I still have my mother’s voice in my head from when I was little: "It’s not ‘Me and Sally are going to the shops’, it's ‘Sally and I’." Whether we learn English as we are growing up, or learn it later in life, we learn the rules from the people around us. We are taught that it is rude to put yourself before someone else, and that you should say I. Me and I are two words that are often confused. It may be because of that voice in our heads from when we are young that we try not to sound rude or wrong, and then we over-compensate. I
I (and we, he, she, you and they) are pronouns. They are used to represent a person instead of using their name. These pronouns are classed as subject pronouns as they do the action of the sentence. ✔ I went to the movies. ✔ She went to the movies We use I when it is the subject of the sentence – the person doing the action. If there are two or more people doing the action, we say ✔ Sally and I went to the movies. X Sally and me went to the movies Me Me (and us, him, her, you, and them) are also pronouns but they substitute for the object of the verb. They are classed as object pronouns as they are the object or receiver of the action. ✔ Sally spoke to me Me is the receiver of the talking so we use me. When there is more than one person receiving the action, we still use me ✔ Sally spoke to Jane and me Many people feel this sounds wrong - maybe because of that voice from their childhood. To check if you have it right, take out the extra person (in this case Jane) and see if it sounds right. X Sally spoke to I ✔ Sally spoke to me Myself The other day I heard a sentence on TV along the lines of X Sally and myself went to the movies or sometimes you hear X She gave it to Sally and myself This is often done as people are over correcting their grammar. Perhaps they think it sounds posher or more correct. Myself is a reflexive pronoun. It is used when the subject and object (the doer and the receiver) of a sentence refers to the same person. ✔ He cut himself You wouldn’t say X Myself went to the movies so we wouldn’t say X Jane and myself went to the movies. Myself can also be an intensive pronoun. It is used for emphasis. ✔ I made it myself In this sentence, I is a subject pronoun, it is an object pronoun and myself is a reflexive pronoun.
5 Comments
Penrose
25/11/2020 12:40:55 pm
It works since the I in the sentence is used in lieu of a person’s name.
Reply
Aksjej keke
16/1/2021 03:12:35 am
Nice
Reply
24/1/2021 11:48:26 pm
Now I understand. When I dont know something that someone is talking about, I ask because I don't want to look stupid. I used to say mom and me, for example , all the time got corrected. So I started using a person's name and I. Got corrected ,somethings. Asked. Didnt get. Just Google and got it. I understand. Thank you for the knowledge. I don't Google much.
Reply
Tracie
23/4/2022 01:56:17 pm
This was excellent way of clearing this up for me.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Marja StackMarja Stack is a copy-editor and proofreader based in New Zealand. She is the owner of Clearlingo Editing and Proofreading, which caters to all writers of non-fiction books, business publications and cookbooks. For more information or enquiries for how she can help you make your book shine, please see her website: Categories
All
Previous PostsPlain English
- What is plain English? - Why you should use plain English - How to write in plain English New Zealand English Series - NZE: How to use a semicolon - NZE: The 'singular they' - NZE: How to use italics - NZE: How to write numbers - NZE: How to write abbreviations - NZE: How to punctuate dialogue - NZE: hyphens, en dashes and em dashes - NZE: How to write times and dates - NZE: Possessives - NZE: Is our spelling different? - NZE: Burned vs Burnt - NZE: Using Māori words in English text - NZE: -ise vs -ize endings - NZE: Single or double quote marks - NZE: Punctuation inside or outside quotation marks? The Editing Process - How to write a non-fiction book that sells - How to write a book to promote your business - Copyright and Permissions - How much does editing cost? - How to self-publish your book in New Zealand - When is my book ready for publishing? - Types of editing - 5 things to tell your editor - The revision and editing process - What are beta readers? - What to expect when you get your manuscript back - How to order the pages of a book - Fact checking fiction writing - Formatting your manuscript for submission - How long does it take to edit a book? General Editing - Why I belong to editing associations - How to write recipes for cookbooks and blogs - The basics of writing a cookbook Technical - How to use Tracked Changes in Word - How to use basic Word Styles - How to fix common formatting errors in Word |