[Grammar] My english teacher might have made a mistake

[Maykarlin]

I wrote in a test this sentence: "The teacher gave us a nice assignment that could help us getting to know other kids in the class." She corrected me writing "get" instead of "getting". I know writing "get" is correct but i don't think "getting" is a mistake. She gave me a smaller grade because of that and I want to know for sure if I really made a grammar mistake.

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

"Getting" is incorrect in that sentence as it stands. It would work if it were preceded by "in".

... that could help us get to know other kids. :tick:
... that could help us to get to know other kids. :tick:
... that could help us in getting to know other kids. :tick:

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER


Hello, Maykarlin:

I just thought that you might like to know that at least one expert would probably recommend that your title read: "My English teacher may have made a mistake."

This expert reminds us that "might have + past participle" = Something could have happened but we know that it DID NOT.

"may have + past participle" = Something could have happened but we DON"T KNOW YET.

Don't feel bad, though, for he says that even many journalists and professional authors make this mistake.

When you posted your question, you did not know yet whether or not your teacher had made a mistake. That is why you posted your question.

****


That expert gives this example of the correct use of "might have + past participle":

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins destroyed the original copy of one of his poems.

"If Hopkins' work had met with a warmer reception during his lifetime, he might have felt it worth preserving." (P.S. We know that he did not feel it was worth preserving, for he had destroyed it before that sentence was written.)


Source: John Honey, Language is Power / The Story of Standard English and Its Enemies (1997).

 

[Tdol]

A good point, though one less and less observed nowadays, which seems a shame to me as it is a loss of meaning.