Don't say “I done that”! Learn 10 better ways to say it

Welcome back to engVid.

Today we are looking at a sentence construction that has gone a little bit wrong.

We're looking at quite a simple phrase, and we're finding ways of saying it: A) correctly,

and B) with lots of variation of vocabulary so that you're feeling confident that you

can say things in the past tense, but also that you're using interesting vocabulary.

Okay, apologies to the student whose phrase I have displayed up here for public consumption;

you shall remain anonymous.

"I done that".

No.

Death.

Ah.

You have not done that.

So, this is a past participle, here: "done", "I done that".

"Done" does not go on its own.

You can say: "I have done my homework", but: "I done that" - no.

So, if you would like more information on this verb, then check out the other engVid

video on the verb "do" and its past tense varieties.

But what I'm going to be concentrating on and how we can say that you have finished

something, because what my student actually meant is: "Benjamin, I have finished my homework."

Okay?

So, how could they have said that?

Let's see.

What I have here are the 10 present tense verbs; and on the right-hand side on this

side, we have their past participles.

So: "accomplish".

Yeah, because "do", "to do", "to say" - yeah, we want to avoid these really basic verbs,

and find more interesting ones.

So, "to do".

What he's saying is he's finished it.

"I accomplished".

Okay?

An "accomplishment", an "accomplishment"...

I'll write that up here for you.

An "accomplishment", the noun, is when you've really achieved something.

So, "to accomplish"-yeah-you've achieved; you've done something really great.

Okay?

"Accomplished".

He also was really telling me that he had "met a deadline".

A "deadline" is: "You have to do this by this time and date.

If you do it, that's great".

"Meet a deadline", "met a deadline".

Yeah.

You're dead if you don't cross the line, having finished it.

You're not really.

Okay.

"To bring to fruition".

So, we've got a phrasal verb, here.

"Fruit", yeah, the idea of harvest; you bring it to fruition, then there's going to be lots

of grapes, and bananas, and apples.

Yeah, we're all going to be sitting around like Greek gods.

"Brought to fruition" would be the past tense.

"Do thoroughly", okay?

So, "thoroughly" - carefully, fully-yup-absolutely every detail has been fulfilled.

"I did it thoroughly" would be in the past tense.

"To execute".

Now, we're not talking about killing something.

"Execute" can be... well, often used in a legal... in the legal world: "to execute a

will" - to follow a plan.

"To execute a plan" means to follow a plan.

"I executed..."

I did it well.

"Finish", yeah.

You're probably familiar with this verb already.

"Finished" - regular past tense.

"To get through".

"To get through" means you go through.

Yeah, let's get through the tunnel.

Imagine you're a car going through a mountain - you get through the tunnel when you are

at the other end.

Okay.

"I got through it" would be the past tense.

"To put something to bed".

If you put something to bed... you got a baby, you put them to bed: "Ah, I'm finished.

My day's work is done.

Feet up; glass of wine".

"Put something to bed", yeah, it stays "put" in the past tense, too.

"To sew something up".

If you sew something up-yup-let's imagine we got a hole here, I sew it up, and it's

all sort of finished and complete.

You have something sewn up.

"To have something sewn up".

"Wind up".

Now, "a windup" would be like a practical joke on April Fools' Day, but "to wind up"...

well, there's two meanings, here.

You can wind someone up by annoying them, but what we mean here: "to wind something

up" means to finish it.

Imagine you've got... you're fishing, and you're winding, winding in your reel.

Okay?

"To wind up", "to wind it up" - to finish it up.

How do we use these past tense varieties of the verbs in sentence context?

Something like this: "I feel like I've accomplished something."

If you said that, I'd be so much more happy than that.

"I'm pleased to say that I met the deadline."

Okay?

"I'm pleased to say that".

"I'm pleased to say I met the deadline" or "I have met the deadline".

"I have brought it to fruition.

I have brought this project to fruition; this is the best that I can do."

"I did it thoroughly.

I did it as thoroughly as I could."

"I have executed it to perfection."

Okay?

So, this word gives quite a sort of precise feeling to it.

"I have executed it to perfection."

"I finished it earlier on."

Okay?

A simpler phrase, there.

It's complete; that completing happened earlier.

"I got through it earlier.

I managed to get through it.

I managed to get through it."

Okay, I'll put that in there.

So, if I put "managed", "I managed", then this goes into the infinitive.

"I managed to get through it earlier."

"I have finally put it to bed" - "it" being the homework.

"I've finally...

I don't have to worry about that anymore."

It's in bed, metaphorically.

"I've got it all sewn up.

I've got it all sewn up; it's totally finished now."

"I've wound it all up."

Okay?

This doesn't sound particularly natural, so I've put it there just for your... for your

knowledge, but it doesn't sound sort of quite as natural as some of the other ones.

Okay?

We've got ten ways of saying: "I've finished something".

I hope that you can all take away some of these, and put them into your usage.

Thank you so much for watching.

See you again soon.