Couple fun grammar tips in case anyone cares. If I help one person, it’s worth it!

I have a wonderful solution for anyone who has ever struggled with using “he and I” or “me and him” or other pronouns in sentences. I read the other day how someone was horrified to hear “me and him” – I replied that without context I couldn’t possibly have an opinion. Here’s why (and the tip follows): “me and him” can actually be perfectly appropriate if the pronouns are the object of the sentence. “If it were up to me and him, we would have grammar classes at work” works fine – a bit awkward but fine.  My friend presumably heard it as the subject of the sentence “me and him are heading to the movies” – ouch.

Now bear with me on the subject/object distinction. So many people force “and I” these days because they are terrified to use “and me” thinking it’s always wrong. People are confused about the simple rules regarding the object and subject of a sentence. To say “People look to Jane and me for grammar tips” is perfectly appropriate – object. To say “Jane and I give proper advice” works because we are now the subject. My simple rule here is to drop the other person or pronoun and you will easily find the answer. So take “They look to Paul and me for advice” and drop away “Paul and” – you then have “They look to me for advice” – well, duh, everyone knows that sounds right…. Nobody would ever say “They look to I for advice”… It seems people get tripped up when two or more people/pronouns come into play. My little rule helps tremendously. It takes a little time but you quickly get the hang of it. “The boss has asked John and me to deliver a speech in the morning” works beautifully.  The boss is the subject and I am the object (thus “me” is appropriate).  I see people force “and I” in similar sentences all the time.  Could you imagine uttering “The boss asked I to deliver this speech”… ?  Um, yeah, you’re fired.

My other quick tip is the misuse of “its” with “it’s”. Good gravy do people screw that up. “Its” is the possessive form of the neuter gender – it should NEVER have an apostrophe when used as such. The only time “it’s” should appear is when it’s used as a contraction for “it is.” How ’bout that?  I have seen it botched in advertising messages by professionals, and even newspaper headlines after editors had a shot. Amazing.