When do you use I instead of me?

Answer 1

The answer below mine is a joke - or at least intended as one; whoever wrote it didn't take the time actually to be funny.

I and me are personal pronouns. Myself is a reflexive pronoun, and I'll throw in some tips on that for free :-)

You use "I" when you are the subject of your sentence. For example:

I went to the store with her.

You use "me" when you are the object, either of a verb, e.g.:

I love the roses you sent me.

Or a prepositional phrase:

She shared her deepest secrets with me

The prepositional phrase is one area where a lot of people are tripped up.

Prepositions are the words we use to indicate direction (to), position (on, with), time (before), etc., A prepositional phrase starts with the preposition and in most cases ends with the object.

So in the sentence:

She shared her deepest secrets with me

The prepositional phrase is "with me;" You use "me" in this sentence because it is the object of the preposition. You never use "I" when you are the object of a preposition.

An example of a common mistake is:

If we kill the farmer, we can split his crops and animals between you and I.

"Between" is a preposition, so in the prepositional phrase "between you and I" "you and I" is the object (or compound object to be precise, more about that later), so you would use "me." Many people say "between you and I" because it somehow sounds like it should be right. It's not.

The same goes for:

Rodrick Hornytoad came to the movies with she and I.

Both "she" and "I" are incorrect here. It should read "with her and me"

Myself is a reflexive pronoun (it's also an intensifier*, but we won't confuse the issue here). Example of correct use:

I cut myself very badly as I was killing the farmer.

"Myself" refers to "I" and is used to show that you have done something to yourself.

Example of incorrect use:

Sheila and myself adamantly denied killing the farmer.

*I killed the farmer myself is an example of myself as an intensifier. It emphasizes that you were the one who did something. If someone had just asked you who helped you kill the farmer, then "I killed the farmer myself" makes it clear that you had no help killing the farmer.

PITFALLS AND PREVENTIONS:

In Latin every noun (not just pronouns) has a case ending to determine its function in the sentence. But unless you're taking Latin in school, you don't have to worry about that.

In English, personal pronouns (I, me, myself; you, you, yourself; he, him, himself; she, her herself; etc.,) have case endings, but personal nouns (e.g., someone's name) do not.

Roderick gave me the knife.

I gave the knife back to Roderick.

It doesn't matter if Roderick is the subject of the sentence, as he is in the first sentence, or the object, as he is in the second sentence. We still call him Roderick.

So why don't we do the same with personal pronouns? Why don't we just use "me" for everything? Yes, it would sound funny to us, but is there a logical reason why we can't, or is it just a quirk of the language? - would our meaning be any less clear for example if we said,

Me went to the store with Jane.

instead of

I went to the store with Jane.

Of course not. In both sentences I understand that you went to the store and you did so with Jane. Neither packs any more meaning or precision than the other.

There is, however, one situation I can think of (which doesn't mean there aren't others) where the use of different personal pronouns is necessary.

Read the followings sentences and tell me which is correct.

My mother has always liked Roderick better than I.

My mother has always liked Roderick better than me.

It's a trick question, because they're both correct because they mean different things. The first sentence means that mother has always liked Roderick better than I like Roderick. The second sentence means mother has always like Roderick better than she likes me. The pitfall comes when you say the first sentence, even though what you mean to say is expressed by the second sentence.

Another pitfall comes with the compound subject and the compound object.

Roderick and I killed the farmer

The police caught Roderick and me

In the first sentence, the phrase "Roderick and I" is the subject. It's called a compound subject because it has compounded (put together) Roderick and I.

In the second sentence the phrase "Roderick and me" is the compound object.

An easy way to avoid making mistakes here is to take Roderick (or whomever) out of the sentence, and then say it to yourself.

For example:

Roderick and me killed the farmer.

If you remove, Roderick, and say to yourself "me killed the farmer," you will know immediately that it's wrong. Or with...

The police caught Roderick and I.

You remove Roderick once more and you're left with:

The police caught I.

Which, unless you're in Jamaica and you've just shot the sheriff (but not the deputy), just doesn't sound right.

I hope I haven't left anything out or left you more confused than you were at the start:-)

you use i if you say something like "i went to the shop or i had fun on Friday"

and you use me when you say something like this "it was fun when me and you went swimming"or"rebecca,kymberly,Erin and me is going to swimming , do you want to come with us?"

stuf like that i am oly 13 but i really like English so i am realy good at this

Answer 2

Use "I" as the subject pronoun before a verb in a sentence (e.g., "I am going to the store"). Use "me" as the object pronoun after a verb or preposition in a sentence (e.g., "Sarah gave the book to me").

Answer 3

Grammar is just as subject to trends as colors, shoes and cell phones. In the past few years, English usage has become a victim of many common mistakes. One of them is the confusion of "I" and "me"

• Although it seems proper to use "I", it is very often used incorrectly. Some English professors have said it is a reverse snobbery to break grammar rules and then see the trend escalate from the common usage.

• Incorrect: "He gave the concert tickets to Mike and I."

• Correct: "He gave the concert tickets to Mike and me."

• If you want to know how to tell, simply take "Mike and" out of the sentence. You would not say he gave the tickets to I.

• Read more: How to Know When To Use I or Me | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4693678_use.html#ixzz1FxuGLsYc