Where did my Horror go?

[Pocus]

I would have written 'where did my horror went', is it right ?? (genuinely asking the question, without irony, english is not my native language)

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Pocus:
I would have written 'where did my horror went', is it right ?? (genuinely asking the question, without irony, english is not my native language)

No, it's not right.

But not being a native English speaker, I can't explain the rule in English, since I lack the technical vocabulary.

In French it would be :
Lorsque l'on pose une question (en Anglais), on utilise l'auxiliaire to do suivi de l'infinitif sans to (sauf pour les verbes qui sont deja des auxiliaires, to have, to be, et les formes du passé ou on utilise deja un auxiliaire, comme le passé composé). C'est donc l'auxiliaire qui se conjugue (ici, au passé, do devient did) et le verbe lui-même reste invariable (ici, go). Exemples :
Where do I go ?
Where does he go ?
Where did he go ?
Where has he gone ?
On notera que dans le dernier cas, on utilise deja l'auxiliaire to have du passé composé, on ne va donc pas rajouter un second auxiliaire
...

P.S. Murphy's law guarantees that the one time I try to explain proper grammar, I'll make a mistake somewhere, so let me apologize in advance

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Pocus:
I would have written 'where did my horror went', is it right ?? (genuinely asking the question, without irony, english is not my native language)

Correct would be "Where has my horror gone?", or "My horror went where?"

'Gone' is an adjective. 'Went' is a verb. You do not end a sentence with a verb in English, though it is the common way to do things in many non-English Languages.

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Arryn:

quote:

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Originally posted by Pocus:
I would have written 'where did my horror went', is it right ?? (genuinely asking the question, without irony, english is not my native language)

Correct would be "Where has my horror gone?", or "My horror went where?"

'Gone' is an adjective. 'Went' is a verb. You do not end a sentence with a verb in English, though it is the common way to do things in many non-English Languages.

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Gone is a past participle, not an adjective. As for your second sentence, it is not grammatically correct... I guess English is your native language

[Arryn]

Originally posted by General Tacticus:
Gone is a past participle, not an adjective. As for your second sentence, it is not grammatically correct... I guess English is your native language

This is why English is such a hard language for non-natives to learn. Gone is an adjective. Look it up in the MW Online dictionary. The context makes it a past participle (of the word 'go'). It is 'inconsistencies' such as this that drive people nuts.

And yes, the second sentence I gave is, indeed, poor grammar. But it is very common usage. How many times have you heard a phrase like "My son did what?" or "She went where?" Bad grammar to an English teacher, but normal speech in everyday life.

OTOH, a statement like "Where my horror at?" is only to be heard by children not yet old enough to have gone to school and been taught the rudiments of grammar -- which they tend to forget just a few short years later in their teen years And by those same older kids, and adults, who wish to sound 'cool' by rejecting the manners of society, in this case language, and using a slang dialect that attempts to exclude those that wouldn't be caught sounding that stupid. {yes, I hate rap-crap music, too}

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Arryn:

quote:

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Originally posted by General Tacticus:
Gone is a past participle, not an adjective. As for your second sentence, it is not grammatically correct... I guess English is your native language

This is why English is such a hard language for non-natives to learn. Gone is an adjective. Look it up in the MW Online dictionary. The context makes it a past participle (of the word 'go'). It is 'inconsistencies' such as this that drive people nuts.

And yes, the second sentence I gave is, indeed, poor grammar. But it is very common usage. How many times have you heard a phrase like "My son did what?" or "She went where?" Bad grammar to an English teacher, but normal speech in everyday life.

OTOH, a statement like "Where my horror at?" is only to be heard by children not yet old enough to have gone to school and been taught the rudiments of grammar -- which they tend to forget just a few short years later in their teen years And by those same older kids, and adults, who wish to sound 'cool' by rejecting the manners of society, in this case language, and using a slang dialect that attempts to exclude those that wouldn't be caught sounding that stupid. {yes, I hate rap-crap music, too}

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All right, I can accept that gone is also an adjective. My own language, French, also has some words who are both part participles and adjectives. But in this context it was clearly a past participle
And I found English rather pleasant and easy to learn, compared to my native French, or my first foreign language German. When it comes to inconsistencies and exceptions, French really shines. One short example : adjectives are usually placed after the noun they qualify. Except, of course, those exceptions that are placed before. And those that can be placed before or after, whichever you choose. And then, you have a few rare adjectives that actually change meaning, depending whether they are placed before or after.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by General Tacticus:
And I found English rather pleasant and easy to learn, compared to my native French, or my first foreign language German. When it comes to inconsistencies and exceptions, French really shines.

I have friends who are native Spanish speakers who say about English what you say about French. Guess it's all a matter of perspective. I found learning French in secondary school to be rather easy. But I had the advantage of already being fluent in Spanish, a very similar language, by then. German (which I studied in college), OTOH, wasn't all that hard for me either. Nor was learning snippets of Turkish, and an African tongue, when I was age twenty. I suppose I just have a natural affinity for Languages.

BTW, I've enjoyed your AAR. Aren't you due to post another installment? Soon, we hope?

[ February 10, 2004, 14:03: Message edited by: Arryn ]