The expression aren’t I is often used in place of am I not, particularly in conversational speech.
Example 1 (incorrect usage): I’m going with you on vacation, aren’t I?
Although the use of this phrase is widespread, it is atrocious English that could be considered equivalent to you is, a phrase which most educated people abhor (although for some reason, these same people have no qualms about saying aren’t I). The correct form of the sentence in Example 1 is as follows:
Example 2 (correct usage): I’m going with you on vacation, am I not?
If you read this sentence aloud, it probably sounds awkward and formal, perhaps even a bit hoity-toity. However, it is correct English. If the phrase aren’t I is converted from a question to a statement, I aren’t, it becomes obvious that it is indeed grammatically incorrect.
There is no explanation for using “Aren’t”; just the “Common use” is not enough.
Why use “Aren’t I” when there is already a proper form.
How can anyone explain why “Aren’t I” is correct?
What is the justificacion for its usage?
I don’t believe that just because a group of stubborn writers insisted on making it “formal” and decided to follow an error is enough to stamp it as “Proper English.”
I don’t think “aren’t I?” is incorrect. As I’m an English student, I’ve seen this structure in many coursebooks (and it’s regarded as grammatically correct).
I agree with other users that “am I not?” is slightly formal and non-standard.
Finally your blog is very useful and interesting. Thanks for taking the time to write your entries.
It’s a rich topic . In my viewpoint , “aren’t” was created to make social differebces hence dialect communities .When we hear ‘ain’t I” the connotation has a tendency belonging to the poor social rank.
According to “Michael Swan” in the Practical English Usage by Oxford, fully revised edition page 471 grammatical point number 488-1 ” the question tag for I am is aren’t I?”. an the example of the book is ” I’m late, arent’ I?”
Which of the sentences below is correct?
He went to town, didn’t he?
or
He went to town, did he not?
Wow! After listening to so many Americans use “aren’t I” in sentences where I thought “am I not” was appropriate, I was beginning to think I was wrong. I’ve got to start trusting my own knowledge more.
James says:
September 30, 2011 at 12:18 am
Just say: “I am going on vacation with you. Right?”
Problem solved.
Well, that what it might sound like, but you’d write it like this:
“I am going on vacation with you, right?”
Just say: “I am going on vacation with you. Right?”
Problem solved.
Great suggestion, James!
Benjamin is correct here. In a lifetime immersed in English grammar (strict high-school English-teaching father/majored in English and then in TESOL/20 years of English teaching experience), this is the first time I’ve ever heard “aren’t I?” classified as a grammar error. Some of the history above is correct: the original form was “ain’t I?” but people starting using “ain’t” in all positions (I ain’t/she ain’t/you ain’t), and the whole form became suspect in the minds of educated English speakers. Hence we lost the contraction of “am not,” and in tag questions, speakers replaced it with “aren’t.” This has become almost universally used in the English language, and as such, is not only “correct” in terms of descriptive grammar, but is also accepted even by old-time prescriptivist grammarians like my father. “Am I not?” is fine for formal English, but sounds rather awkward in most registers. Calling “aren’t I?” “atrocious” is odd–it is, after all, the only way to make a contracted tag question for “I am” that exists in the English language.
Good information thanxx.
LMAO I can’t believe you said that!
I believe “ain’t” was originally a contraction of “am not.” This would explain “Ain’t I?” We were all taught that “ain’t” is poor English, but if it’s a contraction of “am not,” then it’s better form than “aren’t I,” which drives me mad.
I know a woman from England who uses “I aren’t” consistently as opposed to “I’m not.”
My three-year-old grandson is now saying, “I are,” instead of “I am,” but not saying, “She are.” I speculate that he is pulling the conjugation from constantly hearing people say, “Aren’t I?” In a sense, he is dealing with a confusion in the conjugation. His extrapolation of the grammar makes perfect sense in practice. Poor kid!!
I got good site to read small errors that sometime we do in english.thanks
Thank you David for giving valuable information..
This is my first time of visiting this web site but it the best web site ever visited.
“This is my first time of visiting this web site but it the best web site ever visited.”
Clearly by reading this sentence, you should visit here more often!
Proper:
This is the firt time I’ve visited this website. It is the best website I’ve visited.
woosh. That went right over your head.
Clearly, you should have more compassion for someone learning English. Jafar is obviously trying, and searching for informative websites. If it is your goal to instruct, perhaps less snide remarks would be more helpful in the future. I am attempting to learn another language, and it is difficult. I appreciate it when people correct me, but only when done with a kind heart.
Ha ha! You made a mistake too! You spelled ‘first’ wrong!
Are “won’t” and “shan’t” also “incorrect” grammar then? “aren’t” is much easier to say than “amn’t”, so “aren’t” is used instead; this sort of development of language has been commonplace since time immemorial.
A similar change happened in our pronunciation of the “-ed” at the end of past participles. This used to be pronounced as a separate syllable, until the “incorrect” contracted form became common.
The language that you and I speak is undoubtedly one that has lost much of its complexity. If only, for example, nouns still had different case endings depending on their function in the sentence (Proto-Indo-European, our ancestor, had eight), and there was a distinction between the singular familiar “thou” and more formal or plural “you”. If only we had different verb endings for different persons. As you can see from these examples, our ancestors were “shortening and blunting ideas” long before the advent of the Internet. Not that that had a really detrimental effect on our language – we found other ways to express the things that had been eroded, e.g. word order and prepositions replaced case endings.
Grammar only comes into being through usage, so “aren’t I?” is perfectly correct.
I think the sentence should read: “I thought today is Friday.” Thought is past tense, but since you’re referring to Friday as being the current today, I believe is (present tense verb) would be the correct choice.
(Your question is off topic for this post, so in the future you might want to send a private message with your questions.)
There’s an interesting explanation about the origin of “aren’t I” in Patricia T. O’Conner’s book, Origins of the Specious, p. 49:
As it happens, “aren’t I” didn’t even exist until the early twentieth century, when British writers started using it to reproduce the way upper-class speakers pronounced “ain’t I.” (In the mouth of an old Etonian, “ain’t” rhymed with “taunt” rather than “taint.”)
Thanks for sharing this, David.
Aren’t = Are not
Amn’t = Am not
Aren’t I? = Are I not?
Amn’t I? = Am I not?
I’m going with you on vacation, are I not?
I’m going with you on vacation, am I not?
Interesting how “aren’t” has become a homonym replacement for “amn’t”. Perhaps this phenomenon has to do with anti-intellectualism in America. Do you think so? That would be my best educated guess.