Which of the following constructions are correct? +1 to whomever gets all of them correctly and can explain why they are correct.
A) Jimmy and me went to the ice cream shop.
B) Jimmy and I went to the ice cream shop.
A) Mom gave Jimmy and I an ice cream cone.
B) Mom gave Jimmy and me an ice cream cone.
A) Aren't I the right person for the job?
B) Ain't I the right person for the job?
"Packers_Finland" wrote:
B. It's Jimmy and I if you are the subject
B. It's Jimmy and me if you are the object
A. Because the B option sounds too gangsta and just plain wrong.
I really don't know about the subject/object thing, I just picked whichever option sounded better and tried to rationalize it in some random way lol.
"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:
Finland's approach is actually pretty sound.
It's generally my approach.
I'm convinced that the way to learn grammar and usage is by reading. I've never had particularly good grammarians as teachers. Oh, I've picked up a piece here and there from teachers, and more from books like Strunk and White, Fowler, etc (I have a couple dozen lying around in various places).
But the way you change your language practices is largely by osmosis -- as a result of who you listen to. And reading is a form of listening. Questions like Rourke's that ask for a "rule" tend to stump me, because I don't know the rules by name.
I just know what works, and what doesn't. And what sounds barbarous.
About the only rules I try to live by in my writing are Orwell's. (Of course, as Dakota and others will point out, trying is often not succeeding. 🙂 )
Anyway, this is probably a good time to quote Orwell, and give a link to what I think is the most important essay ever written on why attention to language matters.
Orwell's 6 rules:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Orwell's original article can be found lots of places. Here's one:
Politics and the English Language I wish I would have remembered to post this before people voted.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)