Dear Readers,
What is a preposition? As I used to explain to my students, it is whatever you can do to a house.
For example: to the house, from the house, on the house, under the house, of the house, for the house, in front of the house, behind the house, near the house, far from the house, in the house, with the house, beneath the house
You get the picture.
Now, what happens when we use personal references after the preposition instead of a thing (the house)? The personal pronoun we must use when it comes after one of these prepositions is not the same as the personal pronoun used as the subject of the sentence.
Here are the subject pronouns categorized for your understanding:
SINGULAR subject PLURAL subject
I We
You You
He, She, It They
Here are the pronouns used after a preposition. Please note that they are not the same and they are not interchangeable, with the exception of the pronouns "You" and "It".
SINGULAR object PLURAL object
me us
you you
him, her, it them
Here are some examples of the wrong use of a pronoun after a preposition.
Example: In the 1998 movie "A Perfect Murder," Steven Taylor (played by Michael Douglas) knows that his wife is having an affair with artist David. His plan to have David murder the wife goes awry and she does not die. After spinning the truth, he asks his wife: "Is there anything in his loft that could link David to you or I?" Since, I is a subject pronoun, it should not be used after the preposition to. Of course it should be "to you or me?"
Example: When Katie Couric interviewed Prince William on the Queen's Jubilee Special, aired on May 29, 2012, William says of his wedding: "It was very important to both Catherine and I that we, um, gave a day that was true to ourselves." The explanation is the same as in the above example, but here we have the Prince of Wales speaking incorrectly.
Example: On the tv show "The King of Queens" episode entitled "Inner Tube", Doug has a dream where he is Ralph Kramden of the Honeymooners. Ralph says to Norton, "That's the difference between you and I." Here the preposition in use is between and the pronoun should be me.
I have heard and read on many other occasions phrases like these:
"for she and I" or "about he and I". In these instances, both pronouns are subject pronouns being used in the position after the preposition. Now we know that these phrases should read:
"for her and me" and "about him and me." If you find yourself unsure of which is the correct pronoun to use in situations like the ones above, simply take out one of the objects. You will instantly hear what the actual pronoun should be.
Example: My parents ate dinner with he and I. => My parents ate dinner with he. NOPE.
My parents ate dinner with him. YES. My parents ate dinner with I. NOPE.
My parents ate dinner with me. YES.
My parents ate dinner with him and me. Now it is correct.
See how easy this is?
Here are a few examples of good writing:
Example: In the movie "No Time For Sergeants" released in 1958, new Army recruits Ben Whitledge and Will Stockdale are arguing over the top bunk. Another recruit butts in so Ben says,
"That's between him and me." Hurrah!
Example: In the cop show "Major Crimes" episode "Long Shot," there is a shooting involving a new school superintendant. LAPD Commander Taylor says, " [FBI] Agent Howard and I have been arranging protection for her and her family until we can sort this whole thing out." Bravo!
Example: In the episode entitled "The Hamburger Postulate" of "The Big Bang Theory", Leonard introduces his neighbor Penny to a friend who stops by: "Leslie, this is Penny. She lives across the hall from Sheldon and me." Excellent writers on this show.
Well, I hope this has been enlightening for you (same pronoun for the object of the preposition and the subject).
