(Untitled)

[lobosolo]

In a recent journal entry, I wanted to write "Mary and I both turn 65 next year, me in January, she in December."

But there's some grammatical dissonance there, isn't there? "Me" and "she" can't both be right. But "I in January" sounds hopelessly stilted, and "her in December" just sounds ignorant. What's the answer?

Comments

[daev]

You've got two mental rules for English in conflict. The first one is the English-class grammatical one, which points out that, since a fragment like "I in December" is really a shortened form of "I (turn 65) in December," you use the same case of the pronoun that you would in the longer version. If you want to know what's grammatically correct, that's the one.

The other rule is one that people actually use a lot, though it isn't "good grammar." The M.I.T. linguist Sol Saporta pointed out that, since English has lost case-marking in general, English speakers don't have any real case system logic in their linguistic brains. Instead, they use a rule that goes something like "say I when the pronoun comes immediately before the finite verb [in a positive sentence], and me otherwise." Which is why the same person can say "Debbie and I are going to the mall" and "Me and Debbie are going to the mall

[lobosolo]

Interesting analysis: see my reply to fflo's comment above. I still cringe when my daughter says "Me and Kate are going shopping."

[ex_co_lum_bu730]

A very good point indeed.

Being a native Russian speaker, my brain is wired for cases, and for me "Me in December" sounds obviously ungrammatical, and "I in December" perfectly natural.

[angstycoder]

Studying German also did a great deal for teaching me to identify parts of speach in my native English and the effects of case as well. A lot of things do make sense now because of this.

[padpedpladuk]

I, I, I!

Learn to love it!