[Vocabulary] wont/use

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mmasny

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Could you give me as many examples of the first word's usage as possible? It's almost impossible to find anything on the web, because people write "won't" as "wont". I know it can be an adjective, a noun, and a verb. Could you think of any sentences with them? I have some in my dictionary, but this is little. The thing that I understand least is the verb part. They say it is usually used with to-infinitive. So are there any cases when it's used differently?

I would also love to hear from you what you think about the word. Is it popular? How formal is it? Is it maybe just a literary word?

The next word is "use" in its similar meaning. The following sentences come from Merriam-Webster:

Sit here by the window with your hand in mine ... both of one mind, as married people use. (Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning : The Poetry Foundation [poem] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.)

He does not use to be last on these occasions.
(Full text of "Lillo's dramatic works, with memoirs of the author")

Use to have tallyho parties out on the ... pike when we where young. Anne G. Winslow

If he didn't quit using around there she would make trouble for him.
(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (chapter6))

I think I don't understand the third one and I can't find the context, as you can see. I can't get it why she used 'use' in the present tense.

How often can these things be encountered in modern speech and writing? On what occasions?

Can I put the word "wont" in the place of "use" in the first sentence?
 
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TheParser

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mmasny, good morning.

(1) I just thought you would like to know something.

(a) Like everyone else, I always used "won't" for the contraction of "will not."

(b) I never asked myself the obvious question: Why does "won't" have an O if "will" has an I?

(c) I stumbled across the answer a few years ago: Many years ago, the English people had another word for "will." That word was "woll."

(d) Therefore, the contraction for "woll not" became "won't." When the English people started using "will," they "borrowed" the contraction "won't" as a contraction for "will not."

Have a nice day!
 

mmasny

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mmasny, good morning.

(1) I just thought you would like to know something.

(a) Like everyone else, I always used "won't" for the contraction of "will not."

(b) I never asked myself the obvious question: Why does "won't" have an O if "will" has an I?

(c) I stumbled across the answer a few years ago: Many years ago, the English people had another word for "will." That word was "woll."

(d) Therefore, the contraction for "woll not" became "won't." When the English people started using "will," they "borrowed" the contraction "won't" as a contraction for "will not."

Have a nice day!
It doesn't answer any of my questions, as I asked about the word "wont" (be accustomed, etc.).
But it's very interesting and I didn't know that. Thank you!
 

Anglika

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Could you give me as many examples of the first word's usage as possible? It almost impossible to find anything on the web, because people write "won't" as "wont". I know it can be an adjective, a noun, and a verb. Could you think of any sentences with them? I have some in my dictionary, but this is little. The thing that I understand least is the verb part. They say it is usually used with to-infinitive. So are there any cases when it's used differently?

I would also love to hear from you what you think about the word. Is it popular? How formal is it? Is it maybe just a literary word?

The next word is "use" in its similar meaning. The following sentences come from Merriam-Webster:

Sit here by the window with your hand in mine ... both of one mind, as married people use. (Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning : The Poetry Foundation [poem] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry.)

He does not use to be last on these occasions.
(Full text of "Lillo's dramatic works, with memoirs of the author")

Use to have tallyho parties out on the ... pike when we where young. Anne G. Winslow

If he didn't quit using around there she would make trouble for him.
(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (chapter6))

I think I don't understand the third one and I can't find the context, as you can see. I can't get it why she used 'use' in the present tense.

How often can these things be encountered in modern speech and writing? On what occasions?

Can I put the word "wont" in the place of "use" in the first sentence?

You seem to have two different problems here. For the use of "wont" [which I have only met in legal documents], try the British Corpus: British National Corpus (BYU-BNC).

I would start a new thread on the uses of "use".
 

mmasny

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There are certainly two different problems here. The only thing that connects them is the last question and synonymia. But starting another thread would just mean copying part of this post to another one. If it's necessary, I can do that.
 

TheParser

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mmasny, good afternoon.

(1) "Wont" is not a word that most Americans ever use.

(2) Probably only a few "mature" (older) people like me know that it exists.

(3) If someone were to use it, other people might think s/he were trying to "show off" what elegant English s/he speaks.

(4) Until you asked the question, I had heard of it only as a noun: He takes a walk every day, as is his wont.

(5) Have you already read the entry for "wont" in the famous MODERN ENGLISH USAGE by H. W. Fowler?

(a) It tells you how it is used as an adjective, verb, and noun.

(6) If you can't find the book or more information on the Web, I would be honored to tell you what Mr. Fowler writes. I know that you are a very serious student.

Have a nice day.
 

mmasny

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(5) Have you already read the entry for "wont" in the famous MODERN ENGLISH USAGE by H. W. Fowler?

(a) It tells you how it is used as an adjective, verb, and noun.

(6) If you can't find the book or more information on the Web, I would be honored to tell you what Mr. Fowler writes.
There's a lot about the book on the web. But I don't see its content anywhere. Do you think it's worth buying? I am not a rich person, so I'd like to make sure :)
I would be very grateful to you if you told me what he wrote, but I don't want to make you put too much effort into teaching me this.
 
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TheParser

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There's a lot about the book on the web. But I don't see its content anywhere. Do you think it's worth buying? I am not a rich person, so I'd like to make sure :)
I would be very grateful to you if you told me what he writes, but I don't want to make you put too much effort into teaching me this.
***NOT A TEACHER***

mmasny, good afternoon.

(1) NO, it is not worth buying the book. It's a wonderful book, but it drives even native speakers crazy. I don't think that learners would benefit much from it.

(2) Of course, I am honored to tell you what he writes.

(a) Mr.Fowler says "wont" is the past participle of an old verb that we no longer use. That verb is "won."

(b) It's used as a predicative adjective (as he is wont to do).

(c) "Wont" was once used as a verb. Shakespeare wrote: Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear. (I think -- think!!! -- this means: whom we used to fear.)

(d) A longer form of "wont" is "wonted." It's used as an attributive adjective (attributive = in front of the verb): He showed his wonted skill. That is, I guess it means: he showed his accustomed skill.

(e) As a noun = as is his wont.


(4) Please remember that this word is really no longer used -- except perhaps as a noun (in very elegant English). If you were to use it as a verb or adjective, people would think you were crazy!!! Or they would think you were not speaking English!!!

(5) I also found two more sentences in one of my favorite grammars:

(a) I am becoming accustomed/used/ wont to do promptly what I have to do.

(b) He is/was accustomed/wont to think before he speaks/spoke.

Thanks a lot for your question. I learned something new about my native language.
 

mmasny

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This is very interesting! Thank you so much!
I did some searching myself, so I can share what I found.
First of all, what Merriam-Webster says:

- adj.
ACCUSTOMED, USED - used predicatively <slept longer than he was wont> and usu. followed by to and an infinitive <assumed an air of great gravity, as he was wont to do when about to perpetrate a joke - O.S.J .Gogarty>; also: INCLINED, APT <fresh, intimate, and revealing as letters are wont to be - Gladys Wrigley>

- n.
there is nothing very original here.

- v.
they say the verb is irregular. It's wont/wont/wont or wont/wonted/wonted. (if I understand it correctly).
The verb can be either trasitive or intrasitive.
An example of transitivity: <wont ourselves with their strange aspect - R.W. Emerson>.
Intransitive: <the merry pipe, that wont to cheer the harvesting - Robert Bridges>

That's what the dictionary says. I went through the British National Corpus' database too. Here go some sentences that seemed modern enough to be interesting:

from The Independent,
Ford's employees are also wont to point out that their mortgage payments have rocketed over the past year and negotiations will take place against a background in which interest rates seem to be moving in one direction only.​
from The Guardian,
"In the real democracy which we inhabit in the United Kingdom", we see things differently, as British Sources are wont to put it.​
There are some more.
 

mmasny

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(1) NO, it is not worth buying the book. It's a wonderful book, but it drives even native speakers crazy. I don't think that learners would benefit much from it.
Why does it drive them crazy?
 

TheParser

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Why does it drive them crazy?

***NOT A TEACHER***

Good morning.

(1) Thanks for the quotations. I shall add them to my "wont" file.

(2) I realized that I MISinterpreted Shakespeare's "Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear." I thought it = whom we used to fear (no longer fear). I now realize it probably = whom we are used/accustomed to fear (still fear him). A MILLION APOLOGIES!!!

(3) "Fowler" (as his fans call his book) is a classic. A work of love on Mr. Fowler's part. Although some modern grammarians ridicule him, many people (including some famous ones) have long praised the book.

(4) It does drive people "crazy," however, because it is often written in a way that is difficult for ordinary people to understand. For example, he says that a person really cannot use "will" and "shall" correctly unless s/he is "to the manner born." That is, one must be born to an upper-class English family where one is accustomed/used/wont to use those two words.

(4) Millions of ordinary people like me, however, have learned a lot from him. "Fowler" is still considered THE book on English usage by many people.

(5) When you get some extra money, do please buy your copy. It will be an exciting (though difficult) adventure. The 1965 edition most closely follows Mr. Fowler's original book. The 1996 edition changed a lot of his book to reflect "modern" times.

Have a nice day!
 

mmasny

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Good afternoon, TheParser.
Thank you for your reply. I certainly think I will buy the book some day. Not today and not tomorrow however :-( Life isn't easy for us, jobless students ;-)
 

TheParser

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Good afternoon, TheParser.
Thank you for your reply. I certainly think I will buy the book some day. Not today and not tomorrow however :-( Life isn't easy for us, jobless students ;-)


(1) Someone as intelligent and conscientious as you will soon have a job -- and a good one, too. The world needs good translators and interpreters.

(2) Since you are young, you may not know about a very humorous incident regarding an incompetent translator.


(a) In 1977, President Carter visited Poland.

(b) His interpreter was a Polish American -- whose understanding of the Polish language was not very good.

(c) The interpreter made some VERY embarrassing mistakes!!! (You can google for details.)

Have a nice day!
 

mmasny

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There's nothing in Polish about the accident... But from English descriptions I got an impression that it must have been ridiculous :)
I hope I'll find a comfortable job as a mathematician somewhere. It's getting too much off-topic though :)
 

TheParser

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There's nothing in Polish about the accident... But from English descriptions I got an impression that it must have been ridiculous :)
I hope I'll find a comfortable job as a mathematician somewhere. It's getting too much off-topic though :)


In today's world, mathematicians are in BIG demand. Few people understand or like math. You WILL have many opportunities!!!
 

mmasny

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