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Me Myself or I
Time for the English Master to settle another contentious grammar issue, before someone gets hurt. Pat asks:
My friend and I were having a dispute about when to use “me” correctly in a sentence that’s referring to two people. If I were to say something along the lines as, “Is that meat okay for Bob and I/me to eat?” would I use I or me? If I were to eliminate Bob from the sentence, it would be correct to say “Is that meat okay for me to eat?” So why would I change me to I?
Subject Verb Agreement with (N)either (N)or
A student asks the English Master to settle a dispute: Please answer this grammar question for me:
Neither my brother nor my sister ______ ever visited the White House.
a. have
b. has
c. is
d. are
If you answer it please explain why. There is a battle on our school grounds as to what the correct answer is. Thanks for the help.
Showdown – Conjunctive Adverbs versus Coordinating Conjunctions
Kevin writes:
Your semicolon discussions inspired this inquiry. Many of my students use “however” as a conjunction when they are really using it as a signal adverb to begin an independent clause.
Example: My professor is a kind soul at heart, however he is a nasty grader.
I insist that the comma should be a semicolon or period, but I’m overwhelmed with students who use “however” as the equivalent of “but.” I am increasingly seeing this usage in periodicals and among my colleagues as well. Do you think, English Master, that this usage rule is going the way of the split infinitive?
Verb Tense with Since
Marc wrote in with a question for the English Master: English is not my mother tongue; but I am very interested in improving my English. One of my problems is “Since.” What tense should I use after since? Example: I … Continue reading