Weekly (HA!)
Article
This page is dedicated
to the current article...very likely not
anywhere close to weekly...referring to
writing, fanfiction, etc. Whether
articles about plot, grammar, or
technique, hopefully these will help out
those who might want a tip or two.
(Each article will be up for at least one
week, however, before a new one is put
in, and all old articles will be
archived.)
If you would like to
submit an article here, please use this page to do
so. Submissions should be
spell-checked, well written, and helpful
in some way to writers. I won't
accept insulting, derisive, or insulting
articles. Make sure and include the
name of the article, the name you would
like credited, and a website link if you
so choose.
If you choose to write
of something that's already been written
about, make sure that it's a fresh
outlook on the subject, and different
enough to be of value.
Here are all past
articles...once I have some:
Archives
This idea was inspired
in part by my cousin Stormwatcher, an
author on this site, who has a similar
thing on her own website.
The current article
is on the correct use of "I"
and "me".
Weekly Article April
13, 2008
Me, Me, Me!
by Hyena Cub, the Pentafandom
webmaster.
I have just added a
blurb to this in my Writing
Tips page, but figured I would post
it here, also, to kick off this weekly
article.
So..."me" and
"I". Most people know
when to use these articles when speaking
only of themselves, but when they add
another person to the mix, the issue gets
confusing. The rule for both is
always that the other person goes
first. but which word should be
used? "I" or
"me"?
-
The most simple
deciding factor is what part of speech
the "I" or "me" is
being used for. If it's the subject
of the sentence, it's
"I". If not, it's usually
"me." Examples of use as
subjects: I went swimming today.
Or: I hate cookies.
Or: I'll never get so drunk again.
In all these examples,
"I" is the one doing the
action. That's what the subject of
a sentence does, performs the action.
When you add a second
person, say a person named Jamie...you
don't change which word you use.
And thus we get: Jamie and I
went swimming today. And:
Jamie and I hate cookies.
And: Jamie and I'll never get so drunk
again. In these cases,
"Jamie and I" becomes the
subject.
-
When used as the
object, it's always "me."
Examples: My brother hit me.
And: You never told me that.
And: Don't touch me!
The object of a sentence is the recipient
of the verb...the verb is done to the
object.
You would never say My
brother hit I, would you? That
just sounds strange. So there's no
reason to change to "I" once
you've added Jamie into the mix.
These are correct:
My brother hit Jamie
and me. You never told Jamie and me
that. Don't touch Jamie and me!
You should just be able to add
"Jamie and" right before the
word, and have it be correct.
-
Other times that
"me" is used is after a
preposition: The plane flew over
me. The plane flew over Jamie and
me.
-
A slightly different
problem of "I" and
"me" is the following sentence:
Jamie writes better
than I. When using comparisons,
whether you use "I" or
"me" depends on what you want
to say. In this case, you want to
say that Jamie is better at writing than
you are. Add the verb
("write", in this case) to the
end of the sentence. If it still
makes sense, you've got the right
word. You wouldn't use
"me" in this instance, because
then you'd end up with this: Jamie
writes better than me writes.
That doesn't work.
You do use
"me" sometimes in this
case! Take these sentences:
Jamie likes Marie
better than I. Jamie likes Marie
better than me.
They are both correct,
depending on what you want to say.
The first sentence conveys: Jamie
likes Marie better than I do. Jamie
and "I" are both being used as
subjects, the ones doing the verb.
The second one
conveys: Jamie likes Marie
better than she likes me. Again,
pay attention as whether "I" or
"me" are the subject or the
object. In this case, Jamie is the
only subject. Jamie is doing the
liking. Both Marie and
"me" are on the receiving end
of the liking, making both words objects.
.
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