Wednesday, February 03, 2016

English as she is spoke.

I am constantly annoyed by an advert running on TV at the moment, which talks about money set aside by the banks as compensation for PPI "...possibly mis-sold to you and I".  And of course that's wrong - it should be "you and me".  There's a simple test - take out the "you".  You wouldn't say "mis-sold to I", it's "mis-sold to me" and sticking a "you" in there doesn't alter things.  There seems to be a feeling that "me" is somewhat uncouth and that "I" is posher, but of course it has nothing to do with politeness and everything to do with grammar.  "My brother and me come from Birmingham" is equally incorrect - same test, take out "my brother" and you wouldn't say "me come from Birmingham", so it should be "my brother and I...".

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