Other on 03 Aug 2008 01:08 am
Real World Grammar Usage Is Not My Cup of Tea
Keep making the same grammar mistake over and over again and if enough of us make the same mistake, it becomes correct. What used to be a sound grammar rule may change with real-world usage; meaning that if no one conforms to the rule, the rule changes. Real-world usage aside, the pervasive use of “me and so-and-so” in our culture drives me a bit crazy!
It used to be, “George and I went to the store.” When I was a kid, if someone said, “Me and George went to the store,” the listener would conclude that the speaker was uneducated. Nowadays, turn on the television and the newscaster is saying, “Me and … blah, blah, blah.” Talk radio hosts say it. I have been shocked to hear highly educated people like lawyers say “Me and so-and-so” on a regular basis.
You know what’s even scarier? I have intentionally included the “me and George” error and other flagrant grammatical mistakes in this article and ran it through Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar check. Guess what? Obvious errors — and in particular, the “me and …” error was not reported as a grammar error by the software!
Is this poor grammar just the product of a narcissistic “Me, me, me culture?” Are we just getting dumb? Or am I way behind the times and getting dumb as a result because I am not using real-world usage?
I’ll be honest … it’s been a very long time since I sat through a semester of grammar class. I can see or hear what’s off with a sentence but do not know what the error is specifically called. So, here’s the practical, common sense rule as I understand it from second grade:
Take out the third person and see if the sentence makes sense. For example, if you are confused and wondering if you should write or say “Me and George went to the store,” keep George out of it and try this: “Me went to the store.” Sounds ridiculous, eh? On the other hand,If you were to use the correct version, which is “George and I went to the store,” split up the correct sentence and we have, “George went to the store,” and “I went to the store.” You can do this with a variety of sentences to easily figure out what makes the most grammatical sense.
Simple grammar tips aside, those of us who are offended by the constant “me and so-and-so” grammar can at least take comfort in the fact that pronoun variations such as “Her and me went to the store” or “Me and him went to the store” have not yet skyrocketed to the top of the common usage charts.
Now that I’ve ranted, me going to the store. Maybe George wants to go, too.
Urbain Beck is a freelance writer who has authored numerous online and off-line articles and technical reports. If you are a writer and have been published online and would like to show off your writing, be sure to submit some blurbs at The Blurbosphere. You’ll receive one-way links from PR2, PR3 and PR4 blogs at no charge. Visit www.blurbosphere.com for details.
- Urbain Beck
