My friend and I or I and my friend?

Question

I'm confused when to use "My friend and I" and "I and Josh"Could someone please elaborate on how or when I should use which please. Thanks in advance.

Danyoo · Accepted Answer

You always say I last.

So correct way would be:
-My friend and I
-Josh and I

Paco2004 · Answer

English has a special sensitivity about using "I" and "we". People don't put "I" or "we" first.
(o) John and I went to town.
(o) John and we went to town.
(x) I and John went to town.
(x) We and John went to town.
This would be a social custom rather than a grammar rule.

paco

Mountain · Answer

Is there a case where you say "I" or "we" first? Because I remember there was a gramar book used "I" first instead. Thanks

Paco2004 · Answer

If you are a king or a person like Charles DeGaulle or Saddam Hussein, you might be allowed to say "I and my people". George Bush? I don’t know whether he can be arrogant enough to use that sort of collocation in his speech.

"I believe in Thee, O ***! Thou art righteous, and I and My people are wicked, and I acknowledge now that there is no *** in the world beside Thee."

paco

Anonymous · Answer

Paco2004English has a special sensitivity about using "I" and "we". People don't put "I" or "we" first.
(o) John and I went to town.
(o) John and we went to town.
(x) I and John went to town.
(x) We and John went to town.
This would be a social custom rather than a grammar rule.

paco

Are you sure?

plural, We, you and they ...

singular, You, he and I ...

Ruslana · Answer

Hello, Paco!

Is it possible to use "me" instead of "I"? For example, "John and me went to town". Is it correct?

Sam C · Answer

Is it possible to use "me" instead of "I"? For example, "John and me went to town".

it's common in my english, i use it every day.

there is a prescriptive rule against it, on the shaky grounds that if you removed 'John and', all that is left is 'me', which would be ungrammatical Standard english:

(1) *Me went to town.

sam

Ruslana · Answer

Sam, hello!

What is your English? British or American?

If you say it's possible to use "me", is it correct to place "me" in the beginning?

"Me and John went to town".

I mean if the mentioned custom works in that case, too.

Khoff · Answer

"John and me went to town" may be common, but I would consider it incorrect usage. Many native speakers use it, but I would definitely not advise an English learner to adopt it. It's not based on "shaky grounds" but on the difference between grammatical subjects and grammatical objects.

Here, "John" and "I" are subjects of the verb: John went to town. I went to town. John and I went to town. (Ruslana- this is the nominative case. As a Russian, you probably understand cases better than most English speakers!)

Here, "John" and "me" are indirect objects: Bob gave it to John. Bob gave it to me. Bob gave it to John and me. (This is the dative case)

You will also hear native speakers incorrectly say "Bob gave it to John and I" because they are so worried about making the "John and me went to town" mistake that they are afraid to use "John and me" even when it is the correct choice. The test for which is correct is, as Sam mentioned, to remove John from the sentence and see which pronoun (I or me) is correct in the simplified sentence. "John and me went to town" is every bit as incorrect as "Me went to town." "Bob gave it to John and I" is just as incorrect as "Bob gave it to I."

(You will also hear "me and John went to town." Some people might say it sounds casual, informal or unpretentious, but many people would just say it sounds uneducated.)

Sam - I don't want to come down too hard on you; I see you're fairly new to the board. I just want to make clear to non-native speakers that what people do say is not necessarily what they should say. Please don't take offense!

Note to Paco - I'd like to add that "John and we went to town," while grammatically correct, sounds very awkward to my ears. It would be more natural to say something like "John went to town with us."

Edited several times to catch up with things that were being posted while I was writing this!

Anonymous · Answer

RuslanaSam, hello! What is your English? British or American?

british which doesn't narrow it down much.

If you say it's possible to use "me", is it correct to place "me" in the beginning? "Me and John went to town".

fine for me, perfectly grammatical and common aswell.

sam

My friend and I or I and my friend?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions