It was a dark and stormy night. Through the fog there rode a tall, knight on a large horse. The strange visitor knocked three times on the castle.

“Who is it?” the mysterious Lady asked, peaking through a small crack in the large, wooden door.

“It is I”, the voices answered back.

“You mean,” she corrected, “It is me.”

She sensed some hesitation on the part of the knight.

” Never say ‘it is I'”, the Lady continued, “Always say It is me’. ‘Me is the object of the sentence, not the subject.”

“Huh”, answered the tall stranger, now totally disarmed, “What are you talking about?”

So the Lady got out a white board and began a short lesson:

Most people get it wrong. Or as soon as they try and say it, they correct themselves and fumble on the words. How do you know when to say “you and me” instead of “you and I”? It has to do with subjects, objects, nouns and verbs. There is, however, an easy way of making sure you always get it right.

You try the sentence out using only the reference to yourself. Let me show you.

Which is correct?
A Brittany and I went to the show.
B Brittany and me went to the show.
Try the sentence without Brittany. Obviously, the right version is
A Brittany and I went to the show.

Another example:
A Give the salad to Rocco and me, OR
B Give the salad to Rocco and I.
Drop Rocco (if you dare), and the answer is obvious.
B Give the salad to me.

Now I will give you the technical explanation.

“I”‘ is the first person pronoun, used when the first person is the subject of a sentence. ”Me” is the first person pronoun, used when the first person is the object of a sentence. Every sentence has a subject (comes before the verb) and an object (comes after the verb).

Billy walked his dog around the block. (Billy is the subject, dog is the object)

So you always say Billy and I walked our dog around the block.

OR

Billy walked his dog and me around the block.

So when we get back to our story of the tall dark knight at the gate, although it may sound more impressive to answer, “It is I!”, the correct way to answer would be to say, “It is me.”

The knight then took a deep breath and knocked again at the castle door.

“Who is it?” inquired the mysterious Lady, now smiling proudly.

“It is a knight”, he replied with care.

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Beth Parker
Professional Writer
www.bethparker.com

President, CAWEE
Canadian Association of Women Executives & Entrepreneurs
June 2008-June 2010