Each year as Lent rolls around I think about what I’m going to give up. A sign of penance and all that. Last year I gave up crude words, and I was pretty good at it - but only for Lent. But the habit didn't take. As soon as Easter rolled around, the rude words popped right back into my speech. I don’t sound like Gordon Ramsey, but I am sometimes a pretty close second. This year, I’m giving up not writing my blog at least weekly.
When I was teaching, one of my supercilious colleagues used to stand with me in the hall during passing period. He and I would chat. He said things like, “Their speech. Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He of course was referring to students’ crude words.
My reply to him was always, “Yes. They just don’t get case.” That always flummoxed him, but I believe that we have lost our ability to understand case and use it correctly in the United States. I hear errors from educated people, people with Ph.D.’s and valedictorians who ought to know better, and on television and radio - NPR which is what I listen to - constantly. I held and still hold the opinion (and I regularly used to tell my mother, who hated my crudity,) that just because I say, “Shit!” doesn’t mean I have a handful - or a mouthful - of it. But my colleague still worried about the students’ use of crude words, and his concern was valid too.
Language is always in a state of flux, but in Twenty-First Century America, someone is devising new - and currently incorrect - rules that have to do with plurals and case. Let me give you some examples. I hear, “Me and him are going to . . .” Me is never, Never, NEVER, NEVER! the subject of a sentence. Nor is Him.
Another thing I hear is “Her and I just . . .” Her is never, Never, NEVER, NEVER! the subject of a sentence. In the first person singular, I is always the subject. In the third person singular (female) She is always the subject. The pronouns Me and Her are in objective case while I and She are in nominative case.
Nominative Case means the pronoun is the subject of the sentence. Examples: She and I are taking a class (not me and her). You can figure this out by substituting a singular subject instead of a plural subject. You would not say Me is taking a class unless you are trying to teach a baby to speak incorrectly. Nor would you say Her is taking a class for the same reason. Nominative case pronouns are I, You, He, She, It, We, They.
Objective case means that pronouns are the direct or indirect objects of a clause or the object of the preposition. Examples: He gave it to me. (not, He gave it to I.) Me, here, is the object of the preposition. (Anita Loos in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes had Marilyn Monroe say, “A girl like I,” but it was for humorous effect because the audience knew it is WRONG.) If the object is plural, me is still the object, as in, "He gave it to my sister and me."
Grammar is confusing if you never studied it or have forgotten it. But knowing what the terms pronoun, case, nominative, and objective mean is not important.
The easy peasy way to figure out the correct pronoun is to mentally pretend the object is singular and use whatever word you’d use in the singular. If the pronoun is correct in the singular, it is also correct in the plural. "I am going to the bank," not "Me is going to the bank." Or "She just combed her hair again," not "Her just combed her hair again."
Your job now is to apply these rules if you don’t already. It’s Lent. Go and sin no more.
As always, I welcome your reactions. Just click comments below.
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