Misuse of "me and him" or "me and her" for "he and I" or "she and I"

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Remember back in elementary school when you learned the correct way to phrase sentences that involved you and another person? I do, and I clearly remember that they're supposed to be structured like this:

"He and I went to Disneyland."
"She and I are vegetarian."

So what happened that caused the rampant mangling of the English language as follows?

"Me and him went to Disneyland."
"Me and her are vegetarian."

Just like the simple test I described in the I vs me pet peeve, you can easily figure out the correct phrasing with this simple test: take out the other person, or take yourself out. For example:

"_____________ went to Disneyland." (him/he)
"_____________ went to Disneyland." (me/I)

For each of the above, plug in both choices:

"Him went to Disneyland."
"He went to Disneyland."

"Me went to Disneyland."
"I went to Disneyland."

In each case, it's obvious that the first choice is incorrect, right? Okay, so now you know which single choice is correct. Now go ahead and combine them:

"He and I went to Disneyland."

That's it! It's that simple.

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