The Monday Rant: I vs. Me

Here's something I see a lot:

"Can you go to the store for Leah and I?"

"He gave it to her and I."

"Don't shoot Ricky or I."

Etc.

I refuse to teach Remedial Grammar 101. There are websites for that, and I suggest you check them out if you struggle with these problems.

However, this is a problem of people trying so hard to use proper grammar and failing because they don't remember the difference between nominative and objective pronouns.

As a child you said, "Me and Tracy went to the store."

Your mother corrected you: "Tracy and I went to the store, dear."

And so the next time you might have said, "Tracy and me went to the store."

And your mother would correct you again, "Tracy and I went to the store, dear."

And so while I'm wondering why we always use a trip to the store for grammar lessons, you learned that "me" is not an acceptable pronoun when used after "So-and-so and".

So now you say, "Tracy and I went to the store," which is correct.

But you also say, "Can you go to the store for Tracy and I?" which is incorrect.

Why?

Here's an easy rule: Take out the other person and the "and".

Would you say, "Can you go to the store for I?"

No, you wouldn't.

Nor should you say "for Tracy and I."

This difference is the nominative vs. objective pronoun rule.

What are nominative pronouns?

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	I	We
2nd Person	You	You
3rd Person	He/She/It	They

These are used as subjects. "I went to the store," "You went to the store," "He went to the store," etc.

Objective Pronouns are:

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	Me	Us
2nd Person	You	You
3rd Person	Him/Her/It	Them

Now, you can't mess up with the 2nd person, which is why perhaps you love to write in it.

But you use these objective pronouns if, get this, the pronoun is the object of something, say a verb or a preposition.

That is why we say "Can you go to the store FOR Tracy and ME?" "Me" is the object of the preposition "for".

That is also why we say "Don't shoot Ricky or me" because "me" is the object of the verb "shoot".

Get it? Got it? Good.

Now go forth and do ye likewise.

Love and Grammar,

Leah Joy