I forgot it at home

M

marget

Senior Member
City of Brotherly Love
USA English
I was taught (or at least I think I was) that if asked "Where is your book/homework/note... ?", one could not say "I forgot it at home. The correct explanation was "I left it at home". Can anyone let me know if to forget and to leave something at home are correct and interchangeable?

Thanks a lot!:)
 
    • If you say "I left it at home" I believe you did it deliberately.
    If you say "I forgot it at home" I believe you just made a mistake.
    So I think they are not interchangeable.
     
    cj427 said:
    I disagree. "I left it at home" doesn't imply intent, but if you really wanted to be clear, you could say "I accidentally left it at home."
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    I'm with Hakro... "I left it at home" suggests deliberately not bringing it...
    "I fogot to bring it with me" is the way I'd say it - where you left it is moot - the point is you didn't remember to bring it! :)
     
    Teacher: Where is your homework?
    Student: Oh no! I left it at home.
    or
    Student: I forgot to bring it with me.

    I forgot it at home.:cross:

    In this context, I left it at home is a simple statement.

    Mrs P: Did you bring your umbrella?
    Panj: No, I left it at home.

    This time, I left it at home means I decided to leave it at home.
     
    Forget: leave behind unintentionally (American Heritage Dictionary); "I forgot my umbrella in the restaurant." It works over here.
     
    I do not know if "I forgot it at home" is incorrect, but I know that as a teacher, I hear this weekly, if not daily (For the record, I do not accept this excuse). This phrase has certainly entered into very common usage (at least in schools in California). If it used to be considered incorrect, I doubt that it will be so much longer, since language changes so much with use.
     
    I agree with mccatlover and river. Perhaps to forget did once mean to be unable to recall something but as of today it definitely means to "leave something behind." To forget in Spanish (olvidar), in Italian (dimenticare) and in French (oublier) also mean "to unintentionally leave behind something".
     
    I can understand teacher's not accepting this as an excuse, but I have never heard that it's incorrect. Why was it considered incorrect?
     
    Must be the difference between which side of the Atlantic you find yourself on. My reading over-my-shoulder husband says that it is just easier to say "My dog ate it." :D
     
    sound shift said:
    I would never say "I forgot it at home", and I don't think I have ever heard it in the mouth of a native BE speaker. I will go to my grave saying "I left it at home".
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    Well, I checked not one but two but different English dictionaries (Cambridge and American Heritage) and it's there:

    1. to cease or fail to remember; be unable to recall: to forget someone's name.
    2. to omit or neglect unintentionally: I forgot to shut the window before leaving.
    3. to leave behind unintentionally; neglect to take: to forget one's keys.
    4. to omit mentioning; leave unnoticed.
    5. to fail to think of; take no note of.
    6. to neglect willfully; disregard or slight.

    I also checked my Italian, Spanish and French dictionaries and I have indeed, over many years, heard native speakers use forget in this context. However, bearing in mind that we all speak at least one dialect of English, I should point out that I have definitely heard it in Canadian and American English.
     
    look at all the variations.

    Portenio and Sound shift both say are from England however, portenio says he uses the phrase "Iforgot it at home" all the time to the contrary, Sound shift says He's never heard of that phrase and he'll never say it.

    I learned american english, and usually say "I forgot my cell-phone", I never say where I left it though, If I said I forgot my cell-phone in the car, it would mean to me, that I knew where the cell-phone was but didn't want to bring it with me, in this case I'd say I left it in the car,

    Once one of my co-workers (who had studied in England) corrected me and said that you don't forget objects but leave them in places. You however forget ideas and knowledge.

    Her reasoning sounded logical, still, I keep forgetting my cell-phone.
     
    You should know by now that Englishmen rarely agree with each other, especially when discussing how something should be said. It's one of our many idiosyncrasies! It's what makes Britain Great!
     
    I learnt my English in the UK and no teacher would accept his/her students saying they "forgot their books at home". The correct sentence would be "I left my books home/behind" or "I forgot to bring my books". Whenever we wanted to say where we left the books we had to say left, never forget.
    I left my books home:tick:
    I forgot to bring my books:tick:
    Moreover, "I left my books home" could have been done on porpose or not.
    I left my books home, they were too heavy to carry.
    Oh, no! I left them home. (by accident)
    Forgot would be: I left them by accident
     
    SusanB, since you invited us to feel free . . .

    I propose that perhaps you meant “could have been done on purpose or not.” Hopefully, you didn’t mean another possibility based on the spelling, “could have been done on porpoise or not.” That would just be weird. By the way, if you regularly see my posts, you will know that I have no right to claim either spelling or typing accuracy myself. I was just tickled with the last possibility
     
    Short version (example):

    "Where's your umrella?"
    "I omitted to bring it at home."

    Explanation (for those who still need one):

    I notice that almost all the people who think "I forgot it at home" is fine are not native speakers. But this is a matter of idiom and definitional nuance, not the sort of stuff a book provides real authority on. Besides, the definitions cited do not support that crucial additional detail of where the forgotten item was left behind.

    "I forgot it" (in the simple past) sounds deceptively a completed action but it is not, it's an ongoing state-- it does not have its beginning at a certain point in time. You're getting ready, gathering stuff you're supposed to bring-- the umbrella gets lost in the shuffle. At no particular moment did the forgetting occur. It's more the case that remembering the umbrella did not occur. At any time it could have been remembered, but it wasn't-- the act of forgetting is strewn all over the timeline, and basically occurred whenever the umbrella could've been remembered, but wasn't.

    You could've remembered the umbrella when you were in the driveway, getting into your car-- so forgetting the umbrella "happened" while you were not really at home.

    You were in a state of forgetting the umbrella (which was an omission, not an act), in fact, until you realized that you hadn't remembered to bring it.

    In view of all this, "I forgot it at home" doesn't make sense. Neither does "I omitted to bring it at home." It isn't idiomatic, and the emphatic dislike of all those native speakers is a very useful clue for anyone rethinking the "correctness" of this expression.
    .
     
    Thank you, ffb.

    I agree that too much emphasis is being placed on what is "correct" vs. what is not correct. In the US alone, there are nearly 3 billion citizens. Given that population size, there are bound to be idiomatic differences.

    In nearly four decades of speaking English as a native, I've likely never uttered "I forgot it at home." Like others, I learned that "I left it at home" carried the idea that this "leaving" was, indeed, unintentional, likening it to an act of forgetfulness.

    I might say "I forgot it," but in that statement the "where" is somehow implied.

    lilfacemaker said:
    I think I forgot it at home is correct.
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    Hi lilfacemaker,

    Welcome to the Forums! Please remember that many of our members, and guests, are still learning English. As such, we kindly request that you use standard language forms, including capitalization and punctuation.
     
    mccatlover said:
    SusanB, since you invited us to feel free . . .

    I propose that perhaps you meant “could have been done on purpose or not.” Hopefully, you didn’t mean another possibility based on the spelling, “could have been done on porpoise or not.” That would just be weird. By the way, if you regularly see my posts, you will know that I have no right to claim either spelling or typing accuracy myself. I was just tickled with the last possibility
    Click to expand...
    Thank you mccatlover for your correction. It's been a typo, sorry. I'm going to look for the meaning of porpoise, to know what nonsense I've written:D. I hope it isn't offensive.
     
    Count me in as an another American who wouldn't say I forgot it at home. I would say:

    I forgot my notebook. It's at home.
    I left my notebook at home.
    I forgot to bring my notebook from home.
     
    argentina said:
    Hi everyone! but why should "I forgot it at home" be wrong? I mean, grammatally is not incorrect, is it?
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    I don't think anyone is suggesting that it is grammatically incorrect. The prevailing opinion seems to be that it simply is not said.
    Why?
    I think this is because the simple sentence, "I forgot it," overwhelmingly means, "I forgot to bring it." (OED "To omit to take, leave behind inadvertently.")

    However, not to be too hard on the forgot it at home proponents, I will quote the King James Bible, Deutoronomy 24:19
    When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.
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    All right people so what's the final verdict?
    I left it or I forgot it? Personally I could go with - I left my paper at home because I forgot to take it with me - good grief that's too long!
     
    bianconera said:
    All right people so what's the final verdict?
    I left it or I forgot it? Personally I could go with - I left my paper at home because I forgot to take it with me - good grief that's too long!
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    In my most humble opinion, the final verdict is: (ahem, drum roll...) I left it at home! One can only leave things at home; one cannot forget them at home as I said in the first place! Am I preaching to the choir?;)
     
    marget said:
    In my most humble opinion, the final verdict is: (ahem, drum roll...) I left it at home! One can only leave things at home; one cannot forget them at home as I said in the first place! Am I preaching to the choir?;)
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    You are preaching and you don't listen to the voice of the Bible as quoted by Panj? :rolleyes:
    mariposita said:
    I can forget things at home without even leaving the house...
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    Interesting! This could lead to think that "I forgot my homework at home" would actually mean "while I was at home, I forgot about my homework"... (so your students might not be making up excuses after all, they're being very honest :D)
     
    geve said:
    You are preaching and you don't listen to the voice of the Bible as quoted by Panj? :rolleyes:
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    There are many words and usages in the King James Bible that are no longer considered normal in English.
    mariposita said:
    I can forget things at home without even leaving the house...
    Click to expand...
    I forget things at home too. I forget where I put the keys. I forget where I left my pen. I forget to turn the lights off at night. I forget to feed the cats (well, they don't let me do that for long). These are things I forget at home.

    But when I arrive at work without my keys, it's because I forgot to bring my keys, I left them at home:)
     
    "Forgot my keys at home" suggests to me that you unintentionally left your keys at home. "Left" doesn't mean you forgot them. Maybe you didn't feel like working, so you intentially left them at home.
     
    It's frustrating to know that most native speakers don't say "forgot something somewhere" to mean "left it unintentionally". I'm a Vietnamese speaker and by the linguistic thinking, I think it should be perfectly natural to say or hear that. What a pity that I can't say something should be natural like that! Where and when did the restrict appear? People in the past never say that either, did they? I want to know if this trend will be likely to change in the future of 20 years.
     
    Last edited:
    Please see this thread: I forgot / left my bag in a taxi
    In post #25, DMCL says that she would use both, with a different meanings. Another member also says he would use 'forgot' instead of 'left'.

    However, Google N-Grams indicate that in published writing, 'left' has been preferred since 1800, which is as far back as the N-Gram goes --> CLICK.
     
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