Standard use?

Pash   Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:37 am GMT
I heard it said that the following can be call Standard use if used in casual or informal speech:

"Let’s us be sure to be on time."

What do you think?
User   Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:02 pm GMT
Nope. Not at all. I've never heard anyone say anything like that before. Perhaps in Indian English or Singapore English?
Pete   Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:09 pm GMT
I haven't heard that before. I guess you'd rather say something like:

"make sure you're on time"


Pete
Suresh   Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:35 pm GMT
I am an Idian and this is the first time I hear.
Liz   Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:55 pm GMT
No. No. No.
It's either "let us" or "let's". "Let's" is "let us" for short, let's us would be redundant and is by no means standard.
Moreover, it's "make sure you're on time".
Lazar   Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:17 pm GMT
As Liz said, "let's" is a contraction of "let us", so "let's us" would be "let us us". I've never heard anybody say "let's us" in any speech register.

The sentence should be something like, "Let's make sure we're on time," or, "Let's make sure to be on time".
Pete   Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:34 pm GMT
<<The sentence should be something like, "Let's make sure we're on time," or, "Let's make sure to be on time".>>

I thought of someting like that at first, Lazar. But rejected the idea because it was similar to what I would say in my native language, Spanish. So suddenly I assumed it was a bit odd, and prefered "Make sure you're on time" over "let's make sure to be on time".

But any way my question is, which one would sound more natural to a native speaker.

Pete
jim   Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:01 pm GMT
--"Make sure you're on time" over "let's make sure to be on time".

But any way my question is, which one would sound more natural to a native speaker.--

What, out of these two? They're two different things. If you were to say "make sure you're on time," you'd be telling someone else to be on time. If you were to say "let's make sure to be on time," you'd be including yourself. They're not really interchangable.

Out of Lazar's, I'd go with this one: "Let's make sure we're on time."
Pete   Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:37 pm GMT
Allright, cheers, man.
M56   Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:51 pm GMT
Yes, Pash, your right. It has been said, and by a very prestigious publication:

"let, don’t let’s, let’s, let’s don’t, let’s not


This verb, in its meaning of “permit” or “grant” (see LEAVE) is frequently followed by a pronoun in the accusative case: Let us pray. Let’s try to win. Redundancy sometimes occurs at the Casual level, resulting from a mistaken repetition of the pronoun already present in the contraction (Let’s us be sure to be on time), but this is Standard if limited to Casual or Informal use. Let’s you and I play them also is acceptable at those levels (the pronouns are notional or virtual subjects), but generally the nominative case is Substandard, as in the frequent misquotation Let he [should be him] who is without sin cast the first stone. 1
There are three negative idioms: Let’s not stay, Don’t let’s stay, and Let’s don’t stay. All are Standard, although Let’s don’t is more typically American than Don’t let’s, which is more typically British. 2 "

http://www.bartleby.com/68/26/3626.html