Comments on: Me Myself or I

By: Deanna

Deanna — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:05:14 +0000

Which one is correct?
He was aware of the difficulty between my mother and myself.
-or-
He was aware of the difficulty between my mother and me.
Which one is correct?
Greg put the camera on automatic so he could film both he and his brother.
-or-
Greg put the camera on automatic so he could film both himself and his brother.

By: Keegen

Keegen — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:31:29 +0000

I thought to use myself, but spellcheck corrected it to be I…which is correct in the following sentance?
We have requested the nights of Jan 2 & 12th at the Novotel Hotel and either I or our air expert John will forward you this confirmation as soon as it is received from Bangkok.
Thanks!
Keegen

By: Karl

Karl — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:13:50 +0000

Yes, that is unfortunate.Perhaps it says something about how intelligent nearly everyone is.

By: TrevC

TrevC — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:44:13 +0000

Just stumbled across this via Google. Very interesting.
Unfortunately, nearly everyone will still perceive the correct usage as unintelligent sounding.

By: p

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:16:23 +0000

A friend argues that you never put yourself first in a sentence such as “I and Joe went to town.” He says, it is always “Joe and I.” I had heard on the other hand, that “the first named person gets blame or praise for the action in the sentence, therefore order your list accordingly.” Which is right? Thanks!

By: SmithHousehold

SmithHousehold — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:45:44 +0000

I found the question I was wondering about asked by Keri somewhere above but no answer so I was wondering if using I or me in photos on MySpace is proper… I see a lot of people with titles of their photos “Mom and I” and so on…. I think me sounds better but what is correct? Isn’t me correct if you are the object… and are you not the object of the photo?

By: Karl

Karl — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:56:52 +0000

Hi Terry, Sure, there are times when it's appropriate to use what might seem to be incorrect grammar. The case you mention is a good example. Another one is "Woe is me." Check out Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O'Conner for a lighthearted discussion of some of these grammatical bugbears.

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:53:48 +0000

Hi Karl,
Are there times when it’s okay to use the wrong pronoun when common usage makes the correct form uncomfortable?
For example, the famous phrase used at break-up time: “It’s not you, it’s me.” just sounds pretentious using the correct pronoun: “It’s not you, it’s I.”
Where do you draw the line?

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:42:03 +0000

Alstair,
How about this?
“If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact either Sue or me. You can send either of us an email at sue.smith@wpperie.com.”
or
“If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact either me by phone, or Sue at sue.smith@wpperie.com.”

By: Alastair

Alastair — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:07:50 +0000

Karl,
Regarding your correct of the first post to: “If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact either Sue or me at sue.smith@wpperie.com“, I’m not convinced this is correct. I’m not so sure the original sentence is correct or complete either, unless the email address sue.smith@wpperie.com applies to both people. It feels like the sentence is out of context and if the sue.smith email address is in fact Sue’s email address, I would rewrite it as:
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me, or Sue at sue.smith@wpperie.com.
Actually, that doesn’t really read too well either. The whole sentence is wrong!