"Is go"

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Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
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Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Hello,
There are plenty of exceptions and I hope this one is an exception as well.
I heard this sentence:
"Where is mommy go?"
Normally I would have asked:
"Where is mommy going?"

Is there any reason not to use the gerund?

P.S: If you need more context, I will quickly upload the scene, no problem. :)

Cheers!
 
Hello,
There are plenty of exceptions and I hope this one is an exception as well.
I heard this sentence:
"Where is mommy go?"
Normally I would have asked:
"Where is mommy going?"

Is there any reason not to use the gerund?

P.S: If you need more context, I will quickly upload the scene, no problem. :)
Please, do!

Cheers!
;-)
 


P.S: If you need more context, I will quickly upload the scene, no problem.


Maybe, you shouldn't act that quickly. I think , firstly, the moderaters should inform us about this whether it would be a copyright infringement or not. We don't wan't our forums to be in trouble for such a reason.
 
Haha, don't worry, it's just a scene from TV series :)

What I meant was uploading a screenshot that might have been a problem.
Giving a link to You tube is OK (If the content they have has a copyright problem, it'd be their responsibility, not ours)
 
Hello,
There are plenty of exceptions and I hope this one is an exception as well.
I heard this sentence:
"Where is mommy go?"
Normally I would have asked:
"Where is mommy going?"

Is there any reason not to use the gerund?

P.S: If you need more context, I will quickly upload the scene, no problem. :)

Cheers!
No. You've misheard it, or he misspoke it. "Where is mommy go" is not right.
 
....and I'm working on it as best I can (as well as I can?)
:up::-D:up:

Your definition is right; and - possibly because of the closeness to 'as well as' - many people say :cross:'as best as I can':cross: (which is so common a howler that I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to defend it!). But if someone tells you to use another 'as', you stick to your guns (don't waver from doing what you know is right). ;-)

b
 
1. Where's mummy gone?
2. Where's mummy goin'?
3. Where's mummy go?

The vowel seems too long for #1, and I can't hear the "n" from #2; possibly he says #3 in imitation of child-speak.

Best wishes,

MrP
 
Hello,
There are plenty of exceptions and I hope this one is an exception as well.
I heard this sentence:
"Where is mommy go?"
Normally I would have asked:
"Where is mommy going?"

Is there any reason not to use the gerund?

P.S: If you need more context, I will quickly upload the scene, no problem. :)

Cheers!

No exception here Nightmare. "Where is mummy go?" is definitelly wrong, as many others have already pointed out. I just would like to add the following two remarks:

1) Native speakers do not necessarily speak only standard perfect English. They make mistakes as well. Usually their 'mistakes' are of a different nature than ESL students ones.

2) The process of communication has at least two important parts: what the speaker says and what the listener hears. The listener is already 'tuned' to English, so he has some standard constructions he expects to hear. In the listeners mind he usually fills some gaps in what he hears to match to some standard sentences he already expects.
And the same happens to the speaker, he 'thinks' he has said the words completely, and the listener fills the gaps. This is a common process in any language, not just English.
Have you ever noticed (in any language) that sometimes the listener doesn't understand something and asks for a repetition (sorry? I beg your pardon?), and before the actual repetition takes place he manages to understand? I mean sometimes you do not understand exactly a sentence immediately, but you only some seconds later.

No native English speaker is expecting ever to hear "Where is mummy go?" so he fills the gap.
 
Thank you all!

Maybe MrPedantic is right that it's some kind of "child-speak".
It would make sense because the guy is talking to a child.

And yes, all persons make mistakes, and/but maybe this mistake was a mistake on purpose, who knows? :)

Cheers!
 
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