Pronouns: I and Me
Thursday January 26, 2006
Learn to use them correctly, to make a great impression.
It might sound crazy, but the misuse of "I" and "me" is one of the biggest problems in grammar. People seem to fear the word “me.” Why? Maybe the word “me” reminds us of baby talk, and that makes us nervous. Hey, you'd never say “Me want a sandwich,” would you? That would be so ridiculous. But to smart people, it sounds just as bad to hear something like "Would you like to go to lunch with John and I?" Read over the simple tips to help remember when to use "I" and when to use "me."
Comments
There may be a generational divide here. I have just been reading the December 2007 issue of Australian style. It reports a survey on sentences like “Will there be enough places for my wife and [I/me]. The split seems to be around age 45.
Of those under 45, only 34% chose “me”. Of those over 65, 80% chose “me”. I believe that younger generations who were not taught formal grammar at school are choosing on the basis of general look and feel. They think that “me” sounds informal and “I” is more formal.
Today, among the young, the most formal kind of pronoun is “myself”. Too bad the survey didn’t ask about “Will there be enough places for my wife and myself?”
In the sample quote below (taken from this article), the final sentence suggests to proof the compsition carefully. Oops, proofing was missed when typing this, as the word “but” rather than “be” is used.
If I could make another suggestion, it would be to avoid planting negative words. I have challenged our company to avoid using “don’t forget” and replace with “remember”. Both the words “don’t” and “forget” are negative words, yet “remember” is positive. Thanks for reading.
Sample Quote: “Don’t forget, when composing any essay or any research paper, but sure to go back and proof read carefully.”