Sporadic dropping of object in American English

Dec 03, 2016 09:34

"Does the sandwich come with?" [overheard at deli, asking does a reuben include sides of pickles or kraut, something of that nature without following 'with' by 'it/them'.I've noticed within the past three years a language change and perhaps others here have, too. Most often, it's noticeable about food as in the above example. A person keeps ( Read more... )

grammar, grammar english, phrases, american english

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Comments 29

spamsink December 3 2016, 18:39:42 UTC
I read it as the textual intersection and the semantic union of
Does the sandwich come with anything?
and
What does the sandwich come with?

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pronker December 3 2016, 21:38:43 UTC
OK, I can see that. The 'understood' part [side dishes of a reuben] comes from the context, that being the surroundings of the deli atmosphere. Hm, now I'm hungry.

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lhynard December 3 2016, 19:24:20 UTC
In many languages, prepositions "attach" themselves to verbs. This happens in English all the time. Consider the verb "refer"; it so often is used with "to" that people essentially use "refer to" as a verb now. It's the same sort of thing here, only the verb is being used intransitively.

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pronker December 3 2016, 21:39:31 UTC
Good example in 'refer.'

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sushidog December 3 2016, 19:27:59 UTC
I think I've mainly encountered this when talking about person A going with person B; as in "I'm popping to the shops, do you want to come with?"

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shanrina December 3 2016, 20:17:13 UTC
That's how I've heard it too. I've heard that for a long time, though, not just in the last few years (as OP has mentioned).

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pronker December 3 2016, 21:41:58 UTC
It's been about three years since family members started saying this, the members being millennials. It might be a northern California idiom, except reading your comment says otherwise. I likely simply didn't notice others using it until it got to come home to the dinner table, so to speak. It seems like I'd heard it on TV within the last year, too.

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lilacsigil December 3 2016, 23:56:02 UTC
That's how I've heard it, too, at least since my childhood.

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honorh December 3 2016, 19:29:29 UTC
I usually see (and use) this construction the other way around. "I'd like the club sandwich. Do fries come with?" Or, "I'm going to the new Pixar movie. Want to come with?" It's always used in situations in which the object is understood by all.

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pronker December 3 2016, 21:43:11 UTC
Yes. It might be generational, too.

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livejournal December 3 2016, 21:26:58 UTC
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pronker December 3 2016, 21:35:59 UTC
Hello yourself, LJ, and thanks. I guess.

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