Re: USAGE: "gotten" (was: Latin) verb examples and tense meanings

> As do all Americans, a point frequently muddled by English authors
> in their attempts to represent American English.   They make their
> poor characters commit things like *"He hasn't gotten any sense", which
> can only mean "He hasn't *acquired* any sense", which is nonsense!
> The natural expression is "He hasn't got any sense"; "He hasn't any sense"
> seems a bit odd here.
FWIW, I would say, "He has no sense!", but informally, I'd be
just as likely to say "He got no sense." I don't say "He don't
got no sense" or "He ain't got no sense", but I certainly know  a
lot of people who do talk like that.

>
> Sometimes the two are in minimal contrast.  "He hasn't got any money"
> means he is poor; "He hasn't gotten any money" means none has arrived
> from the source in question.
That's what I understand them to mean.  "He got no money" might
mean either, but probably means that he doesn't have any money.
"He don't got no money" and "He ain't got no money" definitely
mean that he's penniless.
--

Mia Soderquist (tuozin@dmv.com)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~ratnow/
http://www.angelfire.com/de/siidmak/ (Moving soon. I hate
pop-ups.)