"You've been very useful" - Is this proper in English in this context?

[GoodTaste]

Scenario: A guy from Chile asked a question about English in a forum and an English teacher from England answered it, closing with "Hope this helps." The guy replied with "Thank U very much. You've been very useful."

Well, the expression "You've been very useful" doesn't sound right to me. It seems that it should have been "You've been very helpful", for "useful" sounds as if the teacher were simply a tool and the expression sounds condescending, as if a boss talking to his employee, esp. he used "U" rather than "you" - which didn't appear to be respectful toward the teacher.

The question of this thread is, is the expression appropriate in English?

 

[Yankee]

The question of this thread is, is the expression appropriate in English?

No.

 

[emsr2d2]

His use of "U" instead of "you" isn't really a question of respect, but of correct English. On this forum, such non-standard textspeak/chatlish is discouraged. That might not be the case on other forums. If the forum in question doesn't mind such usage, the only thing wrong with it was that it should have been "u" (lower case), not "U" (upper case).

 

[GoodTaste]

No.

What are those appropriate expressions then?

 

[emsr2d2]

What are those appropriate expressions then?

As you suggested yourself, "You've been very helpful" is the appropriate phrase, not "useful".

 

[probus]

I certainly agree that useful would be wrong in AmE. But when I lived in England it seemed to me that many people had a tendency to use useful where I'd have chosen helpful. But things may have changed since then, and like 5jj I am long past my best by date.

 

[emsr2d2]

I can imagine perhaps a tendency to use "useful" with "That was ..." or similar, but I don't think many Brits would use it with "You are/were ..." (unless they really meant "useful", of course!)

 

[Yankee]

What are those appropriate expressions then?

See related posts.