learn the rule: me or I?
- I and me are 1st person singular pronouns
- I is the nominative form and is used when the pronoun is the subject
- I need to buy some potatoes.
- I am not ugly.
- Me is the accusative form and is used when the pronoun is the object
- The potato hit me in the face.
- You are uglier than me.
- There are some exceptions:
- I can be used in more formal situations; me can be used in less formal situations, e.g.
- Who was it?
- It was me. (informal)
- It was I. (formal)
- Me is used when following prepositions, e.g., "...behind John and me", not "...behind John and I"
- Things get more confusing when there are multiple subjects or objects in the expression
- The pronoun never appears first in an expression (as you always place yourself last)
- Wrong: "[I/me] and my daughter went to the Zoo"
Right: "My daughter and [I/me] went to the Zoo" - Wrong: "The bus hit [I/me], Bob, Jenny and Dave"
Right: "The bus hit Bob, Jenny, Dave and [I/me]" * - The same subject/object rules apply when determining whether to use I or me
- Right: "My daughter and I went to the Zoo." since the pronoun is the subject.
- Right: "The bus hit Bob, Jenny, Dave and me. " since the pronoun is the object.
- A simple way to check is by removing all the other subjects/objects and deciding if it still sounds correct:
- "I went to the Zoo" vs "Me went to the Zoo"
- "The bus hit me" vs "The bus hit I"
- Beware getting it wrong can change the meaning of the sentence
- "Jenny fancies Bob more than me" - Jenny is more attracted to Bob than she is attracted to you
- "Jenny fancies Bob more than I" - Jenny is more attracted to Bob than you are attracted to Bob
- Getting it wrong is pretty easy.
- It still makes you look stupid. And uglier than... me? Or I?
*Although this also depends on how you feel about Oxford commas.