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"I'll write you once a week," she said

"I'll write you once a week," she said

"I'll write you once a week," she said

(OP)
While I was driving home tonight and listening to the radio I picked up on another piece of Americanese which has always puzzled me. Why do the British say "I'll write to you..." while the Americans use "I'll write you..." in exactly the same context?

To a Brit it is gramatical nonsense, yet it seems to be in common usage and is presumably accepted as an entirely normal phrase in the US. Does anyone know the origin of the latest grammatical aberration?

The line is from "Going Away To College" by Blink 182, if anyone is wondering.

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Going-Away-To-College-lyrics-Blink-182/14D7FAAAC5EFE6F64825689D00310E37

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  I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

"I'll sit right down and write myself a letter" is another line ("and make believe it came from you" I think it continues).

That one is OK with me. "..write a letter to myself" wouldn't work - I think.

I do not react to the "I'll write you..." But I'm not native British (not British at all, in fact).

Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

"I'll call you" or "I'll call to you."

"I'll e-mail you" or "I'll e-mail to you."

"I'll fax you" .....

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

==> To a Brit it is gramatical [sic]nonsense
I wouldn't say that it's grammatical nonsense, but rather a difference in style.  It is perfectly acceptable in English to use an indirect object (you), just as it is to use a prepositional phrase (to you).

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

now a real annoying one (different) is "this part needs fixed."

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

(OP)
Cajun - thanks for spotting the typo! I swear it appeared right after I hit "Submit Post". wink

MintJulep - those are good examples. Thanks.

Maybe it's just me who has a problem with the "write you / write to you" difference? I've run it by some of my friends and they seem to agree with me - one said "That's American!" and others just thought it was wrong.

Are either of you in the UK?

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  I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

"write you" is definitely American to my ear.

But I'm perfectly happy with "call you" and "ring you"

Do Americans say "talk you later" ? No.






Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

How strange, talk you sounds wrong to me as well but phone you, fax you and email you all sound fine.

I guess it just goes to show how hard it must be to learn the language, especially if you talk to English people half the time and talk Americans the other half, hang on that doesn’t sound right either.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

The subtle differences in English English and American English can be very confusing for example;

E.E. - I go to University. In E.E this means I attend university to study - treated as a general statement.  
A.E. - I go to the University.  to an E.E speaker this means I attend university to study, but needs qualifying - who would have to ask - what university?.

The same thing applies to hospital - the hospital.

I was in hospital - I was in the hospital.

 

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

Skogs,

There is a possibility to take 'I will write myself a letter' as 'I will write a letter myself' which may mean that I don't dictate the letter to anybody but I prefer to write it myself. The sentence may not be as ambiguous as I say but there are non native speakers like me.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

quark
"There is a possibility to take 'I will write myself a letter' as 'I will write a letter myself' which may mean that I don't dictate the letter to anybody but I prefer to write it myself. The sentence may not be as ambiguous as I say but there are non native speakers like me."

To me, as a native speaker there is no ambiguity - each of the above statements has a different meaning. The second statement can be made to mean the same as the first by adding TO - as in-  I will write a letter to myself.

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

==> Maybe it's just me who has a problem with the "write you / write to you" difference? I've run it by some of my friends and they seem to agree with me - one said "That's American!" and others just thought it was wrong.

I don't think it's just you, but it's not wrong.  It's using an indirect object rather than a prepositional phrase.

Here is a site that better explains the indirect object.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/function/inobj.htm

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

What I used to say to drive my Canadian mates crazy: "Where's it at?"

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

I think the potential ambiguity lies with what is being written to whom. "Write myself a letter" is clear on both counts since it is unlikely the speaker meant he is writing himself to a letter. It may be less clear when one of the nouns is left out, but can usually be figured out. Facsimiles are usually of printed material rather than of people (at least until technology advances a bit). People can be written into existence if they are fictional, but that is also unlikely to be the intent of the OP quote.

"Talk you" requires a direction. "Talk you up" > as in price. "Talk you down" > calm you with words.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

All this would be solved if English simply marked the accusative and dative case on nouns.  A little declension goes a long way.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

Have your people contact my people and we'll do lunch

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

"I'll write 'you' once a week," she said.

you
you
you
you

There, that's about a month's worth.

Jim

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

We have to remember that the OP was referencing a song lyric.  Some artistic license may have been used in lieu of proper grammar.

One of my favorite Americanisms is "Why for?"  It means, "Why are you asking, and what do you need it for?"

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

(OP)
Mad,

It's just that the song lyric jogged my memory - I've heard it conversationally from some of the Americans who pass through our site. Not that exact phrase, I hasten to add!

BigH,

That phrase is used locally here. More often it sounds like "whaurya'at", all one word.

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  I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

Artistic license aside, it does not strike this American at all as improper grammar. How about leaving off both the what and to whom? http://www.billandted.org/stories/lostgirl/moving.html
After a quick check with Word, it seems all forms are Microsoft approved.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

Would "why for?" be the same as the scots "How?"

A.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

I think you'll find "why for" has rather famous antecedents.

Willy Trembleknife used it in his famous romance/tragedy "Richard and Julia", based on Pretty Woman, I think.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

We have "varfor", which means "why".

Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

I, for one, do not use "fax you" or "call you".  From a logical viewpoint, those phrases seem troubling to me.

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

Logical?  No logic about verbal argument structure.  Some verbs take indirect objects without direct objects, some don't, and this will vary not only from language to language for verbs meaning the same thing, but also within the same language between synonymous verbs, and for the same verb from region to region (which is also fuzzy because people are exposed to the speech patterns of so many regions).  It has nothing to do with logic.


But really, you don't call people?  Does the following sound odd to you?
"Hand me that phone.  I'm going to call my lawyer."
[pause]
"No answer.  I guess I'll have to call him later."

What would you say instead?

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

1)American:

"Hand me that phone.  I'm going to call my lawyer."
[pause]
"No answer.  I guess I'll have to call him later."

My guess at Qshake's alternative:

"Hand me that phone.  I'm going to make a call to my lawyer."
[pause]
"No answer.  I guess I'll make a call to him later."

2)

This is a better example, first the American version (I think)

"Hand me that pen.  I'm going to write my lawyer."
[pause..can't find pen]
"I guess I'll write him later."

Now, to a Pom that sounds like in the first case I was going to write "my lawyer" on a piece of paper.

We'd say:

"Hand me that pen.  I'm going to write to my lawyer."
[pause..can't find pen]
"I guess I'll write to him later."

3) Faxing confusion

I'm going to fax my contract

I'm going to fax my lawyer (better hope he's skinny)









Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

(OP)
Good examples Greg.

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  I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

Yes, good examples....when hearing someone else say "I'm going to call my lawyer" my first instinct is to say "what will you call him?!  The lawyer, of course says "I've been called worse things by my own mother!".

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

RE: "I'll write you once a week," she said

Wonderful to debate such fine points of grammar (and to be associated with people who are aware of such things) but we must recall that English is not an entirely logical language, like so many other things and behaviours in our world. Customary usage can dominate even as it slowly changes - listen to the sounds of the vowels on old newsreels, or listen to the pronunciation and grammar of old people.

But In Australia, we follow the Poms (the Brits) in much of their customary usage, so one "writes to a lawyer", "faxes a lawyer", "phones a lawyer" and so forth.

I can see I am going to have fun here.

Alan64

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