Comments on: It’s Me vs It is I

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:06:26 +0000

It amazes–and saddens–me that so many people use pronouns incorrectly. Jeepers, was anyone paying attention in elementary school?

My current pet peeve is hearing adults using “Me and so and so” and “Him and whoosy” and “Her and whatsis.” I would love to correct them, but I keep my mouth shut…we all seem to be quite sensitive when someone corrects our grammar.

Charity hit the nail on the head when she suggested taking “so and so” out of the sentence to figure out the correct pronoun to use. (My mom taught me that when I was learning grammar in grade school.) It also works with “him,” “her,” “she,” and for “we” and “us.”

When I was a kid, my family attended church every Sunday. After the minister started a sentence in his sermon with “Us Christians” one morning, we discussed the correct usage of “we” and “us” all the way home. Although if the minister knew the trick to drop the word “Christians” from the sentence when debating the use of “us” or “we,” I’ll bet he would have recognized his error.

I’m positive that my family missed the point of the sermon, but I’m glad that my parents were sticklers about grammar!

By: Grace S.

Grace S. — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:03:24 +0000

Charity, your suggestion (to take out the “so and so and” part of the sentence to determine the correct pronoun to use) is one I learned long ago from teachers in elementary school, and passed along to my students when I taught. It is, indeed, the easiest and quickest way to figure it out.

It is amusing to note that, often, ministers–many of whom have studied several languages (including Latin & Greek, which require application of grammar)–use “I” when they should use “me.” My theory is that they believe saying “Jesus died for you and I” sounds somehow more lofty and educated than “Jesus died for you and me.” I think it shows up especially when the phrase is the object of a preposition (as opposed to the direct object of the verb).

By: Charity

Charity — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:37:23 +0000

CC–

If you’re ever in doubt, just leave the “so and so” part out and you’ll know!

“The tickets were given to I,” is obviously incorrect. No one would say that! Since you’d say that they “were given to me,” you would also say that they “were given to Susan and me.”

Similarly, “Me received tickets to the concert” is absurd. Since you would say “I received,” you would also say “Susan and I received…”.

I think that’s the most logical way to remember which to use!

By: CC

CC — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:02:59 +0000

Darryl,

Thank you for the further clarification. Now it’s perfectly clear! I think that proofreader may have been right. There were very few things that she was wrong about…

I appreciate it.

Best,
CC

By: Darryl Cooper

Darryl Cooper — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:30:07 +0000

CC, Your proofreader may well have been correct depending on where the “so-and-so and (I,me)” occurs in the sentence.
Consider:
The tickets were given to Susan and me. Correct.
Susan and I received tickets to the concert. Correct.
All to do with subjective (I) and nominative (me).