Let's Kill "Me and"

by Cherie Tucker

August 2014

You will hear people talking about “Me and” in conversations all around you.

Me and Jim went to the game last night.

Me and my dad had lunch at the new restaurant.

Me and the book club hated that new novel.

It is becoming a commonplace speech pattern among folks who should know better. Remember, starting a sentence with Me gets you nowhere. Me can’t do anything. Me can’t go to the game with Jim. Me didn’t have lunch with Dad. Me didn’t hate that new novel. Me isn’t active; Me doesn’t do. Ever. Me gets done to:

Please don’t hit me.

They took me to task over that mistake.

I don’t think it suits me.

If “me and” has crept into your spoken language, it will kreep into your writing and make you look as bad as you sound. There is only one cure, you must kill “Me and” and it’s siblings “Him and” and “Her and”. They cannot and must not ever start a sentence, unless you are using them in dialogue to show that your speaker is in a lower social class or of limited education or very young, then “Me and” might work for you. But be careful to use it intentionally and deliberately and rarely—or better still, not at all. R.I P, “Me and”.

Cherie Tucker, owner of GrammarWorks, has taught writing basics to professionals since 1987, presenting at the PNWA conference.  She currently teaches Practical Grammar for Editors at the University of Washington’s Editing Certification program and edits as well. GrammarWorks@msn.com.