Quizmonster - a question for you!

[pingping]

I'm sure you'll know the answer, but am I correct in thinking that when people say/write "I was sat there" or "I was stood there" rather than "I was sitting/standing there" that this is grammatically incorrect?
This is a personal bug bear of mine, and seems to be becoming more common in speech and in books in recent years.
Is this just another occasion where both are correct, but down to personal preference?

[Quizmonster]

The only time 'I was sat there' or 'I was stood there' would be correct would be in circumstances in which someboidy else put you into that particular sitting/standing position.
For example, when you go to a wedding, there are generally ushers who direct you to a specific part of the church. As a result, if you later visited that church with a friend and you were talking to him/her about that wedding occasion, you might point to a particular pew and say, "I was sat there." By that, you would mean that that particular pew was the one the usher had, in effect, made you sit on...ie he put you there. The same idea would apply to 'stood'.
Having said all that, people frequently do say these things, when they simply mean that was where they had chosen to sit. Strictly speaking it is incorrect, but usage is king!

[pingping]

thank you, thank you, thank you. this has bugged me for ages and I always have a little shudder when I hear it or read it (knowing that the usage was incorrect in that circumstance).

YOU are the king - have a good weekend!

[Quizmonster]

Always glad to 'debug' somebody! You, too...enjoy.

[triciahx]

if you were pointing to a pew you sat in at a wedding you would say, i sat there or i was sitting there

[Quizmonster]

No, you wouldn't, Tricia...not if you were talking specifically about the part the usher had played in the process, which is exactly what I was suggesting above!
The whole point about the construction, 'I was sat' as I used it earlier is that - in grammatical terms - it is a passive form. It is no different from 'I was taught...' or 'I was told...'

[triciahx]

mmmm.so you would say the usher SAT me there? or the usher i WAS sat there, if we are speaking about the usher that is, how confusing

[Quizmonster]

Of course, I'd say, "The usher sat me there", if that is, indeed, what happened. In precisely the same way, I'd say, "The lecturer taught me that" if I was referring to something a lecturer had taught me.
I most assuredly would not say, "The usher I WAS sat there", as you now suggest. I might very well, however, say, "I was sat there by the usher." Why on earth wouldn't I?

And there I'll leave it. Life really is too short to bother sometimes!

[triciahx]

hi hunnie, i hate to be your *bug bear* but if you go to the using english.com site you will see that "i was sat there




















hi hunnie i hate to be your * bug bear, but if you go to the site using english.com you will find that " i was sat there" IS grammatically wrong, whatever context you use it in. ofcourse personal preference and regional dialect apply, i for one being a cockney say some outragous grammatically incorrect things, but that dos'nt mean i dont know the correct pronunciation, i would just like to add i LOVE this site.

[triciahx]

blimey dont know what happened there only half a paragraph came up

[Quizmonster]

My dear lady, there is not the remotest possibility that you could ever be my bugbear!
I have no idea who runs the website you mention, but The Oxford English Dictionary (TOED) - the 'bible' of words and their uses - offers the following definition of 'sit' used as a transitive verb (quote)...

"to cause a person to sit, to seat in a certain place or position"

We see this in everyday sentences such as "Sit yourself down" or "She sat the baby in his high chair."
That last sentence is in the active voice...ie the writer draws the reader's attention to the person doing the action...'she'. There is, however, no reason why the writer cannot put the sentence into the passive voice in order to draw our attention to the person having the action done to him...'the baby'.
So, what would the sentence look like then? Well, obviously, "The baby was sat in his high chair." We could, but do not have to, add the words 'by her'. By the same token, we could perfectly correctly write, "I was sat there (by the usher)."

So, Pingping, if you are in any doubt now, just compare how authoritative the website mentioned is as compared with TOED!

And there I really will call a halt!

[triciahx]

in that context it would read i was seated there , and may i add i find your unproffesionalism in your repeated attempts at sarcasm in trying to bellitle me very sad and childish, my replys are not a personal affront to you and i find it dispareiging that your persona would lead you to believe so, so ping all you want hunnie and if its really your last word why bother replying, as a postscript i suggest you look at the site mentioned befor dismissing it

[pingping]

hi triciah, i don't think QM is trying to belittle you - he is always v. friendly and helpful on this site. sometimes the written tone of 'voice' can be mistaken compared to the spoken one.

[triciahx]

hiya ping ping, i must confess you are probably right hun,i have been trying to deal with the anniversary of a very sad double tragedy, even my own family are avoiding me , lol, saying im like a bear with a sore head, i initially found this site to try and distract me, so if ive seemed unbearably pedantic, i sincerely apologise to the quizmaster, but i honestly didnt mean to be offensive
tricia