Saturday, January 1, 2011

Writing Tip : "You and I" or "You and me"?

"You and I" or "You and me"?

Summary

This article explains when to say you and I and when to say you and me.
 
Consider the following sentence: You and I should have lunch.
 
Is the correct form of this sentence You and I ... or You and me ...? This is a common source of confusion in English.
 
Fortunately, there's an easy way to decide whether to use I or me in such sentences. All you have to do is drop the word you then try the sentence with I and me one at a time. For example:
  • I should have lunch.
  • Me should have lunch.
Clearly the preferred form in this case is I; thus, the original sentence was correct to use you and I.
 
Here's another example: He'll blame you and I. Drop the word you then try the sentence with I and me one at a time, like so:
  • He'll blame I.
  • He'll blame me.
You can see that the second of these is correct. This means that the original sentence should have been: He'll blame you and me.
 
Easy.
 
On a related note, when using phrases such as you and me, you and I or them and us, it has traditionally been considered courteous to place the reference to yourself last. For example, we prefer:
  • He'll ask you and me later.
over:
  • He'll ask me and you later.

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