4 ms·

The answer is that’s just the way English is. Exactly 1 is singular, everything else is plural (mostly). “On accident” is American English, as a British Englis

The answer is that’s just the way English is. Exactly 1 is singular, everything else is plural (mostly). “On accident” is American English, as a British English speaker I’d consider it a grammatical mistake. The same goes with “I forgot it at home” and similar constructs. However they’re correct American English.

twnettytwo 2y ago
> I forgot it at home As a non-native speaker, I find the sentence equally disconcerting, but it leaves me wondering what one would use to say something to that effect.
- oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
  "I left it at home" is common, but doesn't have the exact same meaning. Tbh, I don't think there really is a way to say that succinctly in British English—we would probably say "I left it at home", "I forgot to bring it", or—if the full meaning is strictly necessary—"I forgot it, it's at home". Really, "I forgot it at home" is short for "I forgot to bring it; I left it at home".
xnorswap 2y ago
There are a few things like this which really sound weird to a British ear. Another example is the use of "Write" in the sentence, "I wrote them". This is completely wrong to the British ear, which would be "I wrote to them".
- Karellen 2y ago
  "I wrote them" doesn't sound completely wrong to a British ear - it just gets misunderstood! I thought it sounded like exactly the correct way to say "I wrote the letters", until I got to the last couple of words in your post and had to reinterpret it. :-)
  - philipwhiuk 2y ago
    It sounds wrong to this British ear. "There was a problem at the mill so I wrote them" - this sounds wrong "The mill workers were complaining so I wrote them a letter" - this is fine "The mill workers were complaining so I wrote to them" - this is also fine
    - Karellen 2y ago
      In my example, the "them" isn't referring to the recipients of the letters. It's referring to the letters themselves. Mallory: "The mill received a series of letters. Those letters are evidence. Now, we're not leaving here until I find out who wrote those letters. Alice, did you write them? Bob, did you?" Carol: "I wrote them."
  - xnorswap 2y ago
    Quite, I struggled to formulate the example because indeed reading it the interpretation is that "them" could mean letters, and so doesn't sound completely as wrong as it does in the context of a person. A better example would have been "I wrote Alice last week". Correct US English, utterly grating to British English. ( Technically still might not grate if your brain jumps to Alice being a Poem or other work of art! ) Because in British English we write letters, we don't write people. I don't know the term for it, it's not transitive vs intransitive, it's the verb object having a different restriction.
oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
I think the reason that "accident" is confusing is because of "I did it on purpose". As a fellow British English speaker, I would never say "by purpose!". By and large, I think that US English tends to be more logical.

twnettytwo 2y ago

> I forgot it at home As a non-native speaker, I find the sentence equally disconcerting, but it leaves me wondering what one would use to say something to that effect.

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
"I left it at home" is common, but doesn't have the exact same meaning. Tbh, I don't think there really is a way to say that succinctly in British English—we would probably say "I left it at home", "I forgot to bring it", or—if the full meaning is strictly necessary—"I forgot it, it's at home". Really, "I forgot it at home" is short for "I forgot to bring it; I left it at home".

xnorswap 2y ago

There are a few things like this which really sound weird to a British ear. Another example is the use of "Write" in the sentence, "I wrote them". This is completely wrong to the British ear, which would be "I wrote to them".

Karellen 2y ago
"I wrote them" doesn't sound completely wrong to a British ear - it just gets misunderstood! I thought it sounded like exactly the correct way to say "I wrote the letters", until I got to the last couple of words in your post and had to reinterpret it. :-)
- philipwhiuk 2y ago
  It sounds wrong to this British ear. "There was a problem at the mill so I wrote them" - this sounds wrong "The mill workers were complaining so I wrote them a letter" - this is fine "The mill workers were complaining so I wrote to them" - this is also fine
  - Karellen 2y ago
    In my example, the "them" isn't referring to the recipients of the letters. It's referring to the letters themselves. Mallory: "The mill received a series of letters. Those letters are evidence. Now, we're not leaving here until I find out who wrote those letters. Alice, did you write them? Bob, did you?" Carol: "I wrote them."
- xnorswap 2y ago
  Quite, I struggled to formulate the example because indeed reading it the interpretation is that "them" could mean letters, and so doesn't sound completely as wrong as it does in the context of a person. A better example would have been "I wrote Alice last week". Correct US English, utterly grating to British English. ( Technically still might not grate if your brain jumps to Alice being a Poem or other work of art! ) Because in British English we write letters, we don't write people. I don't know the term for it, it's not transitive vs intransitive, it's the verb object having a different restriction.

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago

I think the reason that "accident" is confusing is because of "I did it on purpose". As a fellow British English speaker, I would never say "by purpose!". By and large, I think that US English tends to be more logical.