JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images
Updated March 10, 2019
Both "I" and
"me" are first-person singular pronouns, but they
are used in different ways. "I" is a subject pronoun, while
"me" is an object pronoun.
How
to Use "I"
"I" is a first-person
subject pronoun, which means it is used as the subject of a sentence (the
person who is performing an action or being something):
- I am tired of eating frozen waffles.
- I went to the library to check out some books.
In each of these examples,
"I" is the subject of the sentence, the person who is
"being" tired and "going" to the library.
How
to Use "Me"
"Me" is a first-person
subject pronoun, which means it is the direct or indirect object of an action
or of a preposition:
- Lisa tutored me.
- The deliveryman handed a package to me.
In the first example, the pronoun
"me" is the direct object of the verb "tutored";
"me" is not the one tutoring but rather the one being tutored. In the
second example, "me" is the object of the preposition "to."
The sentence can be rewritten without the preposition by making "me"
the direct object of the verb "handed":
- The deliveryman handed me a package.
Examples
The best way to know when to use
"I" and "me" is to identify whether the word is being used
as a subject or an object. If it's the subject of a sentence, the one
performing an action or being something, you should use the word "I":
- After I opened the presents, I was very happy.
- I asked Jim to help with the project.
- Samantha and I are taking the tour tomorrow.
When you're referring to the object
of an action, whether direct or indirect, use the pronoun "me":
- My mother told me to focus on my studies.
- The ball came flying through the air and hit me on the head.
- The weather did not look very pleasant to me.
How
to Remember the Difference
It is usually easy to tell when you
should use "I" or "me." Confusion can occur, however, when
one of these pronouns is grouped with another noun.
Take the following sentence, for
example:
- The officer was looking at Jim and I.
To determine if the usage of
"I" is correct, all you have to do is take out "Jim" to
isolate the first-person pronoun:
- The officer was looking at I.
This is not correct because
"I" is not an object pronoun. Because the person is the object of the
officer's gaze, we must use the object pronoun "me."
The same principle applies to
other examples where first-person pronouns are paired or grouped with other
nouns:
- Bill and me are excited to go to the concert.
Once we remove "Bill" from
this sentence, we see that the use of "me" is incorrect.
It's important to remember that when
a pronoun is the object of a preposition, you must use an object pronoun.
Many people make the mistake of writing "between you and I" when they
should write "between you and me." Grammarist Mignon Fogarty says the
former is a common example of hypercorrection, the result of people
trying too hard to write correctly and using grammatical rules in places where
they don't apply.
"I"
and "Me" After Forms of the Verb "Be"
In Early Modern English—the language spoken by
Shakespeare and others—"I" and "me" were sometimes used
interchangeably after the verb "be." One example, as scholars John
Algeo and Thomas Pyles point out, occurs in Shakespeare's "Twelfth
Night," where the character Sir Andrew Aguecheek says, "That's
mee I warrant you...I knew 'twas I."
"That's me" uses the
object pronoun "me," while "'twas I" uses the subject
pronoun "I." Both statements, however, are versions of the same
syntactical construction: That/it is/was me/I. Strict grammarians insist that
the verb "to be" must be followed by a subject pronoun; however, the
object pronoun "me" is frequently used in standard English. While "It is I"
is usually technically correct, you are more likely to hear the expression
"It's me." The latter is grammatically correct, however, when the
pronoun is followed by a relative clause that identifies the
pronoun as the object of an action. For example:
- It's me who was really hurt by your reckless behavior.
"Me" is correct in this
instance because it is the object of the verb "hurt."
Sources
No comments:
Post a Comment