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Bookmark or Share- history - When did "ain't" become slang? - English Language & Usage ...When ain’t went from being just any old colloquial contraction to being a specifically lower-register colloquial contraction is a good question, though. Something tells me we’re looking at the 19th century, but I have a hunch it probably happened at different times in different places and dialects.
- grammaticality - Origin and correctness of “ain’t no”? - English ...Leaving aside ain't, which is a different issue, the phenomenon called "double negation" is not so simple as it may seem. Most of the languages of the world use multiple negatives to emphasize the negation, like the (respectively) French, Spanish, and Yiddish examples below:
- Usage of "ain't"? - English Language & Usage Stack ExchangeI ain't no tractor. = I am not a tractor. I ain't got no tractor. = I haven't got any tractor. It's also used like there isn't, by common omission of there from there ain't. Ain't no tractor here. = There isn't any tractor here. And in case you hadn't guessed, dialects that use ain't stereotypically use negative concord as well.
- word choice - Difference between "isn't" and "ain't" - English Language ...@ pyrAmider, True for English English; you might use Ain't in quotation, or to show dated slang as in the TV series 'It Ain't Half Hot, Mum.' Or to indicate Mockney attitude to a situation. Or to indicate Mockney attitude to a situation.
- "You're not" vs. "you ain't" - English Language & Usage Stack ExchangeYou ain't is colloquial, certainly informal and probably not Standard English. You're not , like all contractions, is also colloquial, but occasionally found in writing. If you are a foreign learner, the best advice is to avoid contractions in writing until you feel confident about where to use them, but contractions in speech will make you ...
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