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.

Still not sure which word is correct? Please post a comment below, or contact us on Twitter.

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Misuse of "I" when it should be "me"

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Somehow, over the years, there's been an unbelievable increase in the misuse of I when the correct word is me. For example, "My mother left her house to my brother and I." UGH! No, it's not I! It's ME.

I have a theory about this, but it's difficult to explain so it makes sense. Basically, I think people THINK they sound smart when they say I--but they don't realize that they actually sound really uneducated/ignorant because that's not the correct word.

This trend is so pervasive that it happens a lot on TV. For example, I'm watching the "Spin a Yarn" episode of [Gordon Ramsay's show] Kitchen Nightmares right now. Ramsay arrives at the owner's home to meet the owner's wife, Jennifer, before heading to the restaurant. Ramsay looks at a wedding photograph and asks who's in the picture. The wife responds: "Me and Saki, Saki and I." See, she KNEW it was "me" when she put that BEFORE the other person, but as soon as she swapped their placement in the sentence, she incorrectly used "I" instead!

There's a simple test I learned a million years ago that can be used to determine whether I or me is the correct choice. Simply take the other person out of the sentence! Using the example from above:

"My mother left her house to ___________ "  (I/me)

Go ahead and plug in both choices:

"My mother left her house to I."
"My mother left her house to me."

Obviously, the correct choice is me. Now add the other person back into the sentence:

"My mother left her house to my brother and me."

Voila! You're correct!

Another, even more disturbing, misuse of I happens when the person says something along these lines: "My wife and I's friends came over." REALLY?! There's no such word in the English language. You mean, "My wife's and my friends came over."

Please stop trying to sound intelligent when you're actually showing your ignorance by using I instead of me or my.

Still not sure which word is correct? Please post a comment below, or contact us on Twitter.

Tweet to @MyPetPeevesBlog