Newby at ESL

[Gravira]

Hello fellows,

I am a new member of ESL. I am a 23 years old student from the Netherlands. Recently my use of the English language has intensified because of my new job.

While reading I came across some grammatical constructions which I did not quite get, hopefully you can help me improve my English.

I am currently reading the Aubrey/Maturin series of Patrick O'brian, which I enjoy heartily but the English that is used sometimes puzzles me. One of grammatical constructions I did not quite get was the following:

I have never bee so terrified in my life. Was you not terrified, Stephen?

Why does he use 'was' here instead of 'were'.

I thank you all in advance,

kind regards,

G.

[Beeesneees]

I'm not familiar with the books, but my guess is that it's colloquial speech. It isn't grammatically correct but the author wanted to use the local dialect that the character might have used in such a situation.
_________________
"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
Terry Pratchett