I and Me

You are viewing the free, open access version of The Nature of Writing. For all premium membership features (including quizzes, additional lessons, course progress tracking, and more), please register or log in.

I and Me

The personal pronouns and me sometimes cause trouble when used in tandem with other nouns and pronouns.

For example, which of the following is correct?

They left some food behind for James and I.

They left some food behind for James and me.

It’s the second option that is correct. The reason is that me is an object pronoun and receives the action of the verb. If you test each pronoun by itself, you can easily tell which one’s correct:

They left some food behind for I.

They left some food behind for me.

So when in doubt, just take away the other noun or pronoun and see whether you need or me. Here are some correct sentences to peruse:

She and I went to the movies.

Mia gave Esther and me a taste of her own homemade cough medicine.

My girlfriend and I would love a massage.

The police pulled aside just Karen and me.