Having "I" in the beginning - Right or Wrong

[danyboy]

Hi All,

I, my sister and Deepa went to the mall

I know the above sentence is wrong because of the I that appears in the beginning, but I would like to know if "I" can appear in the beginning of a sentence like this when admitting mistakes.

Eg - I, Harry and Kumar were at fault. I, Harry and Kumar accept our mistakes.

Please correct me on this

Many Thanks

Daniel

 

[MikeNewYork]

This is not an issue of grammar. It is an issue of convention. Under normal circumstances, we list ourselves last for politeness.

 

[danyboy]

But do we list ourselves first because we are ready to admit our faults or its still better to use I towards the end.

What is commonly used in English Language?

 

[MikeNewYork]

I would still put "I" last. If you want to put extra emphasis on yourself, you could add a sentence to that effect.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

It is also a question of having "I" as close to the verb as possible.

In the example of accepting one's mistakes, it seems that a long list of culpable people ending in, "...and I accept our mistakes." does a better job of emphasising the "I" than if it were placed at the beginning.
It also helps people prone to using "me" instead of "I" avoid making the mistake.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Why would it be important to have "I" close to the verb?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

Because that is what I, as an educated BrE speaker and linguist whose opinion, while perhaps not enjoying the papal seal of approval, has nevertheless every right to be expressed with neither the belligerence nor argumentativeness characteristic of some other posters, for the sake of clarity, arguably one of the most important aspects of verbal communication, believe.

 

[Rover_KE]

Whatever you do, danyboy, don't make the mistake of changing I to myself – however many times you hear native speakers perpetrating this mistake.

 

[Tdol]

But do we list ourselves first because we are ready to admit our faults

I wouldn't say it's wrong to start with I, but it sounds odd because it's not the normal place for it. It doesn't make it sound like a more honest admission. The speaker is also ready to admit that the others were at fault.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you want to emphasise your own responsibility, you could say "I was at fault, as were Harry and Kumar. We all accept that we made a mistake".