[Grammar] You, I

I have a question!

Whenever I write, I get confused as to which one is correct or more appropriate-

1. You and I or Me and You
2. Roy and I or Me and Roy

Just asking because to me they both sound okay when spoken but when written I'm not sure if both are okay or not.

Thanks!

milkychaitea said:

I have a question!

Whenever I write, I get confused as to which one is correct or more appropriate-

1. You and I or Me and you
2. Roy and I or Me and Roy

Just asking because to me they both sound okay when spoken but when written I'm not sure if both are okay or not.

Thanks!

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♥♦♣♠ NOT A TEACHER ♥♦♣♠
All the forms are fine, but in writing and in spoken language, when you want to sound a bit more polite, the first forms are better.

milkychaitea said:

I have a question!

Whenever I write, I get confused as to which one is correct or more appropriate-

1. You and I or Me and You
2. Roy and I or Me and Roy

Just asking because to me they both sound okay when spoken but when written I'm not sure if both are okay or not.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

There is no relationship to politeness. The difference has to do with nominative or objective case. When used as the subject, nominative case, be sure to use "xxx and I". When used as the object, objective case, be sure to use "xxx and me".
As far as order, the speaker is usually listed last.

Not a teacher

allenman said:

As far as order, the speaker is usually listed last.

Not a teacher

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And you just said that it's got nothing to do with politeness. :-| Whenever you put yourself after someone else, it is regarded as polite, at least in the place where I live.

Yes, it is polite to list yourself last. But the basic question was whether to use "you" or "me" and your answer was not useful for that.

All the forms are not "fine," the word used depends on whether it is the subject or the object.

So, let me say some more about register and the proper use of pronouns and nouns joined by and in the sentence.

In formal language and when education is concerned, a person saying the following sentence will normally get corrected...:
Me and Mike/Mike and me went to a concert last night.
...and be advised to say:
I and Mike/Mike and I went to a concert last night.
In either case, listing yourself last would normally be considered as polite, as pointed out by SoothingDave and me.
Summing up, only the forms I and Mike/Mike and I are the 'safe' ones. This is the subjective case of the usage.

When it comes to the objective case, the normal forms will be:
me and Mike/Mike and me, as in:
Sue invited me and Mike/Mike and me to her birthday party.
In such a case, saying I and Mike or Mike and I will be regarded as incorrect, whatever the situation or style.

It would be very uncommon to say "I and Mike".
"Mike and I" is normal.

Raymott said:

It would be very uncommon to say "I and Mike".
"Mike and I" is normal.

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I am aware of that, Raymott - that's why the form Me and Mike seems to be more common in speech, which I was denied earlier in this thread.

engee30 said:

I am aware of that, Raymott - that's why the form Me and Mike seems to be more common in speech, which I was denied earlier in this thread.

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No one's denying you anything. SoothingDave conceded to you the point about politeness. But it's invalid if you're comparing "Me and Mike" to "I and Mike" because they both put the speaker first, so should be equally impolite. "I and Mike" is less common than "Me and Mike" despite being grammatically correct and of equal politeness.
I don't remember you making so many mistakes with your previous avatar, engee.

Besides "I and Mike" would be pronounced "Iron Mike" (as in Tyson) where I come from.

Et tu, Brute? ;-)

Raymott said:

No one's denying you anything.

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When I first wrote:

All the forms are fine, but in writing and in spoken language, when you want to sound a bit more polite, the first forms are better.

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this is what I got concerning the forms in question and politeness:

allenman said:

There is no relationship to politeness. [...]As far as order, the speaker is usually listed last.

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SoothingDave said:

Yes, it is polite to list yourself last.

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Two native speakers, at least one (I'm saying 'at least' because allenman seemed to point something out about order at the end of his post, which, to me, was quite the same what I meant), confirmed that what I first wrote was valid as for politeness.

Raymott said:

SoothingDave conceded to you the point about politeness. But it's invalid if you're comparing "Me and Mike" to "I and Mike" because they both put the speaker first, so should be equally impolite.

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I never said that Me and Mike or I and Mike were impolite - all I said in that respect was that Mike and me and Mike and I were a bit more polite, which, in my humble opinion, makes the difference.

Raymott said:

"I and Mike" is less common than "Me and Mike" despite being grammatically correct and of equal politeness.

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:up: You already know my opinion about such forms.

Raymott said:

Besides "I and Mike" would be pronounced "Iron Mike" (as in Tyson) where I come from.

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That is an absolutely invalid argument in this discussion, and I reckon, in many others.

Incidentally, when I initially saw:

1. You and I or Me and You
2. Roy and I or Me and Roy

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the first thing that came to my mind was this - since the asker writes you and me with a capital letter, then s/he must be concerned about the forms in the nominative case. That's why in my very first post in this thread I didn't mentioned anything about the differences allenman and SoothingDave wrote about afterwards.