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Why do these people deliberately try to annoy me?

So I'm watching "The Fabulous Beekman Boys" on Planet Green and Josh says, "Maybe it would be best for Brent and I to spend some time apart."

Brent and "I"? Really, Josh?

And it's not as if this were an isolated incident. Later in the same episode, he made the same grammatical mistake again. I don't remember the exact quote (I've blocked it from my memory) but it was something like, "He gave it to Brent and I."

The misuse of subjective pronouns as objects is probably the pettiest of my pet peeves, but it is so commonplace on television now that whenever I sit down to watch, I am in danger of being in a constant state of annoyance.

It's not as if it is uneducated people who are making these grammatical mistakes. On the contrary, they are highly educated and smart people. People who were apparently not paying attention to their seventh grade English teachers when they explained the difference between the use of objective pronouns and subjective pronouns.

A subjective pronouns acts; an objective pronoun is acted upon. "I" is a subjective pronoun; "me" is the correct objective pronoun. Josh's sentences should be, "Maybe it would be best for Brent and me to spend some time apart" and "He gave it to Brent and me." What is so hard to understand about that?

And yet, one hears the incorrect usage of the subjective "I" more and more, not just on television but in real life as well. When someone I am speaking with uses that construction, it is all I can do to bite my tongue and keep my hands from reaching out to curl around their throats as I gently and smilingly correct them.

Thus does the world try my patience every day. I tell you life is hard for those of us who are perfect.
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  1. SnapMay 21, 2011 at 6:58 AM

    LOL! Do you remember ... on channel 2 ... the gal they brought in when they got rid of Linda L??? I heard her say ... *this here is* and thought NO, I didn't hear that. The next day .. *this here is* and I thought .. I DID hear that! She did it another time and I said ... ENOUGH. They get rid of Linda and replace her with THIS. No way, I've had it and I don't watch channel 2 local news to this day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dorothy BordersMay 21, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    I confess I don't watch local news, period, Snap, unless there's a storm on the way, but, believe me, I feel your pain!

    ReplyDelete

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