Do I use Me or I?
Annie drove Carol, Sam, and me to Starbucks.
And please explain why.
Thanks.
Favorite Answer
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* “I” would only be used in the subject position.
If you can substitute they/we/he/she that is the subject form.
* “me” is used in the object form in this case.
If you can substitute them/us/her/him that is the object form.
In this case:
Annie drove “me” to Starbucks.
Annie drove “Carol and me” to Starbucks.
Annie drove “us” to Starbucks.
Annie drove “them” to Starbucks.
Since you can substitute “us” or “them”
this is the OBJECT form, so you use “me” (object form).
[Note: Example of subject form:
“I” drove Carol to Starbucks.
“Annie and I” drove Carol and Sam to Starbucks.
“We” drove them to Starbucks.
Since you can substitute “we”
this is the SUBJECT form,
so you would use “I” (subject form) if
the sentence were written the other way around
with “I” as the subject.]
Whenever you are unsure about compound subjects or objects joined together by “and,” try substituting “we” or “them” to tell if the phrase is used in the subject or object position.
Why? Eliminate Carol and Sam for a minute. Would you ever say “Annie drove I to Starbucks”? No, you wouldn’t. That’s the short answer.
The long(er) answer is that “I” is used when you are the subject, the noun doing the verb. “I cook”, “I drove”, etc. It is proper to use “me” when you are part of the object or the noun to which the verb is being done. “Drove me”, “gave me”, “handed me”, etc.
Start by removing the extra words (Carol, Sam,), and you are left with:
Annie drove I to Starbucks
Annie drove me to Starbucks.
You can see that ‘me’ is the proper word to use.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
“annie drove ME to starbucks”
sometimes this rule even makes it sound dumber than doing it the wrong way – BUT its a good rule of thumb
Try the sentence with just Annie driving you to Starbucks.
Annie drove me to Starbucks.
Annie drove I to Starbucks.
It becomes obvious which is correct.
I know this because if you take away the added names, it is correct:
Annie drove me to Starbucks.
this would be incorrect:
Annie drove I to Starbucks.
There is an easy rule for this. If you take out the other person or people in the sentence, would it sound right if you said
“Annie drove I to Starbucks.”?
No – you’d say “Annie drove me to Starbucks.” so you know you use me.