Yo C
"There are 3 people in my family: my mother, my father and I/me." So "I" or "me"? Thank you!
Jul 29, 2018 2:06 PM
Comments · 12
3
“There are a fair number of cats” is correct — good point, Tempus. Notional agreement with what we’re really talking about — cats. "A fair number of" is a set phrase serving as an adjective to count "cats" - nothing more.
Examples:
A lot of work is unnecessary.
Lots of work is unnecessary.

Lots of jobs are unnecessary.
A lot of jobs are unnecessary.

In the above examples, “number” and “lot” have no specific meaning, and are not really being counted.

July 29, 2018
2
Rule: Use a subject pronoun* following state-of-being verbs such as am, are, is, was, were, appeared, seemed, etc.

* I, you, he/she/it we you they

Example: It is she.
Example: It was we who won the election.
Example: There are three people in my family: my mother, my father and I.

Because we don’t speak this way, we can’t use our ear to help us with this rule. This is a good time to discuss the difference between spoken language and written language, particularly when it comes to tests and formal papers. We speak informally but must write more formally. 

Rule: Use one of the object pronouns when the pronoun is not a subject and it doesn’t follow a state-of-being verb.

Example: Nancy gave the gift to her.
Example: Please remind him or me.
July 29, 2018
2

Nearly everyone would say "and me."   Frequently we say things that are not grammatically correct, because they sound strange otherwise.  For example, If I were to knock on your door, you would ask, "Who is it?"

Nearly the entire US population would answer, "It's (It is) me."   It is I is grammatically correct, but it sounds really strange.

There are a fair number of things like this in English:

What we say  versus   What is grammatically correct, but sounds weird and no one would say in real life:

How did you do on the test?  Great.   (No one would say 'greatly.")

Make sure you act right next week when we visit Aunt Mary.  (No one would say" Act rightly.")

You did that math problem wrong.  Fix it.  (No one would say, "You did that math problem wrongly.")


July 29, 2018
1

Yo C,

It's funny that you are asking about what is "correct" in a small detail of grammar, and then you say  "I got it."

I got it is extremely casual, " incorrect" English. :)

July 29, 2018
1
I is correct and formal.
July 29, 2018
Show more
Yo C
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, Vietnamese
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), English
Articles You May Also Like
English for Awkward Moments: What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say
26 likes · 15 Comments
Understanding Business Jargon and Idioms
9 likes · 0 Comments
Conflict at Work: How to Handle Disagreements in English
15 likes · 9 Comments
More articles