JS Tip 600: Sorting out "I" and "Me"

Our friend Nikki Vanderhoof suggested a tip about the appropriate use of “I” and “me.” “Adam and I”? Or “Adam and me”?

We can do that. 

“I” is always a subject; “me” is always an object. 

That’s it. That's the end of the tip. 

We can stop reading now. No. Just kidding.

It gets tricky when we put someone else in the mix: “Adam and me wrote the report.” To a lot of people, this sounds acceptable. No. It’s not acceptable. 

Here’s why: It’s because we’d never say “Me wrote the report.” No. Never.  

The best way to know which to use (“I” or “me”) is to drop (temporarily) the “someone else in the mix”: “Me wrote the report.” No. That doesn’t work.

We’ve established that.

“I wrote the report.” Yes. That works.

So we rewrite the sentence. We return the “someone else” to the sentence: “Adam and I wrote the report.” 

There we go. 

On the other hand . . . .

We shouldn't say “The committee includes Gabi, Ben, and I.” 

Drop (temporarily) the other folks: “The committee includes I.” No. That doesn’t work. 

“Me” works: “The committee includes me.”

So we rewrite the sentence to “The committee includes Gabi, Ben, and me.”

There we go. 

Thank you, Nikki. 

We love this stuff.