I’m an old, retired English teacher. Emphasis on “‘retired.”

I make lots of grammar errors and I will never correct anyone else — although I do flinch visibly when I hear “Me and my mom seen that movie.” I understand that a language like English, to live and be useful around the world, must be organic.

I am trying to adapt to: “The police apprehended a suspect, but they are not releasing their name.” Clearly, the police want to avoid revealing the suspect’s gender as well.

The last time I audited a class at Willamette, I was asked to place a placard on my desk listing my preferred pronouns. Apparently, some students are offended by gendered pronouns and prefer to be referred to by genderless ones. By that, they mean using plural pronouns in singular ways, not wanting to be referenced as “him” or “her,” but neutrally as “they.” I spoke up. I do tend to do that. I contended that if speaking to me, the only pronoun you need is “you.” If you are going to talk about me, please don’t! Moreover, English has a neuter pronoun. It. Ironically, I may call someone “they,” but not “it.” No one wants to be referred to as “it.”

Then there is the use of the reflexive pronoun “myself,” because one doesn’t know whether the nominative or objective case is needed. “Should you have any questions, email Tom, Dick, Harry, or myself.”

For many years I have taught English to foreign speakers. I love my mother tongue, and I want my students to love it too. Nevertheless, I find myself constantly apologizing for it. It is only randomly phonetic, inconsistent, the spelling is absurd, and in conversation, we do not say what we mean. Properly, for past tense, we should say, for example, “I did,” and for future tense, “I will.” But no! Instead we say, “I used to; I’m going to.” Actually, what we say is “I’m gonna, and I usta.” And that’s the way my adult English learners want to sound: Like us! I do flinch when I write ”I’m gonna” on the board.

They also want to know how to use common idioms. Think: “It’s on me. It’s my treat.”

My personal favorite is: “We’ve got this.” It’s what someone says to you when you are going through a hard time and he or she comes beside you, puts a hand on your shoulder, and says, “We’ve got this.” It means so much more than just those words. Your concerns are immediately reduced because they are shared.

Recently, in the parking lot after class, the faithful Subaru wouldn’t start. I have Triple A on speed dial, but Seferino and Moises had the hood up and jumper cables in place before I could work my way through the AAA menu. They were speaking to each other in their mother tongue, but turned to me and said, “We’ve got this.” Wow. Just wow. On several levels.

Being able to communicate clearly and succinctly is so much more important than grammar. I’m trying to learn not to flinch.