Please understand that this question is not in referance to the usage of this syntax in the narrative of a piece. I would never, ever, ever write narrative in this manner. My question is in reference to an unusual bit of syntax that I have heard with greater frequency via the tele. I'm just wondering if this gaining use in everyday dialogue. Pardon the poor example: "Everyone doesn't like being woken up early." This is not the wording I personally would have used to denote this idea. I would have said, "No one likes being woken early," but I have just heard the exampled syntax on the tele and and it's not the first time I have heard this unusual (to me) manner of attaching the negative to the verb instead of to the subject of the sentence. Is this a common phrasing in your neck of the woods? If so, which neck of the woods is home for you?
and do not denote the same thought. A better equivalent to the first one is: The first and third sentences both allow the possibility that some people do like being woken up early. If the intended meaning of the first form is to imply the second, it's just wrong. But I haven't heard it used with that implication, myself.
The context in which I heard the usage left no doubt that the intended idea was that there are no people who enjoy being woken early. This is, I think, the third time I have heard this unusual placement of the negative as a modifier to the verb instead of to the subject in a sufficiently short time to attract my attention. On each occasion it was clear from context that what was meant was that there are no examples of (subject) who blankitty-blank-blank... A one off event would just have just induced a sneer at the poor syntax, but this many times.... It's a bit like when I came across the Floridian usage of the word anymore. "Target is so expensive that anymore, I shop at Walmart." I'll never get that one.
The reason I ask about this unusual pattern I have noticed is that it is a syntax change, not just a simple word use change. One off changes in word use effect only negligible, and usually ephemeral, changes to a language. Syntax changes like the one I have noticed can sometimes be indicators of more broad-spectrum changes. These broad-spectrum changes can have more permanent effects on a language. /dorkiness *removes pocket protector* :redface:
it's not that common an error, so i wouldn't worry about it becoming common usage... but don't forget that one put-to-music double negative that made itself popular for decades: "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!"
I think "woken up" sounds strange as well and redunant, like "cooking up" bacon, "frying up" chicken, etc.
Or 'cleaning up' a mess, or 'going to sleep' (as apposed to sleeping). The English language is more mutilated than we realize.
I could see it work for dialogue. People speak funny, and if characters are to sound like people, well...
those are two very different things... 'going to sleep' means 'falling asleep' while 'sleeping' is the act of being asleep, as opposed to just getting into that state... so there's no 'mutilating' being done there...
