I'm not great when it comes to grammar--at least not anymore. Unfortunately, I have let Facebook, Twitter, and texting come between what I know to be correct and what I actually do. But I am seeing more and more of one of my biggest grammar pet peeves and I cannot stay quiet any longer.
WHEN will people--especially supposed professional writers--learn when to use 'I' and 'me' properly? Everywhere I'm looking these days, writers insist on using 'I' when 'me' would be the proper word. The last straw was today, while reading a hockey magazine, the writer wrote this: "However, I'm fine with making resolutions to improve organizations and people other than THN and I." Now, I realize that The Hockey News isn't a literary publication--and seeing all of the mistakes in it proves that point--but these ARE writers getting paid for their writing. So, I think I should expect some semblance of them using the proper grammar rules. In the preceding example, it should NOT be "...THN and I." but "THN and me."
There are many places (such as here and here) that will explain which word should be used in a sentence. Not really that difficult.
So, using the rule, here is how to determine the proper word to use in the preceding sentence. Do you say '...other than me.' or '...other than I.' Simple as that.
Another example: Would you say 'Come with Julia and I.' or 'Come with Julia and me.'? Separating the subjects will give you 'Come with Julia.' and 'Come with I.' and 'Come with me.' The proper usage is the word 'me' in that sentence, so the correct sentence is 'Come with Julia and me.'
Many people think that using the word 'I' is always proper English and that using 'me' is always incorrect. But, just because it doesn't sound 'formal' doesn't mean it is necessarily wrong.
Pet Peeve
