The most common mistake is whether to use 'I' or 'me'.
'Me and my friend are going shopping'
'It's me'
'Me, him and her all have no money'
In all three of the above cases, 'me' should be 'I'. Moreover, in the third sentence, 'her' should be 'she' and 'him' should be 'he'. Also, you should always put yourself last when listing a group of people. Thus, the correct forms of each of the above sentences are as follows:
'My friend and I are going shopping'
'It's I'
'He, she and I all have no money'
Other people, in an attempt to use 'I' instead of 'me', do so incorrectly. I notice that Australians in particular make this mistake quite often.
'He's walking with John and I'
'That car belongs to my wife and I'
'Would you like to join Katie and I for a drink?'
In all of these cases, 'I' should be 'me'.
Basically, 'I' and 'he' and 'she' are all subjective pronouns. 'me', 'him' and 'her' are all objective pronouns. It's simple really.
2007-02-02 00:19:46 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
>papa.rumbo
The use of the pronoun 'you' (and other varients thereof, e.g. yourself) to denote the pronoun 'one' (and other vairents thereof) in the English language is perfectly admissible and its use in this manner is neither illogical nor ungrammatical.
Furthermore, my use of the word 'basically' (and not 'basic' as you described) in the final paragraph of my text is employed as a modifier to emphase the 'basic' grammar, of which all English speakers should be aware.
2007-02-02 01:32:45 · update #1
Wel putt, giv yaself a pat on the bak. Me reely lernt loades from wot ya writ. x
2007-02-02 00:26:03 · answer #1 · answered by red 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I read a linguistics paper once in which the reason given for the phenomenon you describe and decry was that such a rule (that the subject form of part of a compound subject must be the same as the subject form of a simple subject) was not a possible feature of any natural language. In other words, it was made up by language mavens of some sort to reflect how, in their opinion, the English language ought to be.
The example sentence given was "Me and Jennifer are going to the mall." Perhaps if you Google that you will find more information, but me, I have to get back to editing.
2007-02-02 00:42:14 · answer #2 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This has building up inside you for a while now, hasn't it? I wouldn't bother mate. Alot of people get irate if you try to show them they're wrong. Just be happy that you know and educate your kids and family the right way to use pronouns and it'll make you feel better.
2007-02-02 00:31:03 · answer #3 · answered by sonj75 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Vorsprung - you sound like a teacher. My son comes back from school (english lessons, grammar,literacy etc) and speaks in the acceptable way to connect with his peergroup ie. unintelligible to me, myself, personally (something else that drives me mad) and his Dad - ironical eh?!
His teachers are great but I guess it's that streetalk that all kids have to speak - actually it's the local Godawful accent and dialect that is soooo offensive - worst in UK but won't say where!
Like manners, I think speaking properloike is something from the home along with a lack of hedumecation.
2007-02-02 00:39:14 · answer #4 · answered by Serendipity 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i wrote this in another question but i'll say again "it is for native speakers."
in english exams if we make a mistake like you wrote,our teachers don't give any points in that question.because,they think it is a big mistake and if we say it an english person,they will laugh at us.so,i'm really very careful about these pronouns :)
2007-02-02 00:28:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the end does it really matter if people aren't strictly 100% grammatically correct? Language is a tool to communicate. If person A says something and person B understands, does it matter if A said 'I' or 'me'?
2007-02-02 00:29:12 · answer #6 · answered by Tom :: Athier than Thou 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes it is simple.
However, you used the word 'basic' in your antipenultimate sentence, where there was no need.
Where you wrote 'Also, you should always put yourself last', should read 'Also, ONE should always put ONESSELF last'.
Your grammar is not as correct as you think your English language skills are.
Didn't you go to school? Were you dragged up?
2007-02-02 00:40:43 · answer #7 · answered by papa.rumbo 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
coz we is al fick an didont lernt nufink at skool!!
seriously, it's because the English language has been completely ba***ardised over the last 30 or so years.
2007-02-02 00:39:53 · answer #8 · answered by lola 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
.....and that is today's lesson in the useage of correct grammar, kiddies. Now yous can goes out an' get yous some fun.
2007-02-02 00:23:57 · answer #9 · answered by INDRAG? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I wish I had an answer, as this drives me crazy! Hopefully a few people will learn from your question...
2007-02-02 00:29:16 · answer #10 · answered by Tumtum 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋