we and John or John and we

[allthewayanime]

I've got a doubt about this:

English has a special sensitivity about using "I" and "we". People don't put "I" or "we" first.
(o) John and I went to town.
(o) John and we went to town.
(x) I and John went to town.
(x) We and John went to town.

I've known about the 'I' rule , but I didn't know that it also applies to 'we'.
Could someone be so kindly to explain this?

[BobK]

Your first sentence ('John and I...') is fine, but I've never met 'We and John' or 'John and we'. The normal way to express this would be something wordier, like 'John and I went to town with <others>': examples 'J&I went to town with Len and Harry' or '...with some other people from the old school'. Alternatively 'I went to town with <others> and John.'

b

[emsr2d2]

I honestly had to think long and hard about this and ended up asking my mum's opinion because she happens to be with me.

We agreed that it would not be a common construction at all and we would be more likely to say "John and I and my wife (or whoever the other person was) went into town."

Of your two suggestions we agreed that only "We and John..." sounds even remotely acceptable.

[bhaisahab]

You could always say "We went to town with John".

[Rover_KE]

You could always say "We went to town with John".

I was about to post exactly the same.

Rover

[allthewayanime]

I thank all of you for your replies!

[BobK]

You could always say "We went to town with John".

This makes it clear that 'we' is more than just 'John and I'.

b