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Sitting not sat!

(31 Posts)
Nannymags27 Wed 26-Dec-18 19:59:20

Whatever has happened to “ing” at the end of what I was always taught were “doing” words? It is annoying in the extreme how the word “sat” has crept into the language in entirely the wrong place ie: “she was sat on the chair” and “the fairy was sat on top of the tree”. The word is “sitting”! I can’t be the only one aggravated by this.

grandtanteJE65 Fri 28-Dec-18 14:03:54

English has unfortunately for foreign learners a simple tense and a continuous tense.

Simple present I sit Continuous present I am sitting
Simple past I sat Continuous past I was sitting.

We use the continuous tenses much more than the simple ones, as in I am sitting writing this right now, or I am sitting at my desk. However, if we always do something, we usually use the simple tense. I always sit here, where the continuous tense is used of something we were doing or are doing as we speak: I was taking a bath when the phone rang.

Grandma70s Fri 28-Dec-18 14:28:46

In standard RP English, mischievous is pronounced something like ‘MISchiffus ‘, with iistress on first syllable.

Grandma70s Fri 28-Dec-18 14:30:59

Sorry. I don’t know where ‘iistress’ came from.

EllanVannin Fri 28-Dec-18 16:31:16

Sounds like a bit of Hylda Baker, " sat sitting here waiting ".
Nelly Pledge--Nearest and Dearest.

NfkDumpling Fri 28-Dec-18 21:36:11

Perhaps people who say conshume and ashume have been at the Baileys!