Forum newsfeeds
Forum Newsfeeds


Sites for Teachers

Sites for Teachers


Go Back   UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum > Learning English > Ask a Teacher

Notices

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 13-Aug-2007, 18:18
Unregistered
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Question grammatically correct but not colloquial

why don't British people say: "Everybody mustn't take drugs".
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 15-Aug-2007, 14:43
Casiopea's Avatar
VIP Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Country: Canada
Posts: 12,997
Current Location: China
First Language: English
Thanks: 0
Thanked 16 Times in 16 Posts
Casiopea is on a distinguished road
Default Re: grammatically correct but not colloquial

First, who says it's grammatical? Second, who says only British speakers don't use it? And, third, it's neither grammatical nor colloquial; it's a spin, or play on Bob Dylan's song Everybody must get stoned.

The pronoun everybody is indefinite. It refers to a broad group of people, a group that has little specification, and so it doesn't work with modal mustn't, because in the negative that modal requires a subject that refers to a specific person. Consider this. The pronoun somebody, like everybody and anybody, is indefinite, but if we make it definite, that is, specify the person it refers to, then it works with negative must. Like this,

Specific: Somebody I know mustn't take drugs.
Non-specific: Somebody mustn't take drugs.

Does that help?
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
correct, colloquial, grammatically

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Confused between Don't and doesn't MariaElena Shetler Ask a Teacher 6 15-Mar-2007 21:36
correct answer stunned Ask a Teacher 3 15-Mar-2007 03:42
Is this senntence correct grammatically??????????????????? Mad-ox Ask a Teacher 6 25-Oct-2006 05:59
is this sentence grammatically correct? bbmak Ask a Teacher 1 09-Jul-2006 08:38
Please correct esophea Ask a Teacher 1 21-Jan-2006 04:16


New To Site? Need Help?

All times are GMT. The time now is 22:33.


vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.2.0 RC5
Copyright © 2002 - 2008 UsingEnglish.com