'I was sat'

KittyCollar · 30/04/2024 15:08

Unless someone placed you there, you were sitting. “I was sitting”

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RitaIncognita · 30/04/2024 15:10

"I was sitting" is correct.

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Deedee248 · 30/04/2024 15:12

Definitely sitting.

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drspouse · 30/04/2024 15:14

This is dialect. So some people are correct to say "I was sat" and others "I was sitting". I hear "I was sat" in the North more than in the South.

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moonshinepoursthroughmywindow · 04/05/2024 09:36

I always want to say "You were sat? Who sat you then?" I wouldn't, of course, but the thought crosses my mind.

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NigelHarmansNewWife · 04/05/2024 09:38

As Terry Wogan used to say. "I was sat sitting"! It's definitely sitting, but using sat is common in lots of dialects. Don't get me started on rung and rang, drunk and drank, etc.

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Dilbertian · 04/05/2024 09:51

"I was laying in bed..."

What? Eggs?

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HeidiWhole · 04/05/2024 09:53

My teenagers say this and it drives me mad.

Along with, 'I was stood'.

Sitting. Standing.

Aaarrrgghhhh

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OhGingleBells · 04/05/2024 10:03

“My mother marched me across the room. I was sat at the table and told to stay there until I had finished eating.”

”Sat” is correct here because of the use of the passive voice, i.e. “Mother” sat the subject down.

If written in the passive voice, the sentence “I was sat there” is correct because it was an action performed by someone else upon you. If not, it is incorrect.

You can have:

I SAT THERE… (past)
I WAS SITTING THERE … (past continuous)
I HAD SAT THERE … (past perfect)
I HAD BEEN SITTING THERE … (past perfect continuous)

I WOULD HAVE SAT THERE… (conditional past perfect)
I WOULD HAVE BEEN SITTING THERE (conditional past perfect continuous)

Also, I believe that the verb “sat” needs “down” attached to it to be entirely accurate. Colloquially we can use “sat” by itself, but technically the “down” really ought to be there.

Fairly confident that this is right but happy to be corrected!

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Startingagainandagain · 04/05/2024 10:13

'Sitting'

It always annoys me when I hear 'I was sat'...

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dragonscannotswim · 04/05/2024 11:08

drspouse · 30/04/2024 15:14

This is dialect. So some people are correct to say "I was sat" and others "I was sitting". I hear "I was sat" in the North more than in the South.

This.

It's correct to say 'I was sitting', but 'I was sat' is dialect and may be acceptable to leave, depending on the context.

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TiredandKnackeredand · 04/05/2024 11:15

It’s a colloquialism vs standard English.

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Cluelessaf · 04/05/2024 11:24

I'd use it with a different tone to how I'd use sitting.
So I might text a friend "I was sitting in the sunshine today during lunch break, it was brilliant".
But I would say "I was sat there waiting for 40 mins" - about being at the dentist.
So what is going on there?

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TiredandKnackeredand · 04/05/2024 11:30

Cluelessaf · 04/05/2024 11:24

I'd use it with a different tone to how I'd use sitting.
So I might text a friend "I was sitting in the sunshine today during lunch break, it was brilliant".
But I would say "I was sat there waiting for 40 mins" - about being at the dentist.
So what is going on there?

Maybe it’s the implied passivity to the latter – you were left there ‘sat waiting’ rather than actively sitting

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Clearinguptheclutter · 04/05/2024 11:31

I sat
or
I was sitting

however I think that “I was sat” is colloquial, not dialect, and pretty accepted in speech

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Mysticfalls · 04/05/2024 11:32

It’s a past participle being used as an adjective surely? Yes it’s used in some dialects and not others but I don’t see what’s grammatically incorrect about it.
You can say ´I have sat here all afternoon’ so ´sat’ is the past participle. So why not use it as an adjective?
´I was sitting on the wall’ is a bit different because it’s continuous aspect, so you might be expecting something to interrupt. ‘I was sat on the wall’ feels more like a picture - a snapshot in time.

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Mysticfalls · 04/05/2024 11:54

OhGingleBells · 04/05/2024 10:03

“My mother marched me across the room. I was sat at the table and told to stay there until I had finished eating.”

”Sat” is correct here because of the use of the passive voice, i.e. “Mother” sat the subject down.

If written in the passive voice, the sentence “I was sat there” is correct because it was an action performed by someone else upon you. If not, it is incorrect.

You can have:

I SAT THERE… (past)
I WAS SITTING THERE … (past continuous)
I HAD SAT THERE … (past perfect)
I HAD BEEN SITTING THERE … (past perfect continuous)

I WOULD HAVE SAT THERE… (conditional past perfect)
I WOULD HAVE BEEN SITTING THERE (conditional past perfect continuous)

Also, I believe that the verb “sat” needs “down” attached to it to be entirely accurate. Colloquially we can use “sat” by itself, but technically the “down” really ought to be there.

Fairly confident that this is right but happy to be corrected!

I’d say ´sit’ and ‘sit down’ are different verbs.
’Sit down’ is the action of going from standing to sitting. So you’re more likely to see it used in perfect aspect or simple past.
If you say ´he sat down on the chair’ then that action is finished.
If you say ´he was sitting on the chair’ then that action is ongoing.
You could say ´he sat on the chair’ and ´he was sitting down on the chair’ but both of those seem quite ambiguous as to whether we’re talking the action of going from a standing position to a sitting position or about the continued state or being in a sitting position on the chair.

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BlastedPimples · 04/05/2024 12:21

To say I was sat is fine.

The varieties in the English language allow this.

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LizardOfOz · 04/05/2024 12:25

You wouldn't say "I was ate my dinner"
It's either " I ate my dinner" or "I was eating my dinner (when.....)"

Not "I was drove my car" .
Either " I drove my car " or "I was driving my car "

In the same way "I was sat" is incorrect. Just because people say it, it doesn't mean it's correct. Unless as PP said, someone sat you somewhere, eg "The waiter sat me at the bar until a table became available."

I'm actually seeing it in books now too (not in direct speech) which I think is shocking editing.

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Mysticfalls · 04/05/2024 12:39

LizardOfOz · 04/05/2024 12:25

You wouldn't say "I was ate my dinner"
It's either " I ate my dinner" or "I was eating my dinner (when.....)"

Not "I was drove my car" .
Either " I drove my car " or "I was driving my car "

In the same way "I was sat" is incorrect. Just because people say it, it doesn't mean it's correct. Unless as PP said, someone sat you somewhere, eg "The waiter sat me at the bar until a table became available."

I'm actually seeing it in books now too (not in direct speech) which I think is shocking editing.

Edited

Well no, because ´ate’ isn’t the past particle. ´Eaten’ is. And we can use ´eaten’ as an adjective no problem, e.g. ‘a half-eaten biscuit’.
The other thing about ´sat’ is that it’s intransitive. It doesn’t need an object - because the action is happening to the same thing/person that is doing the action. Your comparison with ´ate’ doesn’t make sense.

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Mysticfalls · 04/05/2024 12:40

Past participle of ´drove’ is ´driven’.
eg. ‘I was driven to distraction’
or just describing someone’s personality; ‘he was very driven’.

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Coincidentally · 04/05/2024 12:41

’I was say’ us on a par with ‘could of’
ignorant.

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AllProperTeaIsTheft · 04/05/2024 12:42

Clearinguptheclutter · 04/05/2024 11:31

I sat
or
I was sitting

however I think that “I was sat�� is colloquial, not dialect, and pretty accepted in speech

This.

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marshmallowfinder · 04/05/2024 12:43

drspouse · 30/04/2024 15:14

This is dialect. So some people are correct to say "I was sat" and others "I was sitting". I hear "I was sat" in the North more than in the South.

It might be dialect, but please don't think for a moment that I'm sat/I was sat is correct.

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marshmallowfinder · 04/05/2024 12:47

BlastedPimples · 04/05/2024 12:21

To say I was sat is fine.

The varieties in the English language allow this.

No, it isn't fine. It isn't correct. It's heard everywhere, but it is wrong. I sat, I was sitting, I was seated are the correct versions.

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