Forum / Grammar Question...

  • Dsc01252new.thumb
    Jules Archer
    Apr 02, 03:54pm

    Ok - I have always wondered this and NOT being the Queen of grammar must ask --

    is it "sneaked out..."
    or "snuck out..."

    Also

    "I dreamt" or "I dreamed..."

    Maybe it's either/or?

  • With_ted_3.thumb
    Bill Yarrow
    Apr 02, 04:17pm

    sneaked.

    dreamed or dreamt.

  • Dsc01252new.thumb
    Jules Archer
    Apr 02, 05:20pm

    thanks Bill!

  • Fictionaut.thumb
    W.F. Lantry
    Apr 02, 07:02pm

    Snuck! Today I sneak, yesterday I snuck, and before that I had snuck out. At least that's how we did it in California. Your mileage may vary, geographically! ;)

    And I always use dreampt, even though my spellchecker hates it. And leapt. That always gets a red underline too... ;)

    Thanks,

    Bill

  • Nv_kid.thumb
    Ramon Collins
    Apr 03, 12:44am

    Jules:

    Years ago I was beaten about the head and breast by a MFA for using the vulgar word, "snuck". However, my friend Mr. Google came to my aid:

    "Snuck is used in American and Canadian English as the past tense and past participle of sneak, but it is considered non-standard, i.e., only for dialectal
    and informal speech and writing. The standard past tense is sneaked. Snuck is relatively new, an Americanism introduced in the late 19th century."

    Conclusion: If you are a patriotic American writer, the word can be used in dialog but not in formal narration (I think).

  • Night_chorus_book_cover.thumb
    Joani Reese
    Apr 03, 03:04am

    I like snuck, but I do agree with Bill. Technically, you should write sneaked.

  • Author_photo.thumb
    James Lloyd Davis
    Apr 03, 03:19am

    How about, "I put on my cammies, daubed my face and hands with forest green camo, and crawled out the back door in stealth mode."

  • Matt004sm.thumb
    Matt Potter
    Apr 03, 04:31am

    sneak / snuck / have snuck

    dreamed or dreamt - one is UK and the other US English, but I am unsure which is which

    go to a US English site

    Being Australian, we say dreamt but perhaps we also spell it either way

  • Mosaic_man_marcus.thumb
    Marcus Speh
    Apr 03, 07:30am

    i snacked on this snuckly thread just now. me likes it when queen potter beats the grammar drumm. it makes for excellent dreamps. me out back again, now.

  • Canada_usa_2011_002.thumb
    Christopher Allen
    Apr 06, 09:43am

    Hey, Jules and crew!

    Yay grammar.

    sneak/sneaked/have sneaked is the proper form. Snuck is nonstandard--even in American English--but perfectly acceptable in dialogue.

    dreamed/dreamed/have dreamed = US English
    dream/dreamt/dreamt = UK English (as well as burn/burnt/burnt, learn/learnt/learnt, spell/spelt/spelt, get/got/got and several others.

    Other niggles include the use of "drank" for the past participle as in "I had already drank four gallons of beer before I reached the bar, so I just had a nap in the corner." Although this sounds right for the character, if he had been sober enough to speak proper English, he'd have used "drunk" in this sentence. But he was too drunk.

  • Matt004sm.thumb
    Matt Potter
    Apr 06, 01:23pm

    I have to disagree with 'sneaked', at least from an Australian perspective: 'sneaked' is only used by children and trashy adult speakers here

  • 100722-183348.thumb
    Neil Serven
    Apr 06, 03:53pm

    As a dictionary editor I should know better than to open my mouth about this stuff.

    Our usage note for "sneak":

    Usage Discussion of SNEAK
    From its earliest appearance in print in the late 19th century as a dialectal and probably uneducated form, the past and past participle snuck has risen to the status of standard and to approximate equality with sneaked. It is most common in the United States and Canada but has also been spotted in British and Australian English.

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sneak

    Make what you will.

  • Author_photo.thumb
    James Lloyd Davis
    Apr 07, 04:46am

    Australians speak English?

  • Matt004sm.thumb
    Matt Potter
    Apr 07, 05:42am

    well, not American English

  • Canada_usa_2011_002.thumb
    Christopher Allen
    Apr 07, 09:24am

    And here's what Oxford has to say:

    "The traditional standard past form of sneak is sneaked (she sneaked round the corner). An alternative past form, snuck (she snuck past me), arose in the US in the 19th century. Until very recently snuck was confined to US dialect use and was regarded as non-standard. However, in the last few decades its use has spread in the US, where it is now regarded as a standard alternative to sneaked in all but the most formal contexts. In the Oxford English Corpus there are now more US citations for snuck than there are for sneaked, and there is evidence of snuck gaining ground in British English also."

    I will agree that language is fluid and ever-evolving. I just hope that one day "Imma" doesn't become standard English for "I'm going to..." I still consider snuck on the same level as "I have drank too much tonight."

    That made me giggle.

  • Author_photo.thumb
    James Lloyd Davis
    Apr 07, 11:20am

    "Enit" seems to have creaped into usage over time in both the States and I recently came across the word used in dialogue in both Irish and British novels.

    It's been used for years by Native Americans as a further contraction of "isn't it." Generally translates to something like "Ain't that the truth?" Sherman Alexie often uses the word "enit" as a question in dialogue that way.

    I'm wondering if it's used in British speech in the same context as here in the States. Anybody know?

  • Matt004sm.thumb
    Matt Potter
    Apr 07, 12:50pm

    Innit ... that's British, innit?

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    Matthew A. Hamilton
    Apr 07, 05:13pm

    It depends on the voice you are speaking in. If you are simply asking about correct grammar, Bill is correct, "sneaked," but suppose your character does not speak this way.

    Always remember to write in the voice of your character. Do not write the way you personally speak, unless you are the character in the story/poem.

  • Canada_usa_2011_002.thumb
    Christopher Allen
    Apr 07, 05:26pm

    Yep, innit is British. And dunno. Ain't is also as British as it comes.

    And "gonna" has existed for centuries, long before the US was founded (even though the OED claims "gonna" is American English).

  • Canada_usa_2011_002.thumb
    Christopher Allen
    Apr 07, 05:27pm

    But "like-ya-know-I-mean" is definitely an American original.

  • Nv_kid.thumb
    Ramon Collins
    Apr 09, 08:08pm

    Cartoonist R. Crumb, a great champion of 'Murican English, had an original approach to the word "snuck" in dialog. If a character was engaged in uproarious laughter and needed to catch a breath of air through his nose, Crumb would letter his dialog balloon thusly:

    Ha Ha Ha Ha snuck! Ha Ha Ha Ha snuck! Ha Ha . . .

  • Canada_usa_2011_002.thumb
    Christopher Allen
    Apr 11, 07:43pm

    Oh, I like that. snuck snuck. :)

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