I vs. Me How to Choose the Right Word

Both I and me are  first-person singular pronouns, but they are used in different ways. I is a subject pronoun, while me is an object pronoun. How to Use I I is a first-person subject pronoun, which means it is used as the subject of a sentence (the person who is performing an action or being something): I am tired of eating frozen waffles.I went to the library to check out some books. In each of these examples, I is the subject of the sentence, the person who is being tired and going to the library. How to Use Me Me is a first-person subject pronoun, which means it is the direct or indirect object of an action or of a preposition: Lisa tutored  me.The deliveryman handed a package to me. In the first example, the pronoun me is the direct object of the verb tutored; me is not the one tutoring but rather the one being tutored. In the second example, me is the object of the preposition to. The sentence can be rewritten without the preposition by making me the direct object of the verb handed: The deliveryman handed me a package. Examples The best way to know when to use I and me is to identify whether the word is being used as a subject or an object. If its the subject of a sentence, the one performing an action or being something, you should use the word I: After I opened the presents, I was very happy.I asked Jim to help with the project.Samantha and I are taking the tour tomorrow. When youre referring to the object of an action, whether direct or indirect, use the pronoun me: My mother told me to focus on my studies.The ball came flying through the air and hit me on the head.The weather did not look very pleasant to me. How to Remember the Difference It is usually easy to tell when you should use I or me. Confusion can occur, however, when one of these pronouns is grouped with another noun. Take the following sentence, for example: The officer was looking at Jim and  I. To determine if the usage of I is correct, all you have to do is take out Jim to isolate the first-person pronoun: The officer was looking at I. This is not correct because I is not an object pronoun. Because the person is the object of the officers gaze, we must use the object pronoun me. The same principle  applies to other examples where first-person pronouns are paired or grouped with other nouns: Bill and me are excited to go to the concert. Once we remove Bill from this sentence, we see that the use of me is incorrect. Its important to remember that when a pronoun is the object  of a preposition, you must use an object pronoun. Many people make the mistake of writing between you and I when they should write between you and me. Grammarist Mignon Fogarty says the former is a common example of hypercorrection, the result of people trying too hard to write correctly and using grammatical rules in places where they dont apply. I and Me After Forms of the Verb Be In Early  Modern English—the language spoken by Shakespeare and others—I and me were sometimes used interchangeably after the verb be. One example, as scholars John Algeo and Thomas Pyles point out, occurs in Shakespeares Twelfth Night, where the character  Sir Andrew Aguecheek says, Thats mee I warrant you...I knew twas I. Thats me uses the object pronoun me, while twas I uses the subject pronoun I. Both statements, however, are versions of the same syntactical construction: That/it is/was me/I. Strict grammarians insist that the verb to be must be followed by a subject pronoun; however, the object pronoun me is frequently used in  standard English. While It is I is usually technically correct, you are more likely to hear the expression Its me. The latter is grammatically correct, however, when the pronoun is followed by a  relative clause  that identifies the pronoun as the object of an action. For example: Its me who was really hurt by your reckless behavior. Me is correct in this instance because it is the object of the verb hurt. Sources Algeo, John, and Thomas Pyles. The Origins and Development of the English Language. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010, p. 169.Fogarty, Mignon. Grammar Girls Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Henry Holt and Co., 2008, p. 143.