In response to a question should one say " Not I" or "Not me"?

Answer 1

First, those who say it must be "Not I" have, oddly, not asked what the QUESTION is. If someone asked "Who did this?" the answer "Not I" would be grammatically correct, according to their reasoning, because the question was about the SUBJECT of an action. But if someone asks, "Did John give one of you the book?" the same set of rules would call for "Not me" because you are discussing the OBJECT of the action.

That, at least, is what many grammarians have often insisted on. And in the most formal settings, it is what you should say (though you might be advised in some cases to find a different way to state it, e.g., by repeating the verb in the question "I certainly did not do it!")

BUT in spoken English it has long been considered perfectly acceptable (often preferable) to say such things as "Not me" and "It's me". The other forms, and especially, "It is I", sound "stuffy", or at least awkward, to most people.

Is this due to sloppiness? Not really.

The problem is that English, unlike many other European languages, makes VERY little use of case distinctions (subject, object, etc). Rather, we emphasize syntax and word order -- these together with prepositions clarify relationships between things in places where other languages use case endings.

Now in LATIN (which English is NOT!!) a pair of nouns/pronouns connected by "copulative" verbs like "to be" are supposed to take the same case. But given our very limited use of case in English, this distinction is not very meaningful for our language. POSITION or WORD order is more important. And so we tend, rather naturally, to treat the following constructions the same way.

"It hit me."
"It was me."

That is, we use "me" ("us", etc) when it appears in the usual position (after the verb) where the object is placed.


A more formal explanation, from Greenbaum & Quirk, A Student's Grammar of the English Language:

"Case in personal pronouns involves a distinction absent from nouns, marking broadly the grammatical roles of subject and object. . . . The choice of subjective and objective forms does not depend solely upon the strict grammatical distinction between subject and object. Rather, usage shows that we are concerned more with subject 'territory' (the pre-verbal part of a clause) in contrast to object 'territory' (the post-verbal part of the clause)."
http://www.englishforums.com/English/50693/Print.htm

Answer 2

enable's merely say you gained't come across a terrorist by technique of feeling up the warm looking women human beings in line on the airport that they decide on to " victimize " . when you're in search of for a terrorist then use our elements for that reason . no longer some jackal that sells x - ray machines , no longer some sick experienced fool with a badge and some authority . you do not pull someone out of the unemployment line and " poof " we are threat-free . The " way of existence of worry " extends some distance previous the airports . The more effective we come across the reality about 9/11 the more effective we see the actual enemy .

Answer 3

'Not I' would be the proper way to decline in response to a question, however I think that I may be the only one who would actually say it in that fashion.

Answer 4

Not I.

Consider this ; If some one asks "Who did that?" You may answer "I did not." You would not say "Me would not." or you may say "I did." but not "Me did."

The word 'me' is the objective, personal pronoun of 'I' whereas 'I' is the nominative case singular of the first personal pronoun, a word used by a speaker in mentioning himself.

Unfortunately 'me' has crept into such popular usage that the confusion you describe arises.

Answer 5

"Not I" would be the proper response, it also depends on who you're talking with. When with friends and family I say "Not me".

Answer 6

either one. But I believe "not I," would be the correct response

Answer 7

The correct response is "Not I." The reason is because in grammatically correct sentence structures, "I" is a subject noun as in: I, You, He, She or It. The word "me" is an object to be properly used along with prepositions as in : "for me", "to me" or "about me".

Answer 8

'Not I' would be the proper response, but if you asked me it is way too "proper" and sounds kinda retarded when you say it. I usually say 'Not me'.

Answer 9

You could say both, but "Not I", is normally the correct way to respond

Answer 10

People like to think that "not I" is proper, but in this case it is not. Not me is correct.