Re: Inversion for subjunctive (was "Get" passive)

Why thank you! I'm actually in my 50's now!
Speaking of East Anglia (born and bred, and still live there) and "have" /
"got" brings to mind the - aargh! - "Singing Postman" with 'have you got a
light, boy?', this of course Anglicised for the benefit of those who don't
speak Norfolk!
I can remember teachers drumming it into us common Norfolk oiks that to use
'got' at all was 'bad English' but of course everybody did use it, and in
fact it has become (as we see) more prevalent rather than less. To me, both
of those expressions that omit 'got' have a rather stilted feel to them,
rather in the style of 'Brief Encounter' or those old well-meaning public
information things from the 1940's and 1950's that you occasionally see on
TV, usually as a source of amusement for this very reason.
Mike
>
> You're right. They are British, definitely not American. Possessive
> auxiliary _have_ is standard British English, but is found in more
> conservative varieties, e.g. in most of the north of Britain, and among
> older speakers in the South. IIRC Mike is in his 40s and is from East
> Anglia, so I'm a little surprised at his judgements.
>
>>> We'd always say "I've got a cold" and "have you got a pen"... well,
>>> maybe
>>> not always, but they're the normal, everyday, versions.
>>