Should flag overuse of "become" in post-millennial English
In previous generation we used to be corrected for overusing "get" in places where it should be "become".
But lately on YouTube I've noticed younger native speakers doing the opposite. I think millennials probably don't do it but younger do. Then again it could be one of those things that starts with younger speaker and gets adopted (becomes adopted) by older speakers, like "invest into" replacing "invest in".
I haven't picked up on the exact contexts yet, but passive use seems to be a factor. "Be" and "get" are both used for passives and sometimes it's probably not right to use "get". But I think at least some cases of this error are using "become" not just in place of "get" but also in place of "be".
It's hard to Google so I'll have to collect examples here when I read/hear them:
- ... there are certain things which become infashion because maybe right now we're in a world where we don't have the data ...
- I mispell a lot of words too, and it becomes handy.
- why is the most educated generation in history becoming ghosted by minimum wage jobs?
For contrast, here are examples where "become" is correct:
- Okay, so I think we're at this special time now where at least in some directions AI has become superhuman at least on certain tasks
- ... especially when you become a professor you have to teach you have students you have a grand administrator
And some examples feel "off" to me but I'm not sure how to best analyse:
- I think the point is that it becomes a stepping stone to a more reasonable rust implementation.
Source: Automattic/harper