Posted on 02/24/2009 10:38:52 AM PST by reaganaut1
When President Obama speaks before Congress and the nation tonight, he will be facing some of his toughest critics.
Grammar junkies.
Since his election, the president has been roundly criticized by bloggers for using “I” instead of “me” in phrases like “a very personal decision for Michelle and I” or “the main disagreement with John and I” or “graciously invited Michelle and I.”
The rule here, according to conventional wisdom, is that we use “I” as a subject and “me” as an object, whether the pronoun appears by itself or in a twosome. Thus every “I” in those quotes ought to be a “me.”
So should the president go stand in a corner of the Oval Office (if he can find one) and contemplate the error of his ways? Not so fast.
For centuries, it was perfectly acceptable to use either “I” or “me” as the object of a verb or preposition, especially after “and.” Literature is full of examples. Here’s Shakespeare, in “The Merchant of Venice”: “All debts are cleared between you and I.” And here’s Lord Byron, complaining to his half-sister about the English town of Southwell, “which, between you and I, I wish was swallowed up by an earthquake, provided my eloquent mother was not in it.”
It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that language mavens began kvetching about “I” and “me.” The first kvetch cited in Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage came from a commencement address in 1846. In 1869, Richard Meade Bache included it in his book “Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If George Bush was a butcher of the English language for his mispronunciations, usually in the heat of the moment, then Obama is more guilty. His is a constant grammatical mistake.
Using the GWB standard for determining intellect, I hereby declare that Obama is an idiot.
Hate that one. I also hate "we will effort".
Obama's new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, said, "gave my sister and I..."
He was reading from prepared remarks, presumably written by him, upon his acceptance of the nomination.
Perhaps he believed he was quoting Shakespeare?
Aren’t we glad that the Obama administration is single-handedly bringing back The Bard? The most amazing folks.
Yah. Memo to Laura Ingraham: ‘’Effort’’ is **NOT** a verb.
We must aware people of these errors.
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