Maybe it's because of my mom (sorry mom) or my english-major husband, but I cringe inwardly and sometimes physically flinch when I hear or read this infraction. Okay, so here is my schpiel.
First, the incorrect:
"Bill and me went on an awesome hike the other day."
"Here's Bill and I on our way to the big game.
The way you can tell these are wrong is by dropping the other person from the sentence (with some minor changes to the sentence to make it for one person) to see if it still makes sense.
"Me went on an awesome hike the other day." Um, not unless you're Animal from the Muppets.
"Here's I on my way to the big game." Again, not quite right. However, you could use "I" by further altering the sentence, but I don't want to muddy the lesson at this point.
Then there's the one that makes my eye twitch. You NEVER have to try to make "I" possessive. Ever. The proper possessives are "our," "my" or "mine" So, you should never do this:
"Bill and I's party was the bomb." mmmmuuh, I can barely type that without my head exploding.
Okay, so here are the correct ways to write all of these sentences...just for the sake of clarity.
"Bill and I went on an awesome hike the other day."
"Here's Bill and me on our way to the big game." Yes people, you can use "...and me" and it IS correct.
"Our party was the bomb."
If you are one of the people who abuse "I" (and you know who you are), trust me, proper usage (especially in business situations) will make you sound a whole lot more competent.
Okay, I'll step down off of my soapbox and return this blog back to its more frivolous nature. Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest.
2 comments:
Hi Mandy,
How about "myself." People think they're playing it safe when they don't know that me-me,me,me is correct almost all the time. I've just looked at the definition in the dictionary and although there are many uses of "myself," at the end of the definition under the title, "Usage" it states: "The use of myself(for - me) in compound objects, as in 'He asked John and myself' is condemned by 95 % of the Usage Panel.
Gilbert Highet: "A prissy evasion of me"
Walter "Red" Smith: "the refuge of idiots taught early that me is a dirty word" - a condemnation of teachers who don't teach it all.
Also strongly condemned is the use of myself for "I" as in "Mr. Jones and myself are undecided." Ouch!
That hurt! It's also the most common.
I'm sure, Mandy, that you've heard of another pet peeve of mine. The use of the word irregardless--NO SUCH WORD!--though with continued usage it will do doubt be accepted. That's the combination of irrespective and regardless. Many, many, many educated folks use that too.
If not for being cremated, Grandma would "roll over in her grave."
Grandma once was corrected by a school janitor, who when she entered a room and startled him, he asked "Who is it?" and she answered, "It is I." He promptly informed her that she should have said, "It's me." I do know this, but use the janitor's version regardless! Woo Hoo!
Love you and enjoy your writing. Do more!
Mom
Oh, oh, oh, Mandy, how about "seen" instead of "saw." I hate reading the incorrect usage in message boards and such. I can't stand it. "Bill seen that at the store." *cringe* It's worse when it's spoken, though. It makes you want to ask the person if they ever went to school. :)
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