Questions about 2 sentences

Question

Hi, I have two sentences that I need to know if they're written properly.

1. Chris blamed his recklessness on the more adventerous side of him.

Should it be him or 'himself' ?

2. Last night, I had a dream that me and you were going to Europe.

Should it be you and I?

Thank you very much.

Jennybling · Accepted Answer

HI Chris.

in both cases, you should have gone with the other choice:

CORRECT:

1. Chris blamed his recklessness on the more adventureous side of HIMSELF.

2. Last night, I had a dream that YOU AND I were going to Europe.

there you go!
-JennyBling.

BarbaraPA · Answer

AnonymousChris blamed his recklessness on the more adventerous side of him.

Should it be him or 'himself' ?

Neither is natural: On his more adventurous side.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

AnonymousHi, I have two sentences that I need to know if they're written properly.

1. Chris blamed his recklessness on the more adventerous side of him.

Should it be him or 'himself' ?

2. Last night, I had a dream that me and you were going to Europe.

Should it be you and I?

Thank you very much.

#1 It's "him".

#2 Last night, I had a dream that ~~me and you~~ [you and me]were going to Europe.

After "that", it's a subordinate clause; it's incorrect to start a sentence or a clause with an pronoun in object order. Therefore, "me and you" is grammatically incorrect. And "me" is part of the subjects in the clause, so "me" is also incorrect. Revised:

Last night, I had a dream in which you and I were going to Europe.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

The more I looked at the first sentence, the more I feel odd about the tone of it....

1. Chris blamed his recklessness on the more adventerous side of

I must admit, my judgement on the correctness of the sentence was influenced my how it was written

originally, and I was trying to work with it and "more" kind of threw me off. Second thought, "him" also sounds off.

So If the sentence is to describe Chris's recklessness, I'd rephrase it as follows:

Chris blamed his reckless life style on his own adventerous characters.

I hope I didn't mess it up any more than what I had already done!

Jennybling · Answer

Hi! Just to chime in again, as native speaker, in my opinion, if you said:

"... the more adventurous side of himself" and

"...I had a dream that you and I were going to Europe"

you would sound perfectly natural and correct. Of course, I am only giving you a speaker's opinion, so it may not be grammatically perfect. However, it SOUNDS natural and perfect.

jennnybling, brooklyn.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

jennybling
"... the more adventurous side of himself" and

"...I had a dream that you and I were going to Europe"

you would sound perfectly natural and correct. Of course, I am only giving you a speaker's opinion, so it may not be grammatically perfect. However, it SOUNDS natural and perfect.

Thank you for your comment. I am not a native speaker but I have lived in the US for 30 years and I have studied extensively and used English professionally. During my early years as an immigrant teenager, I somehow fell in love with the language while I was struggling with it, and don't ask me to explain it

Having said that, I consider myself 3/4 native. The other 1/4 is my goal to complete in my next 20 years

. I agree with your assessment on # 1 after re-reading it a dozen times. But my curiosity drives to to ask this question:I had a dream that you and I were going to Europe", I opted to use "in which" for the relative clause. Do you feel that "in which" is too literal, or formal for the context ?

Thanks for your answer in advance!

Jennybling · Answer

@ dimsumexpress

Hi! As a lover of languages, let me just say, I love this website, and love offering colloquial advice.

To answer your question more specifically, in this context 'which' DOES sound more formal, so I went with 'that' instead. A well thought out question, indeed.

I have a strong academic background, but am extremely relaxed and colloquial when I speak.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

jennyblingbut am extremely relaxed and colloquial when I speak.

I am as well

jennyblingI have a strong academic background

I don't have that, but what I had was a blend of relentless studying and polishing, combined with continual learning and on the job practicing. I wrote training specs and equipment operatinig procedures as part of my last job.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you everyone for your help and explanations. I understand it now, and yes, I know it sounds natural when you say it out loud, but I had a feeling that gramatically speaking, the sentences were incorrect.

Questions about 2 sentences

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions