Re: Smallwhite needs help with English expressions
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:07 am
smallwhite wrote:
I'm surprised a non-native (me) who hasn't watched TV much and has not interacted with natives much, is sure about the regional and colloquial usage "things that needed done" and says "I who needed taken care of", while natives say they have never heard it. Where have I been learning my English from?
The bolded is a jarring mix of registers. From an American perspective, "It was I who" is correct prescriptively and in writing but I would literally never say that. I think the only place I have heard someone say that honestly was on Princeton campus. Some percentage might use that in speech and another larger percentage might snicker behind their backs I asked my husband out of context if he would ever say "It was I who" and he instantly replied "only if I were a super villain". On the other hand, after I explained the whole question he confirmed "needed done" is an Appalachian-ism (like the mountain range ) and comes from the Scots-Irish immigrants who settled there through Kentucky, Ohio, Western PA. The linguistic isolation has some religious roots that we were recently discussing actually.