The Degradation of Proper English

Let's see how far some of you grammar police are willing to go. Grammatically, saying (or writing) "I'm him" or "that's me" when someone calls out your name is wrong. In English, using the verb "to be" (that is, alone and not as an auxiliary verb in a construction like "is helping") after a subject does not create an object to be acted upon. This is called a "subject complement" and the subject merely renames itself. To be "correct," you should say "I'm he" and "that's I."

I learned this rule in graduate school but I almost never follow it because it sounds, well, stilted and pretentious.

Woe is I?

Yup, that's "correct" English.
 
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She has now emigrated to Australia, and picked up the rising inflexion at the end of every sentence. However she has made a conscious effort to stop doing that, with 100% success, and now speaks like a regular Brit again.

Oh it's too blummin' hot! Can't get me favourite biskits over here! It's not like 'ome, is it? Flippin' beer's too cold! 😉
 
Agree.

'So, here's your problem sheeple' sounds ridiculous on two counts. I'll admit I have occasionally started sentences with 'So, . . . .' but it is something I am working on.

The other one is using 'actually' when it is not necessary.

My son got me onto Grammarly a year or two back (it's a free version - he uses the pro version for work), and it has done wonders in correcting stupid mistakes and my bad English.
 
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Shakespeare waited until Sonnet 146 to use So to start a sentence

............
So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And, Death once dead, there's no more dying then.

Although he started a sentence with So many times in his long poem "The Rape of Lucrece", although in a way that really is not the modern use of "so..."

Example:

This earthly saint, adored by this devil,
Little suspecteth the false worshipper;
For unstain'd thoughts do seldom dream on evil;
Birds never limed no secret bushes fear:
So guiltless she securely gives good cheer
And reverend welcome to her princely guest,
Whose inward ill no outward harm express'd:
 
Not being a native speaker I can’t add much to this discussion, but I believe that there is a bad influence from our side, that has some impact. Large number of non natives, interacting through modern communication platforms (X, Facebook, forums, TikTok …) sets a lot of bad examples that simply became ‘acceptable’ to young, or even thought to be right.

Not much different from ‘Repeat a lie hundred times and it will be accepted as truth’.
 
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