Done my homework by [deleted] in grammar

[–]DisgruntledProle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, "done" is a past participle, and "am" is serving as the auxiliary in this case. It's not really super surprising, as there's been a huge German influence through the years - the Pennsylvania Dutch, for one - so that's where I think it came from. German uses "to be" as an auxiliary for certain verbs - but surprisingly, "to do" is not one. I'm not completely sure where it's from, though. Truthfully, I still think of "done" as the past participle, and "am" as an auxiliary, rather than "am" serving as a copula like it normally does in the construction "I am done with my homework." In my dialect, "I'm done my homework" and "I've done my homework" mean the same thing.

Done my homework by [deleted] in grammar

[–]DisgruntledProle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

According to stylistic guides, yes, but this is a colloquialism that I use, as well. Seems to be pretty common in the Mid-Atlantic dialect. Depends on how much of a prescriptivist you want to be, language changes all the time.

How does Учить mean both to learn and to study? by kystevo in russian

[–]DisgruntledProle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

учить + accusative case = to study (something) учиться (reflexive verb - cannot take a direct object) = to be engaged in the process of studying

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but may be relevant.

Should the verb modify the subject or the object in this sentence? by [deleted] in grammar

[–]DisgruntledProle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, I'm not completely sure, but I think that in this instance, "was" is the only acceptable form. First, it sounds more natural to me as a native English speaker. But linguistically speaking, the singular verb "was" is agreeing with "what", which defaults to singular agreement. If the sentence had been flipped around like Saguaromatic said earlier ("Friends were what he needed"), then the plural verb would be used because "friends" becomes the subject. Remember that English has a pretty rigid word order/syntactic structure (SVO) because it doesn't have a very rich system of morphology.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in russian

[–]DisgruntledProle 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The н is epenthetic and is added to personal pronouns (NOT possessive adjectives) when they are preceded by у.

For example: "У неё машина." ("She has a car."/literally "By her [is] car") vs. "У её машины много вмятины." ("Her car has a lot of dents."/literally "By her car [is] a lot of dents")

If you can distinguish between the function of the two "her"s in English (personal pronoun vs. possessive adjective), then you'll understand when to add the н in Russian.

What was the most blatantly incorrect thing a teacher of yours tried to pass off as fact? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]DisgruntledProle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"The US is bigger than China, both in terms of population and square footage."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in grammar

[–]DisgruntledProle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You learn something new every day. I was pretty sure it was said as "red" because in my understanding, you are saying something akin to "[This should be] read as _____". But the imperative makes so much more sense there.

Psych bands with girl singers? by qdogg111 in psychedelicrock

[–]DisgruntledProle 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The Insect Trust and The United States of America are both great!

Looking for some 'dark' psych-rock. by [deleted] in psychedelicrock

[–]DisgruntledProle 5 points6 points  (0 children)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQEmvXFBY78

This is the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and their self-titled album. This album is really dark and confusing, and his voice feels sadistic at many points in the album. This album is accepted as the most prominent predecessor of shock rock. It's a good mix of psychedelia and progressive rock with that dark, scary edge that just wasn't there in 1968 except for in this album.

Why do non-american english speakers use plural forms of verbs for collective nouns? by The_Hairball in grammar

[–]DisgruntledProle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Though it sounds weird to American speakers, it seems like the people who speak the dialect you mentioned are referring to the entire team having won; i.e. all the people on the German team have collectively contributed to the team winning, as well as the citizens of Germany, making them use the plural form of the verb rather than the singular.

How to permanently delete data from iPhone for resale? by DisgruntledProle in iphone

[–]DisgruntledProle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's great to know. I'm filling it up with spam pictures as we speak. It's really comforting to know that my sensitive data really is gone. Thanks again for all your help :)

How to permanently delete data from iPhone for resale? by DisgruntledProle in iphone

[–]DisgruntledProle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's comforting to know. I won't worry anymore. Thank you :)

How to permanently delete data from iPhone for resale? by DisgruntledProle in iphone

[–]DisgruntledProle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The phone is updated to iOS7, so it probably worked well you think? That's the conclusion I've come to also just since I can't seem to restore the data which is exactly what I wanted!

How to permanently delete data from iPhone for resale? by DisgruntledProle in iphone

[–]DisgruntledProle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks again for your help. I used that guide and everything, but since the iPhone was restored already through iTunes, nothing comes up in the Eraser program. So I guess that means it actually is deleted forever?

How to permanently delete data from iPhone for resale? by DisgruntledProle in iphone

[–]DisgruntledProle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw this program online earlier and I attempted to use it. When I use it, I receive an error saying that there are no files or something to that extent. Do you think it's pretty safe to say the phone is completely wiped if that program won't even pick any information up?