Letters to Kel: ARE YOU AN OBJECT OR A SUBJECT?

Does it bother you when people use objects when they should use subjects? And if it doesn't, WHY NOT?

Too many times, in too many places, in the mouths or pens of people who should KNOW BETTER, I hear something like this: "They interviewed Joe and I." "The list of guests included Grace and I." "The class gave going away gifts to the Petersons and I."

Umm ..... NO!
Can I make a confession here? My Sunday school teacher does this constantly, and I just want to stand up and slap him! But I sit in the back of the class and he's older than my father and, quite frankly, I don't want to attract attention to myself. He likes to tell jokes he got off the Internet -- dumb jokes -- and insert the names of people in our class in the jokes. You don't want to attract his attention. 

But I digress...

People who say things like this are confusing OBJECTS and SUBJECTS. Maybe they think they're sounding "proper" and educated, but ... it's still WRONG!

When the action starts out with you, then you can say "I" -- you're the SUBJECT. But when something is DONE to you, you are the OBJECT and you say "me."

How do you know when to use "I" and when to use "me"?
Easy test: Take the other person out of the sentence!

Would you say, "They interviewed I"? No, you'd say, "They interviewed me." "The list of guests included me." "The class gave me a going away present." Etc.

People, people ... we as writers are the guardians of language, of clear communication. If we don't get things like this right, how can we expect everybody else to pay attention to other grammar rules that drive us nuts -- like saying "try and" when the proper form is "try to," or substituting "affect" for "effect" or "ensure" for "assure," or "perspective" for "prospective" or a dozen other little rules.

Get the little things right, otherwise you have no right to holler about the big, stupid, glaring mistakes.