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Posted September 2024Pronouns are useful words. For example, pronouns allow us to refer to a person without having to use the person's name. In context, how much easier and less stilted to use a nominative pronoun (also referred to as a subjective pronoun) to say “I filed the brief” instead of having to say “Jim Rosenblatt filed the brief.” Likewise, rather than saying “Call Jim Rosenblatt to get the latest news” it is efficient to use an objective pronoun to say, “Call me to get the latest news.” In short, nominative pronouns are the subjects of sentences and objective pronouns are the objects of verbs or prepositions.
While this grammar proposition seems simple and clear, it is concerning the number of speakers who use the two pronouns “I” and “me” incorrectly. At first it seemed to me that it was only TV sportscasters who were making this simple grammatical error. Lately, though, I have noticed folks of all ilks and backgrounds confusing and misusing these two pronouns to include ministers, professors, politicians, TV commentators, military officers, and yes attorneys. While this misuse crops up in some written products it is more commonly found in the spoken word.
Does it not seem clear that one would use the nominative pronoun “I” as the subject of a sentence? It sounds natural and correct to say “I am going to court.” Surely it offends the ear to use the objective pronoun “me” as the subject of a sentence. To utter “Me wants to consider another option” would cause the eardrum to shudder.
The other side of that equation also seems clear that one should use the objective pronoun “me” as the direct object or as the object of a preposition. It seems natural to say “Call me if you have a question” or “This matter was directed to me.” I trust your sense of grammar would be offended if a speaker were to say “Call I if you have a question” or “This matter was directed to I.”
Misusing the pronoun “I” typically occurs when there is a compound direct object or a compound object of a preposition. Many errant speakers will say “Call John or I if you have a question” or “This matter was directed to Taylor and I.” These speakers often seem proud of this incorrect usage and believe they are using proper English. Quite the contrary. Of course, correct usage would style these sentences as “Call John or me if you have a question” and “This matter was directed to Taylor and me.”
In my county consolidated school in Woodville, Mississippi where I attended grades one through twelve in the same building, we were a bit weak in teaching the sciences but had wonderful typing and shop classes. We also had a cohort of long serving and dedicated English and Literature teachers who were superb instructors on grammar and composition. This instruction included memorizing and then reciting poetry in front of our classmates as well as the daunting task of marching to the chalkboard to diagram sentences. In the diagramming process one had to account for every word and place it in the proper place in the diagram. A student who used the nominative pronoun “I” as a direct object or the object of a preposition or who used “me” as a subject would have been rebuked.
For the written product there are software programs such as Grammarly, Inc. which will review grammar as well as spelling and punctuation, highlight errors, and suggest corrections. However, for the spoken word such a program must reside in our skull after having been downloaded through education, instruction, and study. While we are not able to diagram our spoken sentences, we do need to use our brain to consider how pronouns are being used and for what purpose. It would be appropriate to keep in the forefront of our consciousness that “I” is for a subject and “me” is for an object, and that an extra measure of thought is required when the pronoun is compounded with another name.
While I don't value less a person who engages in such pronoun abuse, it does cause me to question a speaker's formative education. This grammatical error also causes me to focus on the error and takes away from the flow and effectiveness of what is being said. My wife Lauren can testify to feeling me convulse and shudder when a speaker improperly substitutes “I” for “me.”
Alert your ear to this misuse and see if you notice how commonly this pronoun switch occurs in the spoken words you encounter.
Jim Rosenblatt is the Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law at Mississippi College School of Law. Prior to his work in legal education he served as an officer in The Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army for thirty years retiring as a Colonel. He attended Woodville Attendance Center for his early education, was graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University for his bachelor’s degree, and received his J.D. degree from Cornell Law School. He is grateful to Miss Bostic, Miss Copeland, and Miss McCraine for his high school instruction in English and Literature and appreciates even more at this stage in his life their dedication to teaching and their students.
