You and me/ You and I

[Disckstuckinfan]

Dear Administrators,

I have always been in doubt whether to say you and I or you and me

Here are a few sentences I have invented. Please tell me if the usage is correct.

1. I don't think it is a great idea to throw a party. Probably there would be just a few attendees. In fact, I believe it would be just you and me.
2. We will enjoy a peaceful afternoon in the woods. You and I laying in the grass contemplating majestic trees, hearing the river running and birds chirping.
3. Our father thought that you and I broke the window.
4. Sorry, I am late, the neighbor's dog pursued my friend and me all the way to the intersection.

Sincerely,

Antonio

 

[Disckstuckinfan]

Thank you Piscean, Should I say Dear all?

Do you mean by case for either word that I can use me or I interchangeably?

 

[bubbha]

Ignore the words "you and", and then it's easier to figure out whether to use "I" (subject) or "me" (object).

 

[Disckstuckinfan]

Ok I got it. I meant to ask if using I or me in sentence 1 won't change its meaning.

 

[Disckstuckinfan]

Ah! I didn't know that trick, thanks bubbha.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Dear Administrators,

I have always been in doubt whether to say you and I or you and me

Here are a few sentences I have invented. Please tell me if the usage is correct.

1. I don't think it is a great idea to throw a party. Probably there would be just a few attendees. In fact, I believe it would be just you and me.

I'm not a grammar pro, but that sounds fine to me. I suppose I is more grammatical, as in It is I!, but I don't think many people would fault you and me there - at least, not in the US.

2. We will enjoy a peaceful afternoon in the woods, you and me lying in the grass contemplating majestic trees, hearing the river running and birds chirping.

Your second line wasn't a complete sentence, so I combined them. (A good rule for writing English in general: only use sentence fragments intentionally. The folks who run this forum strongly prefer whole sentences. But elsewhere, you'll be fine if you just stick to the intentionally rule.)

Here, again, us sounds better to me than we - us lying in the grass - so I like me better than I. We'll see what the real grammarians here have to say.

Lay and lie are tricky. In general, lay is something we do to something else, like laying the mat on the porch. But people use both words both ways.

3. Our father thought that you and I broke the window.

Right. I broke the window works, so you and I works, too.

4. Sorry, I am late, the neighbor's dog pursued my friend and me all the way to the intersection.

Right again: the dog chased me, the dog chased us, the dog chased him and me.

Sincerely,

Antonio

Keep practicing your personal pronouns, and remember: Americans mess them up all the time. (Hey, no one ever said English is easy!)

 

[Disckstuckinfan]

Thank you very much, Charlie. I did not quite get what you meant by intentionally. Is sentence two a run on sentence?

Indeed, English is tough.

 

[jutfrank]

I meant to ask if using I or me in sentence 1 won't change its meaning.

No, it won't.

In number 2, with a slight change of punctuation, I think I could make a case for using You and me.

 

[Tarheel]

I agree with Charlie, but for #3 I would say:

Our father thought we broke the window.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Thank you very much, Charlie. I did not quite get what you meant by intentionally. Is sentence two a run on sentence?

Indeed, English is tough.

Yes, what I did to it made it run-on. To keep it two complete sentences, you could edit the second one.

Writers often use sentence fragments on purpose. They do it because it sounds good. Your second line sounded good as you wrote it. Bbut it wasn't a complete sentence, and at this forum the teachers want to be sure that students know what a sentence is.

So what I meant was, outside of this forum, it's fine to use sentence fragments as long as you know you're doing it.