What’s wrong with this sentence? Me and Cam finished the Army Ten-Miler. Me should be I, right? Easy. Most people agree pretty quickly on that sentence structure.
How about this one? Mrs. Powell invited Sara and I to lunch. Anything wrong? Yes. I should be me in this sentence. Although me is the correct pronoun, more and more professional people today (including print reporters as well as newscasters) use the wrong pronoun.
Does it sound tricky? Sometimes I is correct. Sometimes me is correct. How do you choose the correct pronoun?
Here’s a simple way to check:
Mrs. Powell invited Sara and ______ to lunch.
How would you say it if the invitation included only the speaker?
Mrs. Powell invited I to lunch. No.
Mrs. Powell invited me to lunch. Yes.
So—Mrs. Powell invited Sara and me to lunch. Yes.
I in the above sentence is a direct object.
*Pronouns that work as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of prepositions must be objective pronouns.
Here’s a list of objective pronouns:
me us whom
you you whomever
him, her, it them
A direct object tells who or what receives the action done by the subject.
Irene Hannon has written many books.|
The Steelers will beat the Patriots this year.
The children’s librarian read them a story.
An indirect object tells for whom or for what an action is done.
The blogger wrote his authors an email.
Bailey and I sent the seniors an invitation.
Zac Brown could sing me a song any time.
Here’s a list of prepositions:
About along before between during in
above amid behind beyond except including
across among below by excluding inside
after as beneath despite following into
against at beside down from like
near through until within as to with regard to
of to up without except for because of
on toward upon according to in addition to by means of
over under via along with in case of in regard to
since underneath with apart from instead of in spite of
Use the simple test above, and you shouldn’t have any problem choosing the correct pronoun.
Happy writing!
Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University and York Technical College. Her publications include three novels Irish Encounter and Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts as well as nonfiction articles. A member of ACFW, RWA, and SinC, she writes for SeriousWriter.com. She and her husband live in North Carolina and enjoy visits with their two daughters and twin sons.
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2 Comments
It drives this word nerd crazy when people guess wrong in the I and me dilemma! 🙂 Thanks for an easy way to figure it out!
So, did the direct object “books” receive the action “written” by the subject “Irene Hannon”?
The indirect object “authors” were written an email (the action) by the blogger?
(This is why my head hurt so much with grammar.)
“Mrs. Powell invited Sara and me to lunch” is correct because it simply sounds better.