Follow-Up From Yesterday's Poll

[gnomi]

Thanks to all who voted! I've learned the following:

-- Many of you say "The sun shone" but "I shined my shoes."

-- Many more of you use "got" as the past participle of "get" than I would've expected. I only use "have got" in constructs like "I have got to go," which is informal (and is not the past participle). In formal speech and writing, I use "I have gotten..." as in "I have gotten new shoes there before." Many more native AmE speakers answered that they use "I have got" than I anticipated (I had anticipated native BrE speakers using "I have got")

I very much appreciate the enthusiasm with which people answer these polls. I always feel a bit odd poking people about their idiolects, but I always learn new things about my friends list when I do so.

Comments

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

In writing in particular, I go out of my way to avoid using 'got' whenever possible. It's almost always possible to replace it with something more useful (I got sick vs I caught a cold)