Wading through those muddy waters of grammar again….
Do you see anything wrong with the following sentences?
He wrote to Sarah and I to tell us he was OK.
They rode with Bob and I to the concert.
Everyone from my students to my peers to Our Esteemed President, Barack Obama, is a little confused about when to use the pronoun ‘I’. I think people over-use it because they think it sounds distinguished. But to me, it sounds wrong.
For example, I’ve heard Obama say things like, This has been a great experience for Michelle and I.
My friends even say, She came to Rob and I’s party.
(shiver)
But take the other person out of the equation for a second. Would you ever say, This has been a great experience for I or She came to I’s party?
No. You’d say “for me” and “to my party”. Thus, you should say, This has been a great experience for Michelle and me, and She came to Rob’s and my party.
When is it appropriate to use the pronoun ‘I’?
- When it’s the subject of your sentence: Michelle and I had a great experience.
- …Even if the subject comes after the verb ‘to be’: It is I.
- After ‘than’: She is stronger than I. (This one could be confusing, but just think, She is stronger than I am. You wouldn’t say “stronger than me am”.)
This is I’s understanding of the rules. Am me right or wrong on this one?
You be right. I’s 4th grade teacher, Sister Mary Henrietta, taught me your’s rule’s.
You’re right! My mom was an English teacher and even though I have forgotten many of the rules, I remember this one. I forget other things such as do I say, “If I were to do this…” or is it, “If I was to do this….”. Were and was are both past tense, but I’m talking about something I haven’t yet done, so It confuses me. I think the first one is correct, but I’m not confident about that. There are more thing that confuse me too, but I can’t think of them right now. I’ll write more when I think of them.
Yes, Ashley! “If I were” is correct, though the subjunctive tense has largely been eliminated from our language (alive and kicking in all romance languages though), so most people say “if I was”, and I think grammarians have accepted it by now.
The only time you really have to use subjunctive in English is in a sentence like: “Her dad insists that she study” (not ‘studies’). For most verbs, we say, “I want you to go”, not “I want that you go”.
Paul, you are I’s beefy, not-bird-chested hero.
Me learn something new everyday.
Holy Shit! Me brain hurts now.
Phil, you mean “every (space) day”. The word ‘everyday’ is an adjective, like “an everyday occurrence”. I’M A NERD! EVERY DAY!
Um, Joe, you mean, I’s brain hurts now.
There is an exception to every grammatical rule, and that exception is “unless you’re rapping…”
In 2004, me remember watching this state senator named Barack Obama deliver the DNC keynote speech. Me turned to I’s dad and said, “Well…that was quite a speech. Me think he has a future in politics.” I’s dad said, “Yes, but did you catch that he used a pronoun that didn’t match its referent in number? Minus points.” (The phrase in question was “If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent,” a mistake so common it is practically standard usage at this point.) From that point forward, me’ve always *staunchly* maintained that his grammar mistakes are intentional ploys to soften up his overeducatedness. #fanboy #apologist
“Rob’s and my party” just sounds so weird to I…Me almost always maneuver around it and just use “our” in that construction.
Yes, Dan, or singing reggae. Common Jamaican patois to say things like “for I”.
Liz S, “me’ve” is now my most favoritest word. Alas, the relating of “a [singular] senior citizen” with “their [plural] prescription” is most likely considered correct or at least acceptable now. And honestly, that one doesn’t bother me because using “his or her” is clunky. Other languages got it right when they made up a single possessive pronoun, like ‘su’ in Spanish, for both genders.
drives me fucking crazy too. up there with “free” and its/it’s.
Loved this! Thanks for the reminder!
Margo, what’s wrong with free? Or is it the superfluous quotation marks you “object” to?
You’re welcome, Murph. Sincerely, CFD’s Resident Grammar Geek
Ha! This post is well timed for me. Case in point, both of my cfd comments the other day could not have come across more wrong. My texting abilities + autocorrect + editing skills = disaster. I am push press, Smartphone, and grammatically impaired.
Me fuck up grammatically everyday. Me everyman that way.
I’d disagree with the last one. I think you can say, “she is stronger than me,” and similarly “she is faster than him,” and not sound like an idiot. All the others, I agree with. One of my favorites is when people use “myself” as part of a conjoined subject.
“Paul and myself are going to wear pink socks during the WOD.”
For some reason, I’ve been seeing that one a lot lately.
Courtney, CrossFitters are exempt from grammar rules. Phil, that rhymed.
Cliff…”Allow myself to introduce…myself.” -Austin Powers
I did some research, and turns out we’re both right. There’s been a debate since the eighteenth century about whether ‘than’ is a preposition (which would be followed by ‘me’) or a conjunction (which would require ‘I’).
Read this: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/than-I-versus-than-me.aspx