[Grammar] There are a lot of cars out here anymore

[Solstice003]

Can you use "anymore" in a positive sense? What I mean is it correct if you use this word as in "There are a lot of cars out here anymore." This sounds incorrect to me as I've never heard or read anyone use it like this in my life until recently all of a sudden

 

[GoesStation]

The quoted sentence doesn't work. You could say There are a lot of cars out here lately/recently/nowadays but not "anymore".

 

[emsr2d2]

Can you use "anymore" in a positive sense? What I mean is is it correct if you use this word as in "There are a lot of cars out here anymore"? This sounds incorrect to me as [STRIKE]I've[/STRIKE] I'd never heard or read anyone use it like this [STRIKE]in my life[/STRIKE] until recently. [STRIKE]all of a sudden[/STRIKE]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

Please note my corrections above. Did you write the sentence about cars yourself, or is it an example of this use of "anymore" that you say you have heard recently?

 

[GoesStation]

In my region, anymore is often used in casual speech to mean "nowadays". This usually occurs at the beginning of a statement: Anymore, you see a lot of people wearing polkadot pants with plaid jackets. Learners shouldn't emulate the usage or the fashion.

 

[SoothingDave]

In my region, anymore is often used in casual speech to mean "nowadays". This usually occurs at the beginning of a statement: Anymore, you see a lot of people wearing polkadot pants with plaid jackets. Learners shouldn't emulate the usage or the fashion.

I was going to say this. It's a feature of the "Pittsburgh English," but not a standard use.

 

[probus]

It's pretty common in the Toronto area where I come from. I had never previously realized it is a regionalism.

 

[slevlife]

I've never heard the "anymore" regionalism used like that! So yes, learners should not copy it. To my ear it sounds strictly wrong. (If I heard it from a couple different native speakers though, I'd pick up on the fact that it's a regionalism.)

 

[GoesStation]

I should have mentioned where my region is. I'm in southwest Ohio. We have a mix of accents and dialects; a lot of white people speak a version of Appalachian English, but many others use a midwestern dialect. Blacks may range from southeastern-influenced African-American Vernacular English to a similar Midwest dialect.

 

[5jj]

If I heard it from a couple different native speakers though, ...

There's another regionalism. Without of after couple, that seems incorrect to this speaker of Southern BrE.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Can you use "anymore" in a positive sense? What I mean is it correct if you use this word as in "There are a lot of cars out here anymore." This sounds incorrect to me as I've never heard or read anyone use it like this in my life until recently all of a sudden

It sounds weird to me, too, but I used to hear sometimes it when I lived in California in the seventies.

What part of the country are you in?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I've never heard the "anymore" regionalism used like that! So yes, learners should not copy it. To my ear it sounds strictly wrong. (If I heard it from a couple different native speakers though, I'd pick up on the fact that it's a regionalism.)

This question has come up here before. It looks like several of us have heard it in several parts of North America.

But I agree that learners shouldn't pick it up. It's not standard.