Richard Lederer
First, they came for the adverbs, and I said nothing, even though I knew that this action did not bode good for our language.
Then they came for the verbs, and I said nothing, even though I seen it coming and knew that good grammar had went away and that verbing weirds our language.
Then they came for the pronouns, and, between you and I, me and my friends said nothing, even though we knew that pronoun case is important.
DEAR RICHARD: How best to explain the proper use of I versus me? I was taught that when there are multiple nouns and pronouns, drop the first one to detect whether to use I or me. Examples: “Give the book to Carol or me/I?” Dropping Carol yields “Give the book to me.” “Jim and I/me are going to lunch.” Dropping Jim yields “I am going to lunch.” I know language use evolves, but I hear incorrect I/me usage daily, even on TV news. Please explain. -Brenda Billimoria, Rancho Bernardo
For distinguishing between subject and object pronouns, your explanation should work for everybody. For subjects of verbs, use I, you, he, she, it, we, and they. For objects of verbs and prepositions, use me, you, him, her, it, us, and them.
DEAR RICHARD: I know high school English teachers who constantly say things such as “Me and him went to a movie.” Every fiber in me cringes when I hear this incorrect use of pronouns. It concerns me to think that since more and more students hear this misuse of pronouns, it might actually become viewed as an acceptable form of speech, –Lois Wright, Santee
Pronouns are those all-purpose little words, such as I, her, and yourself, that spare us the drudgery of having to write the name of a person, place, or thing again and again. As versatile as they are, however, pronouns cause more mistakes in usage than any other part of speech:
Regarding the order of nouns and pronouns, students should be taught that the speaker or writer (first person) defers to the other people about whom (third person) and to whom (second person) the narrator is speaking. Nowadays, though, we increasingly hear speakers placing themselves first in the sentence, often in the form of me.
In formal discourse, that’s an atrocity of both case and number. Some observers believe that such syntax (word order) spawns a linguistic egotism, a “me first” attitude.
Flash! A lavish revival of a certain famous Rodgers and Hammerstein musical will be coming to the Civic Theatre. The new title is Me and the King.
DEAR RICHARD: Maybe I’m old school, but I’m a “better than I” person and not a fan of “better than me.” How say you, Professor? –Keith Goldman, University City
I’m a member of the same fan club. “Better than I” is followed by an understood verb am, so the pronoun should be cast in the nominative case, I, not the accusative me.
Here’s a related joke: Saint Peter hears a knocking at the gates of heaven and calls out, “Who’s there?” A voice answers, “It is I.” Saint Peter responds, “Oh good! Another English teacher! Come right in!”
DEAR RICHARD: I was listening to a conversation and heard a person say, “so let’s try and fix this.” Why do some people substitute and for to? -Marque Cohen, Carmel Valley
Try is the only verb in English that often takes an and, rather than the infinitive to, as in try to. That’s acceptable in informal spoken parlance, but not in formal written communication because the verb try is a single action, not two consecutive actions.
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In the wake of the coronation of King Charles III (formerly known as Prince) several readers wrote me to express their horror at reading in the U-T and hearing on television the word coronated. The preferred word is crowned.
Linguists call the process at work here back formation. What happens is that people lop off what they think is an ending, but which really isn’t, to form a new word. Sometimes the compacted word enters the dictionary, as have enthuse from enthusiastic, burgle from burglar, and pea from pease (“pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold”).
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Wife: You need to do more chores around the house.
Husband: Can we change the subject?
Wife: Okay, more chores around the house need to be done by you.