We had a great chat about the first-person pronouns "I" and "me" this week! I'll do a quick recap here and then it's time to practice so that we don't see any more of this: "My dad and me decided to share our tostadas, even though my mom made them for him and I." What's wrong with this, you ask? Let's figure it out!
First, let's remember that the pronouns "I" and "me" are different in a very specific way:
"I" is a SUBJECTive pronoun...which means it replaces the noun that is the subject in a sentence
"me" is an OBJECTive pronoun...which means it replaces a noun that is an object in a sentence*
Once we've mastered using these pronouns at a young age in our speech, we rarely make a mistake...until we add in the compounds! Compound subjects and objects seem to complicate things and confuse us sometimes. Look at the sentence above and find the compounds underlined. To make sure you aren't getting confused, take out one part of each compound and double-check your pronouns. Would you ever say "Me decided to share my tostadas, even though my mom made them for I"?!? No, you would not, because you know it doesn't sound right...and now you know why. "I" is the pronoun we use as a subject in a sentence (I decided) and "me" is used as an object (mom made them for me), so we should say or write "My dad and I decided to share our tostadas, even though my mom made them for him and me".
Try to correct a few of these sample sentences...or are they already correct?!! (Oh, and one last thing: it's not a real grammar rule, but most grammar-masters agree that it's better grammar manners not to put yourself first, so we usually say something like "my dad and me" instead of "me and my dad".
1. Beck, Kristina and me never miss batting practice.
2. Thor chose Lilah, Trevor, and I to work in his group.
3. Me and TJ played soccer last weekend.
4. Jasmine tripped and fell on Kaia and I!
5. A puppy followed Reaghan and me on our way home.
6. McKayla and I tested the other students' arcade games.
7. Me and Maddie ran the mile in record time.
8. The teachers gave Summer, Zak and I homework passes because we helped with the science fair.
9. Logan, Tristan, Quincy and I obediently fell asleep at 11pm sharp during the library sleepover!
10. Mrs. Bockius assigned Jenna, Madison, Carver, Sam, Armand, Brandon and me extra homework because she knows we enjoy it so much! Yay! She's the best!
*(Optional mini-recap within our recap: when we are diagramming, we put our subject + verb + object on that horizontal line. The subject is doing the action and the object is receiving the action/being acted upon. In the sentence "Hannah thanked me!", "Hannah" is our subject, "thanked" is the verb, and "me" is an object.)
First, let's remember that the pronouns "I" and "me" are different in a very specific way:
"I" is a SUBJECTive pronoun...which means it replaces the noun that is the subject in a sentence
"me" is an OBJECTive pronoun...which means it replaces a noun that is an object in a sentence*
Once we've mastered using these pronouns at a young age in our speech, we rarely make a mistake...until we add in the compounds! Compound subjects and objects seem to complicate things and confuse us sometimes. Look at the sentence above and find the compounds underlined. To make sure you aren't getting confused, take out one part of each compound and double-check your pronouns. Would you ever say "Me decided to share my tostadas, even though my mom made them for I"?!? No, you would not, because you know it doesn't sound right...and now you know why. "I" is the pronoun we use as a subject in a sentence (I decided) and "me" is used as an object (mom made them for me), so we should say or write "My dad and I decided to share our tostadas, even though my mom made them for him and me".
Try to correct a few of these sample sentences...or are they already correct?!! (Oh, and one last thing: it's not a real grammar rule, but most grammar-masters agree that it's better grammar manners not to put yourself first, so we usually say something like "my dad and me" instead of "me and my dad".
1. Beck, Kristina and me never miss batting practice.
2. Thor chose Lilah, Trevor, and I to work in his group.
3. Me and TJ played soccer last weekend.
4. Jasmine tripped and fell on Kaia and I!
5. A puppy followed Reaghan and me on our way home.
6. McKayla and I tested the other students' arcade games.
7. Me and Maddie ran the mile in record time.
8. The teachers gave Summer, Zak and I homework passes because we helped with the science fair.
9. Logan, Tristan, Quincy and I obediently fell asleep at 11pm sharp during the library sleepover!
10. Mrs. Bockius assigned Jenna, Madison, Carver, Sam, Armand, Brandon and me extra homework because she knows we enjoy it so much! Yay! She's the best!
*(Optional mini-recap within our recap: when we are diagramming, we put our subject + verb + object on that horizontal line. The subject is doing the action and the object is receiving the action/being acted upon. In the sentence "Hannah thanked me!", "Hannah" is our subject, "thanked" is the verb, and "me" is an object.)
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