On March 5, Jazmine Hughes wrote in a New York Times blog,
“Recently, at an IRL party — that is, a party that takes place ‘in real life,’ asopposed to where I generally live, which is on the Internet — a guest asked afriend and I how we met.”
The sentence includes a common error I have been seeing and hearing moreand more often lately.
The error is using the subject pronoun “I” when the object pronoun “me”should be used.
Even President Obama can be heard using “I” for the object of a sentence. Athis first press conference, on November 7, 2008, he spoke about being invitedto tour the White House. “Well, President Bush graciously invited Michelle and I to -- to meet with him and First Lady Laura Bush.”
The rule for object pronouns
English has eight subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they.Subject pronouns show the actor in a sentence. For example, in the sentence“I speak English,” “I” is the actor.
English also has eight object pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, you andthem. We use an object pronoun to show the receiver of the action in asentence, as in “She gave the book to me.” In that sentence, “me” is thereceiver.
People often confuse subject pronouns and object pronouns in sentenceswith two receivers.
Take the sentence “President Obama gave an award to my brother and me.” We can easily see the need for an object pronoun because of the preposition“to.”
But some sentences do not have prepositions, as in “Obama asked mybrother and me some questions.” The sentence still needs the object pronoun“me.”
 |
|
Everyday Grammar for Object Pronouns piece |
However, some people might want to say “Obama asked my brother and Isome questions.” You know that sentence has a grammar error because “I” is not an object pronoun.
Why people say “I” instead of “me”
I think the confusion about “I” and “me” comes from instruction we get aschildren: to be polite. When we mention ourselves and another person in asentence, we are told to put the other person first.
For example, we might be reminded to say, “My brother and I went to theWhite House.” Saying “I and my brother went to the White House” isgrammatically correct but would sound impolite, or rude.
So, English speakers who are faced with two people in the object position in asentence often grab for the phrase “somebody and I.” They do not notice thephrase is grammatically incorrect. It just sounds more polite.
Another theory about the “I” or “me” error comes from a 2009 New York Timesarticle “The I’s Have It.”
Writers Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman guess that peoplecorrect children who use “me” instead of “I” so much, the children grow upusing “I” even when it is wrong. They explain the term for this linguisticphenomenon is “hypercorrection.”
Back to Ms. Hughes, her party and the New York Times blog. Her sentenceshould be re-written as “…a guest asked a friend and me how wemet.” Shortly after I called the error to the newspaper's attention, the sentencewas corrected.
A simple way to check for the correct pronoun in a case like this is mentally toeliminate the second person. Try saying in your head “A guest asked me howwe met,” or, “A guest asked a friend how we met.” That simple check makeschoosing the correct pronoun easier.
Now you will always know the right pronoun to use – take it from me!
I’m Jill Robbins.
Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kellywas the editor.
_____________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
error - n. something that is not correct; a wrong action or statement; mistake
instruction - n. the action or process of teaching : the act of instructing someone
phenomenon - n. something (such as an interesting fact or event) that can be observed and studied and that typically is unusual or difficult to understand or explain fully
hypercorrection – n. the mistaken use of a word form or pronunciation based on a false analogy with a correct or prestigious form
Now it’s your turn. In the comments section, tell us about your own grammargripes. What do people say in your language that bothers you?
