Hello, everyone.
When we want to help someone do something, we often start the sentence/offer with, 'Here, let me (help you with that)'. It's something I would say, anyway.
I'm just wondering what here means in that expression. I googled it, but I couldn't find any explanation of what here means in such a structure.
I know it's really trivial and maybe even unnecessary to even bother about what it means, but I'd sleep better if I knew.
I'd really appreciate your help with this.
Many thanks.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
@gilbert posted:When we want to help someone do something, we often start the sentence/offer with, 'Here, let me (help you with that)'. It's something I would say, anyway.
I'm just wondering what here means in that expression.
Hi, Gilbert—Grammatically, "here" seems to me to be an interjection in this usage; that is, I think "interjection" is the part of speech of "here" here.
As far as the meaning of "here" goes here, I'd say that it is basically meaningless except as a discourse marker indicating that an offer to help is forthcoming.
@David, Moderator posted:As far as the meaning of "here" goes here, I'd say that it is basically meaningless except as a discourse marker indicating that an offer to help is forthcoming.
Exactly! It is used to call the interlocutor's attention.
Hi, David and Gustavo.
Great answers!
After reading what you guys wrote, it dawned upon me that I could think of Here as being a part of the phrase, 'I'm here now...' . That would work, wouldn't it?
Thanks so much.
@gilbert posted:After reading what you guys wrote, it dawned upon me that I could think of Here as being a part of the phrase, 'I'm here now...' . That would work, wouldn't it?
That's an interesting idea, Gilbert. Unfortunately, I don't think it will cover all or even most of the cases in which "here" is used as an interjection, where there seems to be no ellipsis at all, "here" merely performing an abstract function as a discourse marker and social cue in diverse contexts.
It's comparable to "now" in "Now, what do you think of that?" It means nothing and elides nothing, but functions, as I see it, as a linguistic gesture. As Gustavo says, it is used to call the interlocutor's attention. It's worth noting that we find this use of "here" almost exclusively in in-person, nonwritten contexts. See also:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/here
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/here
Hahahaha! I tried, David!
Thank you so much, David, for putting this in perspective for me. You've enriched my understanding by saying that Here functions as an interjection that is (and I quote from what you wrote) merely performing an abstract function as a discourse marker and social cue.
And thank you for the links.
Grateful as always,
Gilbert
