Today, Ana was playing with a stick when she decided to break it.

[conuly]

And after she broke it she came running up and said "Connie! I broke my stick with using my hand!"

This might be a simple error like people make all the time - starting to say "with my hand" but deciding mid-word to go with "using my hand" instead - except that I feel certain I've heard her use the "with verbing" construction before, if not very recently.

I like it a lot, actually :)

Comments

[ancarett]

Probably she's getting it linked, in her mind, with the "by using" construction. But cool!

[conuly]

Maybe, but it "by using" seems so stilted, I can't imagine anybody using it around a five year old rather than a more common phrase!

Then again, one of her teachers says "zipper up". It's become the bane of my existence. "Connie, zipper me?" "Sure, I'll zip your jacket, Ana." "No, zipper it." "I'm not saying that. Do you want it zipped or not?" "FINE"

[ancarett]

The "by using" is stilted but if she watches many educational or nature videos, narrators seem to use the most arcane and convoluted sentence structure as they draw the story out, e.g. "the chimpanzee is fending for himself by using a stick to pull ants out of the tree trunk."

"Zipper up?" That's strange. I can't even see "Zippers up!" being used as a command. "Zip up?" Sure.

[conuly]

If she watches educational or nature videos, it's news to me. But she might have heard it somewhere regardless, I'm not with her 24/7 after all, and who knows what people say at school?

[ancarett]

From the sounds of it, they already say interesting things at her school. They might also have some of those really old educational videos along the lines of "Nickel: the Vital Metal!" or "Five Ways for Better Flossing."

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if it's a back formation from without using my hand.

[ancarett]

Probably she's getting it linked, in her mind, with the "by using" construction. But cool!

[conuly]

Maybe, but it "by using" seems so stilted, I can't imagine anybody using it around a five year old rather than a more common phrase!

Then again, one of her teachers says "zipper up". It's become the bane of my existence. "Connie, zipper me?" "Sure, I'll zip your jacket, Ana." "No, zipper it." "I'm not saying that. Do you want it zipped or not?" "FINE"

[ancarett]

The "by using" is stilted but if she watches many educational or nature videos, narrators seem to use the most arcane and convoluted sentence structure as they draw the story out, e.g. "the chimpanzee is fending for himself by using a stick to pull ants out of the tree trunk."

"Zipper up?" That's strange. I can't even see "Zippers up!" being used as a command. "Zip up?" Sure.

[conuly]

If she watches educational or nature videos, it's news to me. But she might have heard it somewhere regardless, I'm not with her 24/7 after all, and who knows what people say at school?

[ancarett]

From the sounds of it, they already say interesting things at her school. They might also have some of those really old educational videos along the lines of "Nickel: the Vital Metal!" or "Five Ways for Better Flossing."

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if it's a back formation from without using my hand.