "since" tends to be used more to indicate the passage of time. eg Causal: "Because he studied for his exam, he passed" Temporal: "Since he studied for the exam, the rules have changed" Anyone have any "academic" views on this?
jou,
I wouldn't know about academic views, but that is a perfectly legitimate use of 'since', at least in American casual speech. I hear it used a lot and I use it a lot.
since
3. Inasmuch as; because: Since you're not interested, I won't tell you about it.
I do use the word "since" to mean "because". I see nothing wrong with it. I still use "because", too. I'm not sure what makes me say one or the other at a given moment.
"Since" can also mean "Seeing as..." or "Considering that...", and I think it's generally more elegant than either of those phrases, at least if it doesn't create any ambiguity. "Since you're here" is unambiguous, but "since you were here" could have a temporal meaning and one of the other phrases might be better. Context will usually make it clear which meaning was intended, though. - Kef
''Dialect as she was spoke''
she - instead of it spoke - instead of spoken
I would say that "much" & "many" are not interchangeable but that there's nothing wrong nor unusual about using "since" in the sense of "because". The temporal sense of "since" is just another seperate meaning (though I would guess that one developed from the other).
|