Is it gramatically correct English to say 'Susan and me' or 'Susan and I'?

Question

Please provide prrof as to which is the right one e.g. URL! Thanks!

Answer 1

Both are correct, depending upon the sentence. the way to establish the correct usage is to delete the words "Susan and" from the sentence. For instance :

"Susan and me went to the concert". Reduce to : "Me went to the concert". That's wrong, so the sentence should be "Susan and I went to the concert".

"These $1800 Manilo Blahnik shoes belong to Susan and I". Reduce it to : "These $1800 Manilo Blahnik shoes belong to I" Wrong again, so the usage should be "These $1800 Manilo Blahnik shoes belong to Susan and me."

Simple. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

If it is the subject of the sentence, then "Susan and I", in object position, it is "Susan and me".

It is amazing how many people who know nothing about grammar actually feel like they are qualified to answer this question.

Or

Perhaps it is just the free and easy 2 points that lead the ignorant to bleat forth their answers.

But you asked for a URL. Do not trust the internet. It is completely unregulated and any Tom, Dick, or Harry can post whatever they want without anyone stopping them. I teach at a university and I do not allow my students to use internet references. The internet is about as reliable a source of information as the local bar. Just look at the answers to your question: Most of them are WRONG.

EDIT: And even after my post, there were three totally wrong answers and only two correct answers. Don't trust Yahoo Answers.

Answer 3

It's a shame that so many posters insisted wrongly that "Susan and I" is the only correct answer. As some people have pointed out, if the phrase is the object of the sentence, it is correct to say "Susan and me".
Eg: Send a copy of the document to Susan and me
but: Susan and I saw a copy of the document.

A good trick is to imagine what the sentence should be without the "Susan and" bit - send it to me, I saw a copy.

Answer 4

It depends on the sentence. Susan and I went to the movie. Susan and I are the subjects of the sentence. The movie is for Susan and me. Susan and me are objects of the preposition for.

Answer 5

Oh please people! It´s NOT Susan and I, it can be either depending on the context of the sentence.

eg.

* He accompanied Susan and me to the shops

(You say he accompanied ME, not he accompanied I)

OR

* Susan and I went to the shops

(You say I went to the shops, not ME went to the shops.)

If you´re ever in any doubt, take out the other person from the equation and see what you´d say if you were just talking about yourself.

I can understand someone having a doubt about something like this, but what I can´t get my head around is how SO MANY people are CONVINCED that it´s always "Susan and I"

Answer 6

Well, here is the big secret to that. Both I and Susan and I may be used as the subject of a sentence. This would be the use of the nominative case: "used as the subject of a verb." When the first person singular pronoun is used in the objective, such as the object or indirect obj., object of a preposition... eg: "He threw the ball to me." (to me) is a prepositional phrase of which me is the object. Likewise: "He threw Susan and me the ball." where both Susan and I were thrown the ball make both Susan and I indirect objects as receivers of the ball (obj.) By the way, Susan and I are subject in the passive voice when we were thrown the ball. Otherwise "Susan and I both said 'we.'" makes us both subjects. I think also an appositive uses the nominative case. eg: We, Susan and I, said 'I' together.

Answer 7

It depends on the context. If you wish to say that the two of you are doing something the the correct way is Susan and I. e.g. "Susan and I went on holiday". Think about it. You would never say "Me went on holiday"

Conversely, if the two of you have something done to you the correct grammar would be Susan and me. e.g. "The postman gave Susan and me a letter". Again leave out the Susan part and ask yourself if you would say "The postman gave I a letter"

Answer 8

Both could be potentially correct depending on the context-
An easy trick to help remember is explained below: just remove the other person (in this case "Susan"), and see if the sentence makes sense:

For example:
"The gift was for Susan and (me or I)??"
Well, remove "Susan", and you see that the correct usage in this case would be:
"The gift was for me"
So use "me" in this case

Another example:
"Susan and (me or I) are going to the movies"
Remove Susan and you get:
"I am going to the movie"
As you see, only "I" would work in this case.

Hope this helps!

Answer 9

If it's an object, then "Susan and me" is considered grammatical.

As a subject then it is considered grammatical in the opinion of prescriptivsts - people who teach you grammar like your English teacher or people who work for a newspaper. It's something you wouldn't want to say in formal situations.

However, many people will be surprised to know that in the view of linguists, "Susan and me" as a subject is perfectly acceptable. It is considered as a colloquialism. The tendency to say "and me" as a subject may be a tendency borrowed from the French. They say "Susan et moi" instead of "Susan et je."

Answer 10

It depends on the construction of the sentence. If you can take the "susan " away and it makes sense e.g "Here is a present from me, the car belongs to Susan and me", then yes. If it doesn't e.g. " The car belongs to I", then no. You would say " Susan and I bought a car" but not "me bought a car!"

Answer 11

It's a question of subject vs object.

If the pair is in the subject of the subject - the subject being the party/parties doing the action - it's I: Susan and I went to the store. You can indeed check by eliminating the other person: I went to the store. Correct.

If the pair is the object of the sentence - the object being the party/parties having somethind DONE to them - it's 'me': Jack went to the store with Susan and me. Again check it by eliminating the other person: Jack went to the store with me. Correct.

When we're little and learning the language we gravitate towards the me/him/her pronouns and spend a lot of time getting correct. Somehow we get it together concerning he/him and she/her. But we get sooooo prgrammed that 'me' is wrong and 'I' is right that once we learn it in scool it's too late...go figure.

I tried to find a decent site to refer for 'proof' but didn't have much time so the one below is the best I could do. Bottom line is that though they are not interchangable, they are both correct depending on placement in the sentence.