Why is "it's me" wrong and "it's I" right?

Question

I'm doing a essay on descriptive and prescriptive grammar and I need to know where "it's me" is grammatically wrong even though everyone uses it like that.Thanx!!!oooxxx

Answer 1

To be is a linking verb, meaning that the subject and the object are one and the same. Therefore, you use a subject pronoun any time you have a form of be - is, are, was, were, etc. "This is she", NOT "this is her", is correct grammar when answering the phone. It is not obvious to people, because it is natural to put things after the verb in the objective case (him, her, me). It is only this one verb that works this way, and you hear it used incorrectly so often, that it is hard for people to remember the right way to say it.

'That's her right over there' is so common, it would sound strange to hear 'that is she right over there'. But if you were to say 'There she is, right over there', it would make sense, as opposed to 'There her is, right over there'. It all has to do with the pronoun coming before or after the verb - it just sounds right to have the pronoun after the verb be in the objective case, even if it is incorrect.

Another common error is misusing who and whom. Who and whom follow the same rule - you use who wherever you would use he (subject pronoun), and whom whenever you would say him (object pronoun). Whom were you speaking with? Whom is the object of with (you were speaking with whom). People get confused by the word order in a question, and say who because it comes first, like subjects usually do.

Another common mistake is to use a subject pronoun instead of an object pronoun. People will say, "You went with my mom and I to the store" instead of my mom and me. If you took my mom out of the equation, it would say, "You went with I to the store." People can see that is wrong, but not the other!

Answer 2

The simple answer is that the verb "to be" takes the same case after it as before it. So it should be "It's I" - but it sounds so pretentious. Nearly everyone says "It's me".

Answer 3

Because enough people agree that it is the correct way...

Answer 4

"It's me" is right and "It's I" is wrong. Everything you're being taught is wrong. The school system is wrong. Politics and bureaucracies are wrong. War is wrong. You are wrong and so am I. We are all equals in confusion as we are in enlightenment.