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Friday, October 19, 2018

THAT BEING SAID


After reading the posting NOT LIKELY on Tuesday, my brother mentioned how he disliked people saying "That being said." as a filler and that recently his doctor was talking to him and she said, "That said." and then continued with the subject.

I said that the phrase is meant  to be used as a transition from something one has just said to something different, which contradicts the first statement.

I said, "To be grammatically correct, she should have said, "That having been said." "That being said" is an adverbial participle phrase; the verbal portion of the phrase "being said" does not contain a finite verb and ONLY finite verbs are tensed.

Oh, why do I quibble?

I asked, "What's wrong with saying HOWEVER?"

I have also noticed the prevalence of that phrase in the conversations of other people. I think it is a HOOK to be able to continue on with a statement.

My own HOOK, which I have tried to quit using is "ANYWAY". I encourage people to point it out when I use it to help me to overcome using it. THAT HAVING BEEN WRITTEN, at least it isn't as bad as saying: "You know what I mean?" or "You know."!

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