AIBU to say it's not "ect"

[IceCreamWoes]

I've seen about 8 threads in the last 2 days with posters writing ect when they obviously mean etc. I probably am being U but it really does irrationally fucking irritate me!

I need to get out more, yes. I've had two (big) glasses of wine 😂.

So, am I?

Dull as dishwater this post….😆

'reigning in' rather than 'reining in'. Makes me grind my teeth every time.

If it was Claire and I were going to the shops that's fine. When it's just I was going to the shops, there is only one of you so was (singular as only one of you) not were, which would be more than one.

So Claire and I were ...fine

Claire's not there, just you, I was.

That’s what I thought, but when I’m trying to figure out if it’s ‘me and Claire’ or ‘Claire and I’ I and I’m trying to make sense of the correct grammar, I get so confused. My dad is forever correcting me on this on Facebook! I will say ‘me and Scarlett went to the the theatre today’ and he will say ‘Scarlett and I’ and the other thing he will say is when I say ‘I seen’ and he says ‘I saw’. And I can never work out when you’re meant to say seen or saw 😂

And 'loose' instead of 'lose'. That's a very common one on MN.

Well he may have a PhD, and have read a lot, but the two words have totally different germanic roots, so he may be an expert in his subject, but he's not correct if he was doing that.

I can't tell if you're being serious or not in the first two sentences? Maybe you're referring to a previous post.Its only ever has an apostrophe if it's a contraction of it is / it has. Never when used as a possessive.
But it's a very common mistake which I suck up in real life.

Reporting for duty! 🫡

Do yourselves find grammatical and other language errors as annoying as myself does?

I wish I even knew what some of those words actually mean in your post. I need to go back to school 😂

Sorry, off-topic, but how someone who has reproduced, more than once, can still think they don't have a binary sex is beyond me (speaking as someone whose sibling can't reproductive specifically due their intersex condition).

Didn't Anne loan you the tenner rather than lent it to you?

WOW! That is actually a simple explanation that I’ll remember, and so much more useful than my dad correcting me without actually helping. Thank you 😂

He's right. Maybe if you put the othe person first that might help? So it's always Scarlets and I went.

I saw is always right, seen is only really used in 'have you seen Eastenders this week', to yourr dad, as an example. When talking about yourself , it should be saw, as in 'I saw a policeman fall over. Does that help? So seen in a question to others, saw as in talking about yourself.

My people. Ect is the worst

What's really interesting is how much some of us instinctively know this stuff but struggle to articulate why. I couldn't be a teacher!

The advice about removing the 2nd person is correct, but it was confusingly put.

Maybe it's easier to start with just yourself:

I went to the shop.

When you add Claire it must still make sense:

Claire and I went to the shop.

Now start with the incorrect version:

Me went to the shop.

That sounds wrong, so if you put Claire back in:

Me and Claire went to the shop

It might sound ok but it's wrong.

I raise you "vicer versa". It's bloody "vice versa".

Also, (and this is not something it's ever going to be a good time to correct if it crops up it conversation) "Klu Klux Klan". It's KU! KU Klux Klan. Making it more alliterative than it already is makes it sound cuter! Why do you want to make murderous racists sound cute?

I feel better for venting. Thanks.

Thank you! At least I know I can’t go wrong with ‘I saw’ when I’m trying to figure out if it’s seen or saw. Now I know it’s never ‘I saw’ 😅

Oh that reminds me.

Almost nobody seems to be able to distinguish phase from faze.

Posters are always claiming not to be phased. Bit sci-fi, maybe?

I have to say, and this isn't an option available to most kids, I learned more about English grammar from learning Latin than from English lessons at School. I clearly remember the 'who knows what a subjunctive is' question, where Mr C was greeted with 26 blank 12 year old faces. Turns out it's 'if I were you'.

'If I was you' is another one that pisses me off, but I get why it happens. But conditional tense people!

'Claire and I were going to the shops.' Claire and I are two people and the plural form of the verb applies.

'I was going to the shop'. That's one person, therefore the first person singular form of the verb applies.

Some verbs are irregular: I was, you (single subject) were, he was, she was, we were, you (plural subject) were, they were.

Maybe that's the reason you find it difficult.

Completely agree. I would never remember various bits like the pluperfect if it wasn't for Latin. Teaching English grammar was so far out of fashion when I was at school.

There was a big push to roll out the Minimus course to primary schools a few years ago.