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It wasn't me; I never broke it.

It wasn't me; I never broke it.

Correct use of 'never'.
Acceptable use of 'never'.
Incorrect use of 'never'.


Votes: 192 Comments: 4 Added: December 2006
Comments:
pat beattie - 18th December 2006 21:55
The sentence is awkward, to say the least. "It wasn't me" - - why not, "It wasn't I". We would normally say, "I wasn't it", rather nan "Me wasn' it". Please excuse my punctuation. It's a reason why I need this site.
 
Dalriata - 21st April 2007 22:17
Instinct tells me that a more correct form of the sentence would be, "It wasn't me; I didn't break it."

I'm not sure why, from a technical standpoint though. The example just sounds wrong.
 
Not me - 6th June 2007 16:17
Pat,

People who say 'I never broke it' do not say 'It wasn't I'.
 
SimonTrew - 13th September 2007 15:47
Dalraita-- it perhaps "just sounds wrong" because "never" implies that it may have been broken more than once. For example, "I never broke a bone" as opposed to "I didn't break a bone". It's not grammaticaly incorrect, it's just giving more force that is perhaps necessary: "I didn't break it" would do. "It wasn't me" is perfectly acceptable colloquial UK English; in fact "It wasn't I" is definitely incorrect, since the first person is the subject ("It" being the object), thus "me"-- "It" being an elision of "The person who broke the thing".
 
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