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"Done" is the past participle of the verb "do".
I cringe at usage such as a "Done" deal OR "Are you done your homework"
Of course, you could say you have done a steak on the grill; you might say "well-done", but to say that you are "done" with your dinner implies thjat something was "done" to you.
Any comments?
Have you ever said, "Let's do lunch"? Have you ever "gone to a do"?
If you had gone and done it, then you would have done did what the do was when the do was done.
ie. "We will do dinner". "We are doing dinner". "We did dinner". = do as the verb forms. Done does not even fit as a verb form of do. "Dinner had been done" = 'had been' for the past tense of 'is' rather than do.
Unless you want to bring in "who has done this?", I would keep done as purely an adjective equating to 'finished'
James510 said:
I cringe at usage such as a "Done" deal OR "Are you done your homework"
A caller to AWWW last year made the comment that her father always said: "Meat is done, but people are through." To me, "Are you through with your homework" sounds much better.
I don't mind being "done with" something, but using done alone drives me crazy. My husband would say, "Are you done your homework?" but I would say, "Are you done with your homework?" I wonder if this is a regional variation. He's from the east coast, and I'm from Colorado. I had never even heard this construction until I met him.
I can attest to this use of done in the Philadelphia area.
"Are you done your homework?"
"He is done his breakfast."
"She is done her exercises."
It is almost as if the (once more common) auxiliary verb to be has been preserved in the place of to have. For example, all of these could be restated as:
"Have you finished your homework?" ("Are you finished your homework?")
"He has finished his breakfast." ("He is finished his breakfast.")
"She has finished her exercises." ("She is finished her exercises.")
[edit: added the following]
The verbs in English that used to employ the auxiliary to be were mostly intransitive verbs, and mostly verbs of motion. Examples with the verb become are interesting because they easily take a compliment, and you can still find some modern examples in writing.
The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: … . (Exodus 15:2, King James translation)
Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11, verse 32)
If he shuts his jaw tightly, and you can tell from his gnashing teeth or his pursed lips, then he is become impatient towards you and the date. Reading a Man's Body Language
Ava Gardner visits him and we see how freaked out he is become. The Movie Spoiler
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