New Intransitive Verbs

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I've blogged before about my annoyance at a store clerk asking me, "Can I help?" Well the practice has spread to the US, and now I've encountered an even worse intransitive use of a transitive verb: I asked for ice in a supermarket the other day, and the cashier said, "We're out. Try the gas station up the road -- they might have." Two days later, I heard the same usage: "Oh, he might have."

We've become so busy we can't afford the time to say "it."

Comments

  1. Wabulon7:32 PM

    "Might have" is also short for "might have done" and perhaps "might have been."

    ReplyDelete
  2. gcallah4:52 PM

    "They might have done ice"?

    "They might have been ice"?

    ReplyDelete

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