Today, a grammatical error is spreading through the articulating public: using the wrong case of a personal pronoun. We hear it everywhere: work colleagues, news anchors, politicians, pundits, even preachers. A few examples:

"The mob attacked my wife and I." "Donna offered help from she and Bill." "The chair called Sarah and I first." "Me and Tom slept through that lecture." Few would write that last one, but many adults say it regularly. Why not say it? Because anyone knowing English at all will immediately think: "uneducated." And it sounds so teenage. I know a preacher who regularly tells his congregation, "Christ died for you and I." I’m quite sure he died for me, not "for I."

You remember cases in eighth grade grammar, don't you? The two in question here are nominative and objective. Subjects of sentences are nominative; their predicates are objective. Remember those? Objects of verbs such as "attacked" above and prepositions ("with," "from") are—you guessed it, even on the eighth-grade test—objective. "I," "she," "he," and "we" are nominative. "Me," "her," "him," and "us" are objective.

We get them wrong mostly in compounds ("Sarah and I"), but not when the object is alone. Who would say, "Wanna ride with I"? "Donna offered help from she"? "The chair called I first"? "Me slept through that lecture"?

Why do compounds throw us off? Probably because our teachers corrected us sharply for using objective case in subjects. When I said, "Tommy and me are teammates," I'd hear, "Tommy and I, you idiot!" So, to avoid their scowls, we say "The team's blessed with Tommy and I." They'd holler at that, too, but they're not around now.

So how can you stop this? I just imagine the compound is not a compound. I think "give it to me" before saying "give it to Jim and me." This works if you're a fast thinker or someone who mentally edits every sentence before saying it, or if you're writing.

But here's a simpler technique for speech. If the compound is at the front of the sentence, say "I," "she," "he," or "we." If it's later, especially at the end, say "me," "her," "him," or "us." You'll be right almost all the time.

You may be thinking, "If I say something like 'tell Sally and me about it'" people will think I'm unsophisticated. Trust me. Grammar is like punctuation. When it's right, people don't notice it. Many don't notice wrong grammar either, but many do, and they're usually the ones who count.

                                     © Copyright 2021 by Robert D. Smith