Monday, October 13, 2008

How to distinguish between American and Canadian

My American friend enlightened me the other day and showed me that we Canadians have a grammatical structure that Americans don't use! Maybe not all of you will say this, but my section of the population does (maybe western Canada or young adult):
  • I'm done my homework.
  • When you're done that, let me know.
  • I'm done lunch.
All of these have BE+done. Of course, I never thought it to be strange, because I have always used this construction! My American friend said that she would use HAVE+done or BE+finished, but never a mix of the two. So, I suppose we have one more criterion to add to the list that we use to tell a Canadian from an American!

1 comment:

Designed by God said...

I had to stop and think about that one...too much thinking for a holiday!