Is this a good answer to the question asked?

[Super Sonic]

Hi,

I would like to know whether the following dialogue makes sense, especially the reply. Is it grammatical?

A: So, how long have you been learning English?
B: It has been like twelve years now.

Thanks for your replies in advance.

 

[Anglika]

Apart from the intrusive "like", it's a good answer.

The intrusive "like" is a very common colloquialism, but not good grammar.

 

[Offroad]

Anglika, do people talk like this often in English Lands? I never heard something like that.

Thanks

 

[David L.]

do people talk like this often in English Lands? I never heard something like that.

Like what?

 

[Offroad]

Is it common to UK people say 'It has been like twelve years now' ?

Thanks

 

[David L.]

No. But it is very common in America for sentences to be littered with it. eg

I been there like twice like, and every time like he gets like in my face and I like have to...

You hear it on reality shows like Judge Judy, which I love to watch to admire her incisive mind at work...and marvel at the atrocious grammar and such inarticulate meanderings as that above. Even she loses her cool at times and corrects their grammar!

 

[Offroad]

Bob, Am I too sleepy or you are saying that genuine North Americans do this?

I been there like twice like, and every time like he gets like in my face and I like have to...

 

[riverkid]

The Use of like as a Marker of Reported Speech and Thought: A Case of Grammaticalization in Progress, by Suzanne Romaine and Deborah Lange © 1991 The American Dialect Society.

Cookie Absent

 

[riverkid]

Hi,

I would like to know whether the following dialogue makes sense, especially the reply. Is it grammatical?

A: So, how long have you been learning English?
B: It has been like twelve years now.

Thanks for your replies in advance.

Yes, it's grammatical and it's really quite common in casual speech, SS.

It's used as a hesitation marker, and in this it's no different than "hmmmm", "uhh", "let me see", "weelllll", ...

 

[David L.]

And how irritating is it when a speaker rises, takes the podium, and the first utterance is "um..." What oratory!

 

[riverkid]

And how irritating is it when a speaker rises, takes the podium, and the first utterance is "um..." What oratory!

I'm sure that a recording of your own speech would surprise you no end, David.

Don't you think that it's important for teachers/commentators on language to be able to discern the difference between a formal speech and casual everyday language?

 

[Anglika]

Anglika, do people talk like this often in England? I never heard something like that.

Yes, it is increasingly heard in younger people speaking. And really irritating it is, too :2gunfire:

 

[Anglika]

And how irritating is it when a speaker rises, takes the podium, and the first utterance is "um..." What oratory!

Almost as bad as Tony Blair's constant "Look...":roll: