August 26, 2014

Me vs. I: the Grammar Series

The dilemma of whether to use 'I' or 'me' in a sentence is actually much easier to understand than most people think, once you know the trick to remembering when and in what order to use each word.

Many people don't give it a second thought to say, "Me and Bill (or Bill and me) are going to the ball game."

What you should say, instead, is this: "Bill and I are going to the ball game."

There is another set of people, though, who use 'I' in everything, thinking it makes them sound like they've figured it out.

For example, "The ball game was too boring for Bill and I, so we went home."

All of the above usages are incorrect, though. Here's why:

The trick is to break the sentence down into two separate sentences.

Take this one, for example: "Bill and me are going to the ball game."

Who is going to the ball game? Bill is going to the ball game. Me is going to the ball game. Wait... that doesn't sound right, does it? 'Me' is going to the ball game? You have to ask your self who is doing what and see if it makes sense when you break the sentence into two parts.

In this case, the correct usage is as follows: "Bill and I are going to the ball game." Who is going to the ball game? Bill is going to the ball game. I am going to the ball game. That makes sense.

Second example: "The ball game was too boring for Bill and I, so we went home."

Break it down, now. "The ball game was too boring for Bill." "The ball game was too boring for I." See? That doesn't make sense.

What you should say, instead, is this: "The ball game was too boring for Bill and me, so we went home."

Break it down. "The ball game was too boring for Bill." "The ball game was too boring for me." Now it makes sense!

As a final note, no matter which form you use - 'I' or 'me' - the other person always comes first.  "Bill and I" or "Bill and me".  Never "Me and Bill".

Hopefully, I explained this well enough.  Please let me know if I just made it even more confusing, or if you found it helpful.  Thanks for reading!

 Previous post:  You Ain't Seen Nuthin Yet


No comments:

Post a Comment