by Jennie Ruby
When we were kids my sister used to say things like "Jennie and me went to the store." And what did every adult say to her in response? "It’s ‘Jennie and I.’" After a few times, being an obedient child, she started saying "Jennie and I" at all times. Unfortunately, this strategy resulted in the occasional incorrect sentence such as "The store clerk gave Jennie and I some candy."
Now, I don’t know whether adults started correcting her back the other direction by saying "No, it’s ‘Jennie and me,’" but I do know that she and many adults have stuck with what I call the "Jennie and I" phenomenon. This results in the occasional incorrect sentence. Let’s take a closer look.
"I" versus "me" illustrates a concept known as pronoun case. When some personal pronouns are used as the subject of a verb, they are spelled one way (I, he, she, we, they), and when they are used as the object of a verb or of a preposition, they are spelled another way (me, him, her, us, them). Here are some examples of correct sentences:
- I went to the store.
- The clerk gave me some candy.
When we are including another person in the sentence, it can be harder to tell which pronoun to use. To be polite, the tradition is to name the other person first. But to get the case of the pronoun correct, a good strategy is to temporarily leave the other person out of it, determine which pronoun to use, then put the other person back into the sentence like this:
Andy and me took on a new assignment.
Remove Andy, and you have
Me took on a new assignment.
The pronoun is actually the subject of the sentence, and thus should be "I":
I took on a new assignment.
Then put Andy back in, and you have the correct sentence:
Andy and I took on a new assignment.
Remember: look for whether the pronoun is the subject or the object in the sentence.
About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Essentials of Access 2000" and "Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.
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Do you say?
Thank you for allowing Chris and me (or I)the opportunity to meet with you this afternoon.
Do you say?
Thank you for allowing Chris and me (or I)the opportunity to meet with you this afternoon.
Do you say?
Thank you for allowing Chris and me (or I)the opportunity to meet with you this afternoon.
I’m unsure of the correct way to label the back of pictures: “Andy and Me” or “Andy and I”. I try to rationalize “Andy and Me” by thinking “This is Andy. This is me. ” because when I think “This is Andy. This is I” it doesn’t sound right. I know that it would be correct to say “This is Andy and me at the beach” but it wouldn’t be correct to say “This is Andy and I at the beach.” If I just use a pronoun (me) and a name (Andy), which way is correct? Please help.
I’m unsure of the correct way to label the back of pictures: “Andy and Me” or “Andy and I”. I try to rationalize “Andy and Me” by thinking “This is Andy. This is me. ” because when I think “This is Andy. This is I” it doesn’t sound right. I know that it would be correct to say “This is Andy and me at the beach” but it wouldn’t be correct to say “This is Andy and I at the beach.” If I just use a pronoun (me) and a name (Andy), which way is correct? Please help.
I’m unsure of the correct way to label the back of pictures: “Andy and Me” or “Andy and I”. I try to rationalize “Andy and Me” by thinking “This is Andy. This is me. ” because when I think “This is Andy. This is I” it doesn’t sound right. I know that it would be correct to say “This is Andy and me at the beach” but it wouldn’t be correct to say “This is Andy and I at the beach.” If I just use a pronoun (me) and a name (Andy), which way is correct? Please help.
I have some bad news for you. “This is I” is the correct grammar, and “This is Andy and I” is correct. However, most people do not use the proper grammar for the phrase This is I, so that makes it awkward to label your pictures correctly. If you use the correct grammar, your grammar will distract readers, who will probably pause and ask themselves “Is that right? That sounds funny!”
To make the labels correct and not distracting, you might say something like “This is a picture of Andy and me.”
Hope this helps! If you need more detail about why This is I is correct, let me know, and I’ll send you more.
Jennie
I have some bad news for you. “This is I” is the correct grammar, and “This is Andy and I” is correct. However, most people do not use the proper grammar for the phrase This is I, so that makes it awkward to label your pictures correctly. If you use the correct grammar, your grammar will distract readers, who will probably pause and ask themselves “Is that right? That sounds funny!”
To make the labels correct and not distracting, you might say something like “This is a picture of Andy and me.”
Hope this helps! If you need more detail about why This is I is correct, let me know, and I’ll send you more.
Jennie
I have some bad news for you. “This is I” is the correct grammar, and “This is Andy and I” is correct. However, most people do not use the proper grammar for the phrase This is I, so that makes it awkward to label your pictures correctly. If you use the correct grammar, your grammar will distract readers, who will probably pause and ask themselves “Is that right? That sounds funny!”
To make the labels correct and not distracting, you might say something like “This is a picture of Andy and me.”
Hope this helps! If you need more detail about why This is I is correct, let me know, and I’ll send you more.
Jennie