Do I use I or me here?

Question

"Is it I who bother you or James?""Is it me who bother you or James?"

Yoong Liat · Accepted Answer

Anonymous"Is it I who bother you or James?"

"Is it me who bother you or James?"

To me, it is better to write "Is it you or I who bother James?"

Avangi · Answer

The subjective "I" is correct, but most people use the objective "me."

Regardless of the case, you need a singular verb "bothers" to agree with a singular subject "it."
Of course they're in two separate clauses. "Who" may be singular or plural, but the antecedent of the relative pronoun "who" is "it."
Hmmm, that's a terrible explanation. I don't know if the antecedent of "who" is "it" or "I/me." In either case (no pun intended) it's singular, and requires "bothers."

As Yoong sugests, the sentences are not natural.

Mr Wordy · Answer

Avangi
As Yoong sugests, the sentences are not natural.

After the necessary grammatical correction, the sentence "Is it me who bothers you or James?" is natural to me, but perhaps not ideally punctuated.

"Is it me who bothers you, or James?"

"Is it me who bothers you -- or James?"

In other words, "Is it me who bothers you, or is it James who bothers you?"

Mr Wordy · Answer

Yoong Liat
To me, it is better to write "Is it you or I who bother James?"

This doesn't mean the same thing though...

Avangi · Answer

Hi, MrWordy, I think you have it right. We've parsed it three ways, but only yours makes sense.

Edit. I think you're also right that Yoong's version is not a possible interpretation.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous"Is it I who bother you or James?"

"Is it me who bother you or James?"

Technically, the first is the correct one, but if you write and speak idiomatic English this question never needs to be asked.

Who bothers you? Do I bother you? Or does James bother you?

Who is bothering you? Am I bothering you? Or is James bothering you?

CJ

Yoong Liat · Answer

On careful reading, I agree that my sentence has a different meaning from the poster's.

I agree with CJ that "Is it I who bother you or James?" is technically correct.

Wordy states that it should be "Is it me who bothers you, or James?"

I wonder whether using 'me' instead of 'I' requires 'bothers' instead of 'bother'.

Avangi · Answer

Looks like I'm barking up the wrong tree.

Who bother you? Is it I?

Who bother you? Is it James and I?

I suppose if the who comes first, there is no antecedent. So "who" is 3rd person singular by default?

Who is the person who bothers you? Is it I/me?
Who are the people who bother you? Are they James and I/me?
I suppose in these sentences, "who" is the verb complement, and not involved in "number" questions. (referring to the first "who")

Alternating "me" and "I" in a given sentence doesn't effect the number of the verb.

But alternating "I" and "it" in a given sentence can make a difference in the form of the verb, since 3rd person singular present tense typically adds "s" while 1st person singular does not.
I take a long time to decide. It takes a long time to decide. (Both verbs are singular.)

The strange questiion is, does the relative pronoun "who" assume the person of its antecedent?

It is I who does it. It is I who do it. (Both verbs are singular.)

Yoong's question seems important.
<< Wordy states that it should be "Is it me who bothers you, or James?"

I wonder whether using 'me' instead of 'I' requires 'bothers' instead of 'bother'. >>

If we throw away the subjective "I" because it sounds too formal, do we also throw away its verb?
I do it. Me does it. ??

Ivanhr · Answer

wrong post

Mr Wordy · Answer

Yoong Liat
I wonder whether using 'me' instead of 'I' requires 'bothers' instead of 'bother'.

There was a similar discussion recently about whether it should be "It's you who has..." or "It's you who have..." (when talking about a single person). In other words, should the verb agree with "you" or with an interposed third-person "who"? I supported "have" as being technically correct (though in everyday English everyone says "has"). I guess to be consistent I should support "Is it I who bother you?" over "Is it I who bothers you?", but both formulations sound so stilted to me that I can't really tell. I would never use either.

"Is it me who bothers you?" is natural to me in everyday conversational English, but it must be "bothers". "Is it me who bother you?" is unequivocally wrong.

Do I use I or me here?

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