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0 pointscliveowen12y ago0 comments

I know it's not wrong, it's just that every time I see it, it feels wrong.

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4 comments · 1 top-level

afandian12y ago· 3 in thread

Okay. As I said in my comment further down, I suppose this depends on your linguistic surroundings when you learned to speak.

To me using 'were' in the incorrect mood feels wrong. I'm not a strict grammarian (I had to look that reference up to double-check before posting), and my feel for grammar is intuitive rather than learned from verb tables. Obviously the verb-tables (or fragments of them) are encoded in that haze of language in some latent form, but it's entirely down to the environment in which I learned to speak.

Acquisition of grammar is a fascinating topic. Can anyone can recommend any books on the subject?

mogrim12y ago

Not sure if it's exactly what you're looking for, but "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" is quite an entertaining look at English (mainly British) grammar.

ghaff12y ago

Since you asked specifically about the acquisition of language, Steven Pinker has written a number of books that touch on the topic, e.g. The Language Instinct. Note that there are a number of conflicting theories about language and how it's acquired so probably no single book will give you an unbiased view of the current best thinking in the space.

afandian12y ago

Cool. There's a number of Pinkers floating around my home, I might just pick one up.

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