Re: USAGE: Aren't/Amn't
| From: | Patrick Dunn <tb0pwd1@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, November 15, 1999, 21:28 |
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On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Bryan Maloney wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Nov 1999, Melissa Phong wrote:
>
> > Can anybody tell me how this developed in English? Why is it grammatically
> > correct to say "aren't I" instead of "amn't I"?
>
> Actually, "ain't" is perfectly acceptable English to all but the most
> neurotically anal proscriptive grammarians--the same ones who insist that
> a preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
*nods* I even use ain't in front of my class. Of course, I don't accept
it in papers. . . but there are plenty of perfectly real words I don't
accept in papers. Like the phrase "today's society."