General Question

wgallios's avatar

Grammar: is it "David and I" or "me and David"?

Asked by wgallios (1768points) September 8th, 2010
22 responses
“Great Question” (2points)

What is the correct grammar for this sentence/question?

“Would you like to go to Canada with David and I?”

or

“Would you like to go to Canada with me and David?”

My friend and I are arguing which is the grammatically correct way to say that.

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Answers

aprilsimnel's avatar

Would you like to go to Canada with David and me?

Take “David” out: Would you like to go to Canada with me?

See?

And I was always taught hat the other person being referred to comes before you talk about yourself in such cases. Why, I don’t know.

ichthus's avatar

“With me” is correct. The pronoun “I” is used as the subject in a clause, the corresponding pronoun “me” is used as a direct object or, as here, object of preposition (here the preposition is “with”). Social deference may make the order “David and me” preferable to “me and David.”

OreetCocker's avatar

We were always taught David and I when I was at school.

MissAnthrope's avatar

It is ‘David and me’, for the reasons @aprilsimnel and @ichthus so beautifully stated.

JLeslie's avatar

Just a reminder, prepositions are words like: to, for, from, above, below, between, around. So when it is the part of the sentence following the preposition you use me, and you always put yourself last.

If you took Spanish in school by chance, you probably had to conjugate verbs, and might remember, when the singular is I then the plural is we, and when the singular is me the plural is us. So when us sounds right in the sentence, you use me. Would you like to go to Canada with us? Would you like to go to Canada with David and me. Janet stood between us. Janet stood between Sean and me. Foreign language helped me learn a lot of rules in English.

wgallios's avatar

well I guess that answers my question, turns out I was wrong, thanks everyone. =]

Response moderated (Off-Topic)
DominicX's avatar

The problem is a phenomenon called “hypercorrection”. People so often mistakenly say “David and me are going to the store” and get corrected for it that they come to believe that “I” is used in all cases, even though that is not true. “Me” is used as a direct object, indirect object, and object of a preposition.

Give David and me the phone. (Indirect object)
He chastised David and me. (Direct object)
Please come with David and me. (Object of preposition)

“I” is used as a subject; that’s it:

David and I are going to the store (Subject).

Mom2BDec2010's avatar

I was taught to say “David and I”

gailcalled's avatar

Try using only one pronoun. He went to the store with I. That sounds very odd and is, indeed, incorrect, just as “Me went to the store” is wrong.

I am sad that people here have learned the wrong usage at school. It is disheartening for me, you and everyone else.

MissAnthrope's avatar

It was disheartening for David and me.

downtide's avatar

Rephrase the sentence with just yourself. If you would say “I” in that sentence then you would say “David and I”. For instance… “David and I are going to town” would be correct. and “Alice is going to town with me and David” is also correct.

MrItty's avatar

@OreetCocker @Mom2BDec2010 No you weren’t. You were taught to say “David and I” as the subject of a sentence, and “David and me” as the object. You might have learned to always say “David and I”, but I guarantee that’s not what you were taught.

MrItty's avatar

@DominicX Very well said.

morphail's avatar

@DominicX I’m not convinced that hypercorrection is to blame. Object-position “X and I” has been around since the 17th century, which predates (I think) English being taught in schools.

breedmitch's avatar

It is neither. The correct answer has already been given.

Rarebear's avatar

I am going to the store.
David and I are going to the store.

Would you like to go to the store with me?
Would you like to go to the store with David and me?

Ben_Dover's avatar

If David and I are objects of a proposition, it is David and me.

If they are the subject, it is David and I…David and I would like to go to Canada…

gailcalled's avatar

@Ben_Dover (Might you mean “preposition”?)

And if you use the verb “to be,” and you are feeling pedantic, you’d say:

“It is I,”

“It is ‘David and me.’ ”

Ben_Dover's avatar

@gailcalled I was hoping to get propositioned…

carolineenilorac21's avatar

David and me

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