Grammar Outs – Me or I?

Grammar mistakeDo you really know when to use me or I correctly, or have you joined the apparent national movement to get that wrong? I can’t blame you, especially when TV stars are spreading the word—the wrong word, that is.

After a long day and a last-minute blog post, I turned on the TV. Flip or Flop‘s Tarek El Moussa’s head filled the screen.

“Keeping costs down is the only way for Christina and I to make any money,” he announced.

I did such a quick double-take that I threatened to kink my neck.

“Did he really just say that?” I asked myself.

“Of course he did,” I replied.

I do that sometimes. Talk to myself, that is.

But back to “Me or I” Grammar Outs. Most of my friends make this same me or I mistake. My dad would have corrected them. I can’t bring myself to do that. If I did, however, I would ask them whether they would say, “Keeping costs down is the only way for I to make any money”?

Of course they wouldn’t say that. So why would me turn to I just because Christina has been added to the equation?

Next time you’re not sure whether to use me or I, just turn your sentence into a solo mission. That will answer your question.

 

 

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2 Responses to Grammar Outs – Me or I?

  1. sunday before labor day.

    ‘for years and years i struggled just to love my life’ (MO)

    i feel i have become fully embodied over this summer 2015. all the pieces have been put in place over many long years of searching for and cementing the connection to a sense of wholeness, peace and acceptance. i feel it there, which does not abnegate my longing or grief yet, seems to be transcending it.

    finally, it seems to have happened as i’ve walked my local streets, ever-moving my body through space, life streaming by moment by moment. sometimes memories flit through but mostly i am present to the feel of the air, the scent of things i pass, and what is coming through my ears. this sense of presence seems like eternity, like i’ve always been walking my way home, alive to each second, proceeding into the unknown future.

    i feel that it has taken years and years of struggle for me just to love my life. it has not been any easy get. and now, i would like to try to make sense of it for myself in a way that might interest others as well. i have not traveled a well-trod road on this life’s journey; my insights are not derivative. at the core, i am a wolf of the steppes.

    i am looking for a theme, an organizing idea upon which to hang my experience and observations. i would like to use all the sources that i have amassed to tell not only my story in an appropriate and non-narcissistic way but also to tell the stories of others i have known, continue to know and who i’ll meet as times goes on.

    i have opinions about what i take in and would like to explore them based on my heart and values. though i am heart-centered, i would like to draw on my mind’s reflections and memories -in addition to my emotions- and offer an original statement upon the swirling life i’ve lived and that exists around me.

    the world of today seems more unstable and frightening than any time i can remember and yet, because of that and maybe more than ever, my few deep personal relationships seem just as important as keeping a good relationship with myself. ideals and institutions and most of what i once believed to be stable and sane are devolving and falling apart. i would like my writing to be the touchstone of my life so far, and a harbinger of what is yet to come for me.

    The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep.
    RF

    the most authentic shape for my writing seems to be memoir. who better do i know? my multiple sources, memories and impressions will inform the narrative though i have yet to find my voice and the arc it will follow. i have been reluctant to confess, to present something broken, but now, sensing my embodiment, i no longer feel broken. chastened by my losses and what has crushed me, i feel humbled by the realities of what is left as possibility. maybe that is a good place for me to start telling my story, which is what i know the best.

    • I love this new place you’ve reached. Apologies for the tardy response. I’ve been struggling to regain my footing following an intense book deadline coupled with my dad’s passing. I’ll follow up with an email this evening. Thanks for sharing.

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