I or Me?

The personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘me’ are often used incorrectly. Here are a few ways to fix it:

The Rules

1. Use I, along with other subjective pronouns such as we, he, she, you, and they, when the pronoun is the subject of a verb:

EX: Jim and I are going out for dinner.

2. Use me, along with other objective pronouns such as us, him, her, you, and them, when the pronoun is the object of a verb:

EX: The cat followed Meredith and me to the kitchen.

3. Use me, along with other objective pronouns such as us, him, her, you, and them, when the pronoun is the object of a preposition:

EX: Pam spent the entire evening with Jim and me.

The Trick

There is an easy way to check if you’ve used the correct pronoun. All you need to do is remove the additional noun and see if the sentence reads properly:

Jim and I are going out for dinner. (In this example, the “to be” verb are must be switched with am for the sentence to make sense.)

            The cat followed Meredith and me to the kitchen.

            Pam spent the entire evening with Jim and me.

Sources: Pearsall, Judy, ed. "'I' or'me'?." Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 14 Nov 2012. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/i-or-me>.