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Grammar nazis: Usage of "been"

BillGates

BillGates

Diamond Member
Is this grammatically correct?

"Anyone been during the Rodeo?"

I hear people use been like that but I've never used it like that. If that were me saying that sentence, I'd say "Has anyone been to Las Vegas during the Rodeo?"

Or I'll talk about a place I visited and a person will say "I've never been." -- whereas I'd say "I've never been there."

Kinda random but it bugs me. I feel like I'm right but I guess I don't know.
 
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More examples from the thread I linked:

"I've been during Rodeo, but I've never gone to the Rodeo."

"I've been many times during the NFR (have never been to the rodeo though) and it's always a blast. "

Grr, it really bothers me...
 
So I was out hunting Osama Been Ladin when I tripped over a garbage been which was spray painted with the graffiti "Muhammad been here"
 
The appropriateness of an implied object depends upon the context.

The verb 'to be' requires an object in most usages in order to make sense (unless, perhaps, you are Descartes). However, it is quite appropriate for the object to be implied in certain circumstances - for example, it is unimportant, or if it doesn't need clarification.

So, 'Have you been swimming?' can be answered by 'I have been'. The object is implied from the context. Note that the emphasis and implication here is different to the following:
'Shall we go to Taco Bell?', 'I ate'. The implication here is that I've eaten, but it doesn't matter what - rather than the implication being that I'd already eaten Tacos.

This is slightly different to some verbs (e.g. to like) which syntactically require an object. So, in response to 'Do you enjoy swimming?', it would be grammatically wrong to answer 'I like' - as the syntax requires an explicit object, e.g. 'I like it'.
 
OP, it's a commonly accepted idiom with, as one poster said, "there" being absent but understood.

There are a plenty of grammatically upstanding examples throughout English.

For example, "I'm sorry I said what I did." This sentence omits "say," as in "I'm sorry I said what I did say," but "say" is universally understood to be there, and the sentence is nevertheless grammatically correct.

Another example: "Bob is taller than Jim." The second "is taller" is omitted but understood to be there, viz, "Bob is taller than Jim is taller."

A third: "When masturbating, I always use my velvet monkey glove." Here, the "I am" between "When" and "masturbating" is also omitted, but understood.

We omit words all the time in English. You ok with that? <---------- See, you implicitly understood the "Are" missing from that sentence!
 
Perknose said:
OP, it's a commonly accepted idiom with, as one poster said, "there" being absent but understood.

There are a plenty of grammatically upstanding examples throughout English.

For example, "I'm sorry I said what I did." This sentence omits "say," as in "I'm sorry I said what I did say," but "say" is universally understood to be there, and the sentence is nevertheless grammatically correct.

Another example: "Bob is taller than Jim." The second "is taller" is omitted but understood to be there, viz, "Bob is taller than Jim is taller."

A third: "When masturbating, I always use my velvet monkey glove." Here, the "I am" between "When" and "masturbating" is also omitted, but understood.

We omit words all the time in English. You ok with that? <---------- See, you implicitly understood the "Are" missing from that sentence!
Click to expand...

color of glove?
 
Depends on the context. Obviously it sounds wrong if you say it out of the blue, but if it's a response to a question/comment...

What bugs me far more is when people say something like "Do you want to come with?" instead of just adding a freaking "me" at the end. People have started saying that a lot more in the last few years, and it's way more grammatically incorrect than this.
 
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