Will you please excuse me while I turn into the Grumpy Grammarian and correct something that has been driving me crazy for a while now?
Thanks.
It's she and I. Not her and I.
For example: If you and your BFF went to Target to get a box of OtterPops you wouldn't say, "Her and I went to Target." You would say, "She and I went to Target."
I know that you probably read that and thought, "Duh, of course." I'm not saying that you make that mistake. I'm saying that every other person on the planet makes that mistake. I've been hearing it everywhere, from everyone. At the bank, at the Pod, at church, in the store, on TV. And every time I hear it, or its counter part, "Him and I," I get the creeps. No, really, it makes me feel all anxious inside. Like seeing 2+2=5. And I have to stop myself from gently correcting everyone because who wants to be that girl?
But it does not suppress the urge to throw a dictionary at the offender's head.
And so to stop that tragedy I will give you a very simple rule:
If you dropped you from the sentence what would you be left with? Did her really go to Target?
That is all. Carry on. And please don't be afraid to talk to me. I don't usually carry a dictionary.
Our lesson for next week, "I seen..."
10 comments:
I read this book called "The Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson. If you haven't read it, I recommend it.
Bless your heart - it's a good thing you don't live in Texas. I would say at least one in every three people things hisself is a word.
Of course, after living here for 3.5 years, I say I'm going "down to the Walmart". If I don't say it that way, people don't understand me.
I'm sorry if I've ever said that! I try really hard to be grammatically correct for you (and Liz and Wendy)!
P.S. Otter Pops sound SO yummy right now! Maybe we can go to Target and get some?
No, usually people will say, "me and her went to Target."
The other two that bug me to no end is the wrong usage of then instead of than, and your instead of you're. Come on, people!
Thank you. I often have the same urge, and it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only person on the planet to feel this way:)
You might could write a book on the subject.
Now I'm wondering if I've said that in front of you. I'm going to be so careful next time I talk to you. I agree with Chris, you should write a grammar book. If you do, can you include a section on how it's supposedly and not supposably? And maybe another section about there being no such word as expescially? Sadly I'm still working on those with Andrew. I'm hopeful that he'll come around one of these days:)
And for the love of all that is holy, there is no such word as supposably!!!
How about "I says" as in "So my boss says, 'Hello,' and I says...."
Or alls? Alls you gotta do is write a post about it.
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