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Alfred's Serif Users' Forums → Mathematics & Science → Nostalgia money arithmetic
Some of we older people here who lived in the UK many years ago may remember spending hours doing arithmetic problems of a type of which the following is a newly made up example.
Convert 2209 pennies to £ s d.
William
Some of we …
Hmm. 
Well, what?
Well, what?
Well, I would say “some of us” rather than “some of we” (and likewise, “some of them” rather than “some of they”). You could, of course, avoid the issue altogether by omitting the first three words (to leave you with “Older people…”) or the second and third words (leaving “Some older people…”).
But is it
Some of (we older people) here
yet
Some of us here
YET NOT
Some of we here SIC, SHOWN AS AN EXAMPLE OF BEING WRONG
though.
William
Isn’t “we older people” simply clarifying that, as used here, “we” refers to older people? If it is, then the clarification isn’t strictly necessary, so “we older people” becomes simply “we people” or even more simply “we”; replacing “we older people” with “we” means that “Some of we older people” becomes “Some of we”, but I hope it’s clear to everyone that it should be “Some of us”.
Well, I wrote it the same as if I was saying it in a conversation.
Perhaps it is some sort of language feature to indicate that whereas "us" would complete the set upon which "some" operates, that using "we" indicates that there is more to come to describe the set upon which "some" operates.
Done unconsciously because of being fluent in one's native language.
William
Well, I wrote it the same as if I was saying it in a conversation.
I have just noticed. I wrote "was" but should it have been "were"?
William
William wrote:Well, I wrote it the same as if I was saying it in a conversation.
I have just noticed. I wrote "was" but should it have been "were"?
William
I think the subjunctive in English is very largely ignored these days. If I were you I wouldn’t worry about it!
Alfred's Serif Users' Forums → Mathematics & Science → Nostalgia money arithmetic
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