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.