Why not "me"

[chance22]

I think in those incomplete sentenses, "me" should be used instead of "I", as in the expression "Why not me?". But on the internet, I also find "Why not I". Is this kind of choice also correct? Hope you can help explain it. Thank you.

[MrPedantic]

Hello Chance22,

Much depends on the omitted material:

1. "Take John with you." "Why should he take John? Why not me?"

— here, "me" is the object of an implicit "take" (i.e. "Why not take me?"), so "me" is appropriate.

2. "Give them to John." "John? Why not me?"

— here, "me" is the object of an implicit "to" (i.e. "Why not give them to me?"), so "me" is appropriate.

3. "He said that I should go with John". "You? Why not I?"

— here, "I" is the subject of an implicit "should" (i.e. "Why shouldn't I go with John?"), so "I" is appropriate.

(However, native speakers tend to dislike an "I" without an explicit verb; most would probably use "me" in example 3, and might think "I" unnatural or unattractively formal. )

Best wishes,

MrP

[chance22]

Hello Chance22,

Much depends on the omitted material:

1. "Take John with you." "Why should he take John? Why not me?"

— here, "me" is the object of an implicit "take" (i.e. "Why not take me?"), so "me" is appropriate.

2. "Give them to John." "John? Why not me?"

— here, "me" is the object of an implicit "to" (i.e. "Why not give them to me?"), so "me" is appropriate.

3. "He said that I should go with John". "You? Why not I?"

— here, "I" is the subject of an implicit "should" (i.e. "Why shouldn't I go with John?"), so "I" is appropriate.

(However, native speakers tend to dislike an "I" without an explicit verb; most would probably use "me" in example 3, and might think "I" unnatural or unattractively formal. )

Best wishes,

MrP

Thank you very much for your clear explanation. I find it very helpful.

[crazYgeeK]

Hello Chance22,

Much depends on the omitted material:

1. "Take John with you." "Why should he take John? Why not me?"

— here, "me" is the object of an implicit "take" (i.e. "Why not take me?"), so "me" is appropriate.

2. "Give them to John." "John? Why not me?"

— here, "me" is the object of an implicit "to" (i.e. "Why not give them to me?"), so "me" is appropriate.

3. "He said that I should go with John". "You? Why not I?"

— here, "I" is the subject of an implicit "should" (i.e. "Why shouldn't I go with John?"), so "I" is appropriate.

(However, native speakers tend to dislike an "I" without an explicit verb; most would probably use "me" in example 3, and might think "I" unnatural or unattractively formal. )

Best wishes,

MrP

Please tell me more about some grammatical structures.
"Why not me?" means "Why not take me?".
I would write "Why not to take me ?"
What is the grammatical structure of "Why not take me ?" ?

I only think "not" can't be followed by a verb (such as "take") without "to".
I think "Why not me?" is a short way of speaking, that means "Why is it not me ?".
Please explain more for me.
Thank you very much !

[MrPedantic]

Hello CG,

1. Why should he take John? Why not me?

— I envisaged the "full" version of the underlined part as:

2. Why can't he take me?

as that would be quite a likely combination; "Why isn't it me?" on the other hand seems to suggest a preceding "Why is it John?", e.g. in the context of taking turns.

Best wishes,

MrP

[SoothingDave]

Not a teacher.

There is a book on English and its oddities called "Woe is I."

This is a joke, because the standard formulation is "Woe is me."

The "rules" of English say that when a linking verb like "is" is used that the pronoun used should be subjective. In other words, English grammar "rules" will tell you you should say "It is I."

But I've never heard anyone say such a thing.

"It's me."