‘There’s so many savings this week!’

It’s not just you.

Retired English teacher here. It drives me crazy.

Drives me crazy too. Just ignorance. (I hope nobody comes on this thread saying it’s dialect and we shouldn’t criticise because they’ll get short shrift from me.)

It’s not dialect - I’m a Brummie, an accent which many hate, but i like to think that at least I speak the ‘queen’s English’. I hate was instead of were too ?

Bignanny2, I’m a former teacher of English as a foreign language and for quite a while had a colleague - senior to me - who insisted on saying ‘I were, it were…’ etc. and anyone who didn’t like it could just get stuffed - it was (were!) characteristic of her northern U.K. speech and therefore allowed.

Never mind the confusion it must have caused for her mostly Arabic-speaking students, who’d be penalised for getting it wrong in their exams.

Esspee

Drives me crazy too. Just ignorance. (I hope nobody comes on this thread saying it’s dialect and we shouldn’t criticise because they’ll get short shrift from me.)

Drives me mad, too. Especially when I catch myself doing it...

Sorry, quoted post shouldn't be there. I started replying to it, changed my mind and forgot to delete it.

I would have thought that 'is' might be acceptable.
The situation (singular) is that there are lots (plural) of bargains.
Not that I know much about all "the rules".

How about wait "while' instead of wait "until" used all the time where I used to live and I am not hot on grammar.

Esspee

Drives me crazy too. Just ignorance. (I hope nobody comes on this thread saying it’s dialect and we shouldn’t criticise because they’ll get short shrift from me.)

Anyone, in particular, you are thinking of Esspee? What does your short shrift consist of?

Short shrift or otherwise, a lot of people do "mistake" grammar issues for colloquialisms.

Some dialect that others would label slang is actually old English and Scots. The one that comes to mind quickly is "How do", translated for southerners means "How do you do" a proper greeting.
We all in the "North" do not say were instead of was. Incidentally, where would you put the border for the north "Me old China"?

The North is all a bit of a mystery to me, I mean how northerly does somewhere have to be before its The North?
I don't really understand the Midlands, either, in terms of where it starts and ends.

Yes OP, There’s +plural is irritating but I find myself saying it (e.g. There’s still so many presents to wrap.) Lazy speech? Local usage? Dialect? (I want to know what the short shrift will be.??)
Re was and were, I vaguely remember that
‘If I were’ instead of ‘If I was’ - is something to do with the subjunctive. However, ‘I were’ just sounds wrong.

MissAdventure

The North is all a bit of a mystery to me, I mean how northerly does somewhere have to be before its The North?
I don't really understand the Midlands, either, in terms of where it starts and ends.

I wholeheartedly agree with you ar we now or perhaps always have divided our country into no-go areas where accents are concerned.
Don't people in the 'South " realise that their accents and dialects are every bit as unintelligible to northerners, why should yours be right and ours wrong. There must have been a lot of teachers, teaching poor grammar in the so-called Midlands and North. Did they all the less compitent get shipped up there to civilise the heathens?

MissAdventure

I would have thought that 'is' might be acceptable.
The situation (singular) is that there are lots (plural) of bargains.
Not that I know much about all "the rules".

Yes, but that’s different wording altogether.,

Unless I’m going more bonkers than usual, I don’t see how ‘so many savings’ cannot clearly be seen as a plural.

My mums next door neighbour came originally from Yorkshire, and she used to say "I were".
I don't recall anyone accusing her of being lazy or ignorant.

I found her way of speaking lovely.
I remember her telling my little girl to call her "Anty Ann"

If there are any savings anywhere, I’m not too fussed about whether it’s “there’s” or “there are” ££££

"I'm refusing to buy your bargains until you tell me properly about them!"

Mollygo

Yes OP, There’s +plural is irritating but I find myself saying it (e.g. There’s still so many presents to wrap.) Lazy speech? Local usage? Dialect? (I want to know what the short shrift will be.??)
Re was and were, I vaguely remember that
‘If I were’ instead of ‘If I was’ - is something to do with the subjunctive. However, ‘I were’ just sounds wrong.

As regards my ex colleague, it was not use of the subjunctive ‘were’ I meant. Just the usual sort of, ‘I were too hot/tired/hungry’ etc.

Talking of EFL teachers, a dd who taught EFL in sundry SE Asian countries and Australia, once had someone else’s students come to her in confusion, because their teacher apparently didn’t know the difference between its/it’s - or some such basic usage.
As she said, it was bloody embarrassing, especially since the fellow teacher was a Brit.

‘I were’, and ‘I was’ can both be right, depending on the case being used.

Molly is right that ‘were’ is used in the subjunctive. ‘If I were a carpenter, and you were a lady’ is correct, as it is talking about what would happen if . . .

‘I was a carpenter before I went to sea.’ is also correct, as it describes a situation that is not dependent on chance, or on other conditions to apply.

Whilst I’m here, what is the name for when something happens only when something else is happening, please? Eg ‘When we eat pork we have apple sauce’?

Is instead of are drives me crazy too ? I've heard professionals saying this and newsreaders.

Doodledog

Whilst I’m here, what is the name for when something happens only when something else is happening, please? Eg ‘When we eat pork we have apple sauce’?

I ain't got a scooby.