Not I, me. Me, me, ME!
Today I’m going to address an issue which has been DRIVING ME INSANE around the blogiverse, and that is people using “I” when they should be using “me.” The pronouns, I mean. I’ve seen a total of five instances of this in the past week, and I can stay silent no longer. People! Remember your grammar rules, for the sweet love of God!!! It’s your blog, say what you want, but I’m begging you, please be kind to the innocent pronouns.
Quoting from the ever-helpful website English Rules:
The sentence in question is as follows:
Please plan on joining Jin and I at Frank?s house next Wednesday, May 28th, at 9:00 AM.
Or…
Please plan on joining Jin and me at Frank?s house next Wednesday, May 28th, at 9:00 AM.My boss wanted the 2nd sentence to be sent, but Microsoft Auto Correct changed “me” to “I”. Can you explain why “me” in this situation was incorrect?
Answer: The second sentence is correct. The AutoCorrect feature was wrong. If you remove “Jin and,” it should be clear that “me” is the correct choice. … If you want to know the grammar rule, it’s that “I” is used as a subject and “me” is used as an object.
And from Grammar Puss:
I is the subject of the sentence. Me is the object.
Therefore: I do something, but something else is done to me.
She and I are going out, or
She came to see me.The most common form of pronoun abuse occurs when there is more than one subject in a sentence:
She came to see my sister and I.
But there is one very easy way in which to avoid confusion: The pronoun doesn’t change just because there is more than one party involved. In other words, just ask yourself if you would ever say She came to see I.
Thank you. That is all.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Thank you! It drives me bonkers too. I remember when President Clinton said, “Hillary and me”, and all the IDIOTS started wailing that he was wrong. NOPE!
Geeky Tai-Tai’s last blog post: Gimme One Reason To Stay Here…
July 7th, 2008 at 8:57 am
I agree. It drives me nuts.
As does “Him and I did…” NO, NO, NO - it’s “HE and I”. Mike does this ALL THE FRICKIN’ TIME. It’s almost enough to not marry him. Almost :P
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July 7th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I’m an English major and I still make grammar mistakes. It’s difficult to memorize all the rules; however, you explained that one very clearly.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Well, duh.
I hate when people do that, too.
Avitable’s last blog post: Ready for Monday
July 7th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Yes!! Bloody well said SJ - and it DID need saying! One of my pet peeves too
July 7th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I am pretty sure this is one thing I don’t do, because I live with the grammar police.
But I must say, I’ve seen much much worse on blogs.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
*Applauds Wildly* - Hooray, SJ!!! You tell em, sister.
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July 9th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Thank you all for your support in my campaign. I’m thinking about passing out pamphlets of grammar rules …
July 14th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Hello.
Someone pointed out to me in the comments of my blog that you posted this a few days before me.
I also hate it that people do this, but I find that its actually because of poor teaching at school combined with a lazy attitude to speaking English.
Good to see others are fighting the good fight as well
July 14th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Crucifer: Ah, an ally in the battle! Thanks for dropping by. That was my “blogdaughter” Suze who posted the comment on your blog. I think one reason this happens so much is that people are afraid of sounding ignorant, so they are reluctant to use the word “me.”