Comments on: What’s wrong with him and I? http://3000messagesblog.com/2009/08/05/what%e2%80%99s-wrong-with-him-and-i/ What about yours? Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:14:34 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ken O'Quinn http://3000messagesblog.com/2009/08/05/what%e2%80%99s-wrong-with-him-and-i/comment-page-1/#comment-24 Ken O'Quinn Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:01:27 +0000 http://3000messagesblog.com/?p=145#comment-24 John's explanation above is good, but while using your ear often can work, it will not always be foolproof. If you are accustomed to hearing it in a way that's considered nonstandard English, then you are stuck repeating the same mistake. Think of it this way. Pronouns in our language change form (he/him, they/them, etc.) depending on how they function in a sentence. A pronoun can only be one of two things, a subject or an object. So ask yourself what is its role in the sentence? Is it functioning as a subject or as an object? "What's wrong with I" sounds awkward because the pronoun "I" is always a subject, and it's not functioning as a subject in the sentence. It's the object of the preposition "with." If it serves as an object, it must appear in that form, and "me" is always the objective form, so the correct answer is "me." This might seem confusing if you are not familiar with pronoun forms, but it is not hard to grasp. For one thing, we don't have many pronouns, and after you have looked it up a few times, you will quickly commit it to memory and you won't worry about it anymore. You can learn more about grammar, punctuation, and other writing issues at www.WritingWithClarity.com and at the blog www.WritingtoInfluence.Wordpress.com. John’s explanation above is good, but while using your ear often can work, it will not always be foolproof. If you are accustomed to hearing it in a way that’s considered nonstandard English, then you are stuck repeating the same mistake.

Think of it this way. Pronouns in our language change form (he/him, they/them, etc.) depending on how they function in a sentence. A pronoun can only be one of two things, a subject or an object. So ask yourself what is its role in the sentence? Is it functioning as a subject or as an object?

“What’s wrong with I” sounds awkward because the pronoun “I” is always a subject, and it’s not functioning as a subject in the sentence. It’s the object of the preposition “with.” If it serves as an object, it must appear in that form, and “me” is always the objective form, so the correct answer is “me.”

This might seem confusing if you are not familiar with pronoun forms, but it is not hard to grasp. For one thing, we don’t have many pronouns, and after you have looked it up a few times, you will quickly commit it to memory and you won’t worry about it anymore.

You can learn more about grammar, punctuation, and other writing issues at http://www.WritingWithClarity.com and at the blog http://www.WritingtoInfluence.Wordpress.com.

]]>