Even fabulous TV stars make grammatical errors. Except for talent and fame and money, they're just like you and me! In this Q&A with Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser, the actor makes a common grammatical goof when using a object pronoun instead of a subject pronoun. So many people do this, but it's actually one of the easiest mistakes to catch and self-correct once you get the hang of it.
Vincent says (fifth question down):
I think me and [Elisabeth] have more of a history doing drama together...
Where does Vincent go wrong? He should have said "Elisabeth and I."
Quick rule:
- Replace a subject with a subject pronoun. Whether the subject is singular or plural does not matter.
Try this:
- To find the correct pronoun, eliminate the second person. Now run through the sentence again. It doesn't make sense to say, "I think me have more of a history doing drama together...." Of course you would say, "I think I have more of a history doing drama together...
- Then add the second person back into the sentence.
Correction:
- I think Elisabeth and I have more of a history doing drama together...
I was so happy when I read this article. Finally, someone has caught what has become the most common grammatical error of the last 30+ years. Forget double negatives. Thise are sometimes used for effect, but this is just plain widespread English error.
ReplyDeleteIt has been so long that I can't remember anyone on TV, cinema or in real life using the above mentioned proper form when speaking of himself/herself and another. I honestly thought that the rules of grammar had changed.
I learned way way (way) back that when speaking or writing the proper form, one is to always put the other person(s) first and lastly, one's self.
Could this be a symptom of the Narcissistic times in which we live?
I don't think it has anything to do with narcissism. I just think that people get used to hearing bad grammar, so they no longer recognize basic errors as an assault on the English language. Keep fighting the good fight!
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