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.
.