Sorry, nothing remotely music or football related...

Some of you may know I'm an English teacher and I often have queries that I find hard to answer. That's also part of the joy of language learning, of course.

Anyway, I'd like to know how you personally would complete this sentence:

1. "Andrew ought to be here by now, ___n't he?"

Or (similarly):

2. "We ought to be going, ___n't we?"

Cheers!

Mike

oughtn't

a foreigners input: oughtn't

Ask Miss. Katie.(my kid sister) She's a teacher, you know. Personally I'd stick with "Andy should be here by now, shouldn't he?" and forget the oughtn'ts....too clumsy!

Personally I would have gone for shouldn't. But I'm sure it ain't right was it?

1. shouldn't
2. Hadn't

shouldn't
don't

Hmmmmmmmmmm .....

I would have thought that both oughtn't and shouldn't could be used, but then I would, wouldn't I?

Derek

Thank you! VERY interesting replies.

So, nobody here would use "didn't he"? (which is what my family and friends - mainly from Bucks / London - tend to say... and what I therefore have taught my students to say until now)

eg. "We ought to listen to our teacher, didn't we?"

Mike

bad grammer me thinks...I worry for your students.

why,why why?

err why wot?

"bad grammer me thinks..."

"Grammer"?


"I worry for your students."

I can't argue with you there!

admittedly I am just a simple foreigner but I would never use that.

I'm even more worried now...thought you would correct the word grammer for grammar. Why not take another choice of career.

I am sorry Mike but I think you need a different career.

<<"We ought to listen to our teacher, didn't we?">>

......... makes no sense whatsoever!!! Grammatically insane methinks, a mixture of present and past tense!!

But what does a simple bus driver know?

I assume that your question arose because your superiors have taken you to task over this nonsensical phrasing.

Derek

Clear off Mike,that must go down as one of the most stupidest postings since Smithy's last ever one.

"I assume that your question arose because your superiors have taken you to task over this nonsensical phrasing."

A disagreement among colleagues. 3 of us use "didn't" (the "uneducated" Bucks crowd by the looks of it) and 3 of us prefer "shouldn't". None of us uses "oughtn't". It's not a question of who's right or wrong; it's a question of usage.

Mike

"Clear off Mike,that must go down as one of the most stupidest postings since Smithy's last ever one."

Very rude - not just to me -, totally unnecessary and, as always, very cowardly. And crap grammar for the record, too.

Fortunately, the remaining sensible and nice people on this forum will disagree with you. We all know who we are. It's never too late to join us.

Mike

Mike, is one of the nicies Me?