Just one of those things that sounds so wrong to the ears but is gaining grammatical favor. You won’t catch me using it anymore, for any reason. (Oops).
I always thought, that the “from this point on” version was “evermore,” which no one uses anymore. (Oops).
I have seen more than one marriage founder over the “anymore” question. :eek: So, Frumpy, regardless of who’s correct here, I’d seriously reconsider this marriage.
“Regional colloquiallism” is not the same thing as “grammatically correct/standard,” Frumpy. Just because you can trace where the linguistic perversion comes from doesn’t mean your wife is wrong: she’s right.
I’d suggest you either find a mate whose anality is not so drastically different from your own, or use the word incorrectly only at your own family gatherings.
I have a SO (from southwestern VA) and co-worker (from NJ) who use “anymore” in positive sentences and to me, it seems wrong.
Usually they’ll say it in a context where they are describing how something has changed, and they’ll say “X is Y anymore” instead of saying “X isn’t Z anymore”, where Z is a word opposite in meaning to Y. This is a lot like the use that lissener cited. Example:
“Driving through Springfield is really hard anymore.” instead of “Driving through Springfield isn’t easy anymore.”
I think the first example is incorrect because the word “anymore” implies that some event or condition has ended*, and you are speaking in the present, so some previously existing state or condition is no longer present. Therefore, there should be a word like “not” earlier in the sentence. “Anymore” usually has to go with “not” just like you can’t split up the phrase “no longer” and say “I longer live here” as the opposite of “I no longer live here.” Or, you couldn’t say “I will live here any longer” as the opposite of “I won’t live here any longer.”
Or would those of you who use “anymore” in positive sentences consider “I will live here any longer” to be acceptable as well??
To complicate things further, in an earlier post I saw a use of “anymore” that violates the rule I stated above but still seems OK to me. In an earlier post, Wrath ended a sentence with “which no one uses anymore.” If I followed my own preaching, I would insist that it be changed to “which people don’t use anymore.” But both of these seem OK to me.
*My dictionary defines “anymore” as “At the present; from now on.” The dictionary does stipulate that “anymore” is used in negative and interrogative constructions. It is a 1976 edition.
…but the rest of the dictionary entry states that the word is used in negative and interrogative constructions. (not “can be used” or “has been used in the following ways, but may be used in other ways too.”) If any other way were correct (in Standard English), the dictionary would have included it. IMHO, the implication is that you can’t substitute the word “anymore” wherever you see the words “from now on.” It is only for negative and interrogative statements. The qualification is provided to tell the reader that there are contexts where “anymore” can’t be used as a substitute for “at the present” or “from now on.”
But, as I said in the rest of my post, there are cases where this rule is violated without appearing strange to me. So perhaps it is a function of what we’ve been exposed to as we learned the language.
Aside question: would you use “anymore” in positive construction when writing and speaking, or for spoken English only? It seems as if regional quirks like this show up in our spoken language much more frequently than in our writing.
Sadly I have found this creeping into my own sentences once in a while. I’ve never written it, and I usually still notice when I say it but I’m dreading the day when I use it regularly.
I don’t end sentences with it though–I start them with it. That is, I would never say:
“I will live here anymore” instead of “I will live here from now on” but I would say something like “Anymore, the sky is gray”. (If the sky indeed were usually gray. It was a poor example but the first one that came to mine).
I’ve only noticed this habit within the last few months–so how do I get rid of it?
HEY! Leave my Blushing soon-to-be-bride out of this!
As for using the word anymore in postive-ways: Just accept it. “Me, too” has been accepted where it should be “I also”
To answer the other question. Some people (Erma Bombeck… so maybe I should say some dead people) have used it in their writing (Go to http://www.m-w.com and look up anymoe for the examples), so it does cross over. But I usually write much more carefully than I speak (Though, perhaps, not better).
Plus, I always spell the words correctly when I speak.
I had never heard this construction used until this thread and it sounds completely weird. If I heard someone use it would take me a minute to figure out what they meant; I’m sure I would think I either misheard them or they misspoke.
I’ve never heard it meant to mean “from now on,” but I’ve used it to mean “nowadays.” An example would be “We used to work hard, but anymore, all we do is sit around and complain.” I know it’s not strictly correct, but it’s a nice effect.
