The easiest grammar rule in the world—and yet people keep getting it wrong.
Believe me – it’s not I
I overheard one of the moonshiners on the Discovery channel TV show say, ”Billy trusted Joe and I to keep the mash warm.”
What kind of highfalutin’ language is that for a good ol’ boy?
He should have said, “Billy trusted Joe and me to keep the mash warm.” Not because he’s a moonshiner, but because it’s grammatically correct.
Yet I’ve heard professionals and even writers mix up the use of me and I so often lately that it shocks me.
Note I did not say “it shocks I.” That would be wrong, for the same reason it’s wrong in the previous example.
Billy trusted I, but he really shouldn’t
Why is this so hard? Would anyone ever say “Billy trusted I to keep the mash warm”? Of course not. It’s no different when you add more names. It’s still me. ME.
I often wonder if people think “I” sounds more educated than “me,” and so they use it for every circumstance.
But you don’t even have to understand the grammar (subject vs. object) to avoid making this mistake.
All you need to do is remove the other names from the sentence and you’ll hear how wrong it is.
Try this:
Remove John from this sentence: “The dog was barking at John and I last night.”
Which is correct?
1. The dog was barking at I last night.
2. The dog was barking at me last night.
I’m not going to tell you the answer. You should know.
Here’s another: Remove Sandy and Clifford from the sentence: “This picture is of Sandy, Clifford and I at the beach.”
Which is correct?
1. This picture is of I at the beach.
2. This picture is of me at the beach.
For god’s sake, it’s me. ME! Not I. This is me at the beach. This is a picture of me. Me at the beach. That’s me!
The only way *I* would be correct in labeling a photo is if you made the people the subject of the sentence, as in “Here I am at the beach,” or “Sally, Clifford and I are at the beach in this picture.”
That’s me. There I am. Both correct.
Touch me, babe
By the way, the lyrics in the Doors song Touch Me, “I’m gonna love you / till the stars fall from the sky / for you and I,” are grammatically incorrect. In this case, however, poetic license wins for the rhyme. It’s wrong, but Morrison gets a pass.
At least he didn’t sing “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon and touch I, babe…”
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Thank you for visiting! Linda K. Sienkiewicz’s upcoming novel, Love and Other Incurable Ailments, is about an anxious overthinker whose fixation on a stranger pulls her straight into chaos, heartbreak, and the inconvenient unraveling of her carefully constructed life.
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