Friday, April 20, 2012

Proper Use of "Me" and "I"

Two of the most common words used incorrectly, both in written material and in speech, are "me" and "I."

Technically, "I" is a nominative pronoun used as a subject of a sentence, while "me" is an objective pronoun, used as an object. The problem usually arises when connecting objects in a sentence. "I" is not an objective case word, but it is used simply because to most people it just sounds better.

Using "I" works for the nominative case when you and the other person are subjects of a sentence; however, if you and the other person are objects of the sentence, using "I" is not correct.

For example, "Mary and I are going to the conference" works. "You" and "Mary" are subjects of the sentence. Remove "Mary" and you have, "I (am) going to the conference."

Being objects in a sentence changes correct structure. Simply leave out the second object(s), or person(s). For example:

You may be tempted to write or say, "Would you like to join Mary and I at the conference?" By removing the second object (Mary) you have, "Would you like to join I at the conference?" Now try, "Would you like to join me at the conference?" It's easy to see that the proper sentence should be, "Would you like to join Mary and me at the conference?"

It really is just as simple as removing that second object. Let's try it again:

"Please explain proper word choice to Christine and I.""Please explain proper word choice to Christine and me."Remove the second object (Christine) and you have: "Please explain proper word choice to I," or, "Please explain proper word choice to me." See how easy it is to recognize the proper sentence?"Please explain proper word choice to Christine and me."

Of course there are some instances where you can avoid your own internal dilemma by simply using the first-person plural and stating, "Would you care to join us at the conference?' or, "Please explain proper word choice to us."

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Reader Comments

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Crystal Clear Proofing posts the greatest writing/editing tutorials. As an editor myself, I go there often to learn subtle nuances in the craft of good writing, as she has this marvelous ability to make those fuzzy, sometimes hard to determine, gray areas of correct writing, well…Crystal Clear!

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I.E AND E.G.
Thank you! I've never know what those meant or how to properly use them!

JOINT AND SEPARATE POSSESSIONThank you so much! I had a hard time finding what joint and seperate possession means! Once again, thank you!

WAIT AND AWAITOh, I love this site! Do you have a past post about lay, lie and all that good stuff?

This is a very clear and succinct explanation of the distinction between the two words."

LAY AND LIE
OMG! This is GREAT!!! I might actually understand it now! Thanks so much, Crystal. This is an awesome site!

You have a great way of explaining words. Your blog is a wonderful source for writers. I'll have to search your post to see if you have "affect" "effect", I know I use those improperly often.

AFFECT AND EFFECTThank you for this great post! I have printed it to keep it handy. Hopefully, it will positively affect my future writing.

Thanks for this post Crystal. I was going to actually email you and request that you explain the difference between these two, because these are usually a problem for me. Thanks again!

You are really rockin' this grammar instruction! I am currently working on a short story for class, which must be submitted this week, and this was very helpful. Did I get it right? (Note from CCP: she did get it right!)

WHO AND WHOM
Perfect! Got it...I keep all these tutorials in a bookmarked file now.

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Another great tutorial.

QUOTATION MARKSGreat post. Good tips about punctuation.

AWHILE AND A WHILEAnother fine tutorial. Got it added to my Clear as a Crystal file.

What a wonderful tip!

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APOSTROPHE USE WITH POSSESSIVE NOUNSExcellent and very thorough. Got this one copied and stored along with ALL your tutorials in my Crystal Clear Writing folder. :)

Another excellent post. I always have trouble with these.

Now that my eyes have re-focused after glazing over, I can say that this is why writers need to hire editors--So they don't have to think too much about grammar. I can't keep all the darn rules straight in my head. Thanks for doing what you do. I am cutting and pasting this into a new word file for grammar tips.

Good one! I'm tweeting this.

Clear and concise. Thanks.

That possessive S has at some points been the bane of my existence...so thanks for this.

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LEVELS OF EDITINGCrystal, great explanation and post today - I copied it as a word doc and stored it in my "Crystal Clear" file.

You've written a wonderful post that throws light on a rather mysterious (to me) subject.

ONE WORD VS. TWO WORDSAnother great post.

Thanks for sharing this list and clarifying these points.

WRITING DATES AND TIMESWriting dates and times is always confusing for me, so I really appreciate this, Crystal! Thanks.

Great tips. This is very helpful. Thanks.

Awesome tips. I make some of those mistakes.

I will copy and paste into a writing tips folder I've started to gather all these handy dandy things in one place. Thank you.

Great post!

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Very good and clear lesson here. Copied and pasted it into a Word Doc and saved it in my "Crystal Clear" file!

You have some good reference article(s) here, Crystal. :-)

PREPOSITIONSExcellent tutorial, got it saved as usual.

Thanks for this! Bookmarking it for easy reference.

SEMICOLONSAnother great and much needed post for people like me. This is why you are the Grammar Goddess!

Oh I agree. You are the Grammar Goddess. I have the worst time with commas and semicolons. Thanks for the helpful post. I'll have to print this out and keep it close.

I bow to you, Grammar Goddess. Another one to save in my growing list from your posts.

Oh great Grammar Goddess, how I worship you! Thanks so much for this post.

You make it look so easy!

Good one!

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COLONSAs always, awesome advice and clarification.

Thanks, Crystal. Helpful, as always.

Great advice, Crystal! I'm tweeting.

Helpful as always. Thanks.

DASHESYou should really turn your blog into a book. Now THAT is a grammar book I would buy!

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Most helpful. I just had to change a host of en dashes to em dashes in my ms.

HYPHENSThank you very much for this post!

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Such great advice! Thanks for the valuable lesson!!

Great post. Thanks.

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to clear up some of the confusion about hyphens. As always, a very helpful post.

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Another fine tutorial.

I'm pretty sure I don't use hyphens correctly. It was good to read through this advice and think about how I do use them. Thanks.

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OVER THE TOP AWARDCongratulations, you and your blog are "Over the Top."

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FIFTEEN PUNCTUATION FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOWGreat summary.

Love this post!! I needed this one. I think I might have to frame it and stick it beside my desk as a reminder when I'm writing! You rock!!

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Great tips as always :)

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EFFECTIVE WRITINGI think this is one of my favorite rules post yet. So helpful!! May have to post this one on my desk too, I know I'll get one of those flip book easels so I can have all your post handy and in my face to remind me. I need that, you are an editor extraodinaire!!!

Thanks for making grammar crystal clear once again, Crystal.

Another fine lesson, Crystal on some of the finer points of good prose. Got this one saved, too.

I love the examples - they make it so much easier to remember these rules!

And another of your posts goes into the 'keep' file. Bless you, my dear, for making it all so Crystal Clear!

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"Editors and proof readers are the unrecognized
support structure of books. Without them, books
would take authors twice as long to complete."
Comment left by Leigh Russell (CRIME FICTION)