GRAMMAR POLICE - Which is correct?

[Longingforthesummer]

A. You could have chosen tons of others to follow, but you chose me.
B. You could have chosen tons of others to follow, but you choose me.

A

A

A

A.

A.

A is better than B, but “thousands”
would be better than “tons”.

Either.

It depends - 'chose' refers ro the past, 'choose' refers to the present.

Does it refer to the action of choosing in the past? At a particular time in the past someone decided to follow someone else? Then 'chose: is correct.

Or does it refer to an ongoing action? Someone is following someone else today, and it's the fact that this is happening in the present that's important? Then 'choose' is correct.

Different tenses of the same verb. Are you talking about a past decision or one in the here and now? Dislike use of a measurement of weight being applied to countable nouns.

A.

Most posters lately seem to be writing could of instead of could have or could've so full marks to you for both phrases :-)

A

A

A, because 'chose' is past tense so that keeps the sentence consistent (with 'could have chosen').

Editor here. They're both correct, but as @Chersfrozenface pointed out, they mean different things. One refers to the choice being in the past; the other has it in the present moment.

A is more idiomatic so it sounds more "right" to most people's ears. If you wanted to say B but make it sound more natural, you could do "You could have chosen tons of others, but here you are choosing me" or "it looks like you're choosing me" or similar.

That is something which really annoys me!! Reporters and tv presenters have even started using it and it is really just basic grammar! I often wonder if some actually went to school! Another bone of contention is "yous"!! What the hell is that meant to mean? They must see fields of "sheeps" on their train journey!

I agree with this.

B isn’t ‘correct’ as the OP writes it, though — the switch from past to present tenses mid-sentence doesn’t make much sense. If the option to choose others was in the past, so is the actual choice, unless, as with your alternative suggestions, the second clause flags up the fact that the speaker is addressing the chooser at the actual moment of choice.

Either would be correct depending on which tense of choose you want to convey. I think option B sounds like a lyric from a song!! If don't like "tons" in this phrase, I would have used "so many" or "lots of" or "numerous"...

the speaker is addressing the chooser at the actual moment of choice.

That's what I assumed she meant. It's less common, but it could happen, especially in dialogue if she's writing fiction - "You could have done it the right way, but now look at you, you're doing it the wrong way!"

But you’re using a different tense there.

“You could have chosen tons of others to follow, but you’re choosing me” works, as does “You could choose tons of others to follow, but you choose me”, but the switch from present perfect to present simple jars, it should be to past tense or present continuous.

Depends on the context actually and the meaning you intend to convey.

A implies a sentence spoken aloud, something declarative: "you chose me".

B implies an inner thought, something reflective and not spoken aloud, and perhaps said to one's self "you choose me", even if heard by others.

Think of the classic line from Casablanca for another example: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

Reflective and said loosely to Sam, but really for the benefit of the audience to know Rick's inner thoughts.

If Ric was declaring it to Ilsa he would have said: "you" instead of "she".

So as I said at start, what is the context you intend to convey?

A.

Except I'd use:

'You could have chosen anyone to follow, but you chose me.'

spelling police here... it should be 'tonnes'. unless you are in the US, in which case feel free to mutilate the English language

It’s definitely not tonnes. Tonnes is a specific measurement. Tons is the normal colloquial use in British English.

OR:

"....but you have chosen me".