It's "ME" or It's "I"?

[ckcgordon]

Shall we say "It's ME who should say thank you." or "It's I who should say thank you."?

I think the second one is correct, because we say "I should say thank you" but not "ME should say thank you". But many friends told me that they never say "It's I". They said the choice of the case (subject/object) is not their concern; it's against their intuition to say "It's I who should...". Are they correct?

[Anglika]

In the sentence you have given, "It is I who" is correct.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by ckcgordon

Shall we say "It's ME who should say thank you." or "It's I who should say thank you."?

I think the second one is correct, because we say "I should say thank you" but not "ME should say thank you". But many friends told me that they never say "It's I". They said the choice of the case (subject/object) is not their concern; it's against their intuition to say "It's I should...". Are they correct?

As Anglika says, 'it is I who' is right. Abbreviating to 'It's I' would be unusual. A lot of people (native speakers) aren't sure about me/I, and a number of dialects admit 'It's me who', so you'll often hear it.

To avoid sounding excessively picky about grammar, I would tend to avoid this, and say 'I'm the one who should be thanking you'.

b

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by BobK

To avoid sounding excessively picky about grammar, I would tend to avoid this, and say 'I'm the one who should be thanking you'.

Expletive it is the problem, no doubt.

There's a pattern here:

Formal & Standard: It is I who ... <mimics Latin Grammar>
Informal & ?Standard: It's me who ... <exemplifies Modern English Grammar>
(In)Formal & Standard: I'm the one who ... <Avoids expletive-it constructs>

All the best.

[ckcgordon]

Thank you for your reply and explanation, Casiopea, Bobk & Anglika.
And thanks for reminding me that we have an alternative pattern that can avoid using "it".

Just one more simple question to confirm my understanding of the use of "it's I/it's me". Is it okay to write "It's me who (or whom) the teacher tries to talk to." ? I think the answer is "yes".

[Casiopea]

It's me who is considered non-standard English by some, so your best bet, especially if it's a formal situation; e.g., a test, a business letter, an essay, and so on, would be to use It is I who ... or I am the one who ....

Does that help?

[ckcgordon]

Thanks, Casiopea.
I originally thought that depending on the context we can use either "It's I who..." or "It's me who/whom". I guess I was wrong.

[ckcgordon]

I found a discussion on cleft sentences from a book on English syntax. It says a cleft sentence is formed in this way:

CLAUSE[with X] --> It is X that CLAUSE[without X]

e.g.
ORIGINAL: Jane gave this book to Bill on Saturday.
It was on Saturday that Jane gave this book to Bill.
It was to Bill that Jane gave this book on Saturday.
It was this book that Jane gave to Bill on Saturday.

So, it is, in fact, possible for us to use "it's me". Consider:

You are looking for me. (normal SVO word order)
It' me who/that you are looking for. (cleft sentence)