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 #2 (permalink) Wed May 07, 2008 20:39 pm shan't |
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I never use it -- unless I'm trying to do a bad imitation of a Brit. 
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Yankee
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| #3 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 4:06 am Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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I never use it either. It sounds very funny to us, like a funny cartoon of an Englishman.
You'll also never find an American man saying he "fancies" anything. |
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Jamie (K)
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| #4 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 7:29 am Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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I use it in examples such as these:
I shan't be coming to your party after all.
We shan't help you if you don't begin helping yourself. |
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Molly
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| #5 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 7:41 am Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: |
I never use it either. It sounds very funny to us, like a funny cartoon of an Englishman.
You'll also never find an American man saying he "fancies" anything. |
And yet there are 980 examples of per 1 million words "shall not" in the BYU Corpus of American English.
And, as I said before, never say never, Jamie:
"The limos pulled up to the harbor, and there was Grade, pacing by his gangplank. He was wearing gray flannel trousers, a blue blazer and a Panama hat. In his hand was one of the $ 25 cigars he fancies from the vaults of Davidoff's on Jermyn Street."
Title Remembering Lew Grade;
Author Roger Ebert
Source Chicago Sun-Times |
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Molly
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| #6 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 9:53 am Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Molly wrote: |
| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| You'll also never find an American man saying he "fancies" anything. |
And yet there are 980 examples of per 1 million words "shall not" in the BYU Corpus of American English. |
The BYU corpus is disproportionately weighted with texts from academic journals and literary sources, which often use English that people would be laughed at for speaking directly to other people.
Besides, we're not talking about "shall not", which is used from time to time by Americans, but "shan't". I got no hits at all for "shan't" in the BYU corpus. I get more than 300 hits for "Popeye", but none for "shan't".
| Molly wrote: |
And, as I said before, never say never, Jamie:
"The limos pulled up to the harbor, and there was Grade, pacing by his gangplank. He was wearing gray flannel trousers, a blue blazer and a Panama hat. In his hand was one of the $ 25 cigars he fancies from the vaults of Davidoff's on Jermyn Street."
Title Remembering Lew Grade;
Author Roger Ebert
Source Chicago Sun-Times |
I guarantee you that, although Roger Ebert used the expression in that article, where he's trying to sound literary, he would never be caught dead telling anyone face to fact that, "I fancy a swim," or, "I fancy another bowl of soup." He would be laughed at, and he would seem effeminate to people. |
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Jamie (K)
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| #7 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 10:07 am Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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I can't resist the temptation to quote a phrase from "Great Expectations"
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I have a sick fancy that I want to see someone play. Play, boy, play
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Lost_Soul
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| #8 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 13:23 pm Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Molly wrote: |
I use it in examples such as these:
I shan't be coming to your party after all.
We shan't help you if you don't begin helping yourself. |
Are you saying that shan't is commonly used in Nigerian English?
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Yankee
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| #9 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 13:38 pm Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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Hi,
Go on, have a good laugh, I shan't mind! A little of what you fancy, does you good.
Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice |
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Alan
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| #10 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 14:49 pm Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Quote: |
| The BYU corpus is disproportionately weighted with texts from academic journals and literary sources, which often use English that people would be laughed at for speaking directly to other people. |
Read this: "Equally divided into spoken, fiction, popular magazine, newspaper, and academic. Will be updated at least two times a year."
You can search registers if you like. Do you laugh at language that is used in formal registers, for example?
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| Besides, we're not talking about "shall not", which is used from time to time by Americans, but "shan't". |
Why do Americans use the strong form but not the weak form?
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| "I fancy another bowl of soup." He would be laughed at, and he would seem effeminate to people. |
Effeminate? Wow! What a scary thing to be accused of. |
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Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
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| #11 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 14:54 pm Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Molly wrote: |
| Why do Americans use the strong form but not the weak form? |
Because we don't. |
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Jamie (K)
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Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #12 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 15:02 pm Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| Why do Americans use the strong form but not the weak form? |
Because we don't. |
Studied answer?  |
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Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
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Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
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| #14 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 15:07 pm Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Molly wrote: |
| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| Why do Americans use the strong form but not the weak form? |
Because we don't. |
Studied answer? |
Who is to say why we don't use it? I don't eat spaghetti. Why? Because I don't. It's just not my habit.
Part of the reason is that we very seldom use "shall". You'll bring out your corpus numbers, but nonetheless, it's relatively rare. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #15 (permalink) Thu May 08, 2008 15:20 pm Do you ever use the form 'shan't'? If yes, when? |
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| Quote: |
| Who is to say why we don't use it? |
A linguist, mebbe?
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| Part of the reason is that we very seldom use "shall". |
That statement isn't much use to an ESL student who is learning AmEng, is it? |
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Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
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| What can you tell me about these 2? | combining two clauses |
