I (pronoun)

There are some situations in which only the nominative form (I) is grammatically correct and others in which only the accusative form (me) is correct. There are also situations in which one form is used in informal style (and was often considered ungrammatical by older prescriptive grammars) and the other form is preferred in formal style.[3]

In all varieties of standard English, the nominative form I is used exclusively when it is the whole[lower-roman 3] subject of an explicit verb,[4] e.g.

• "I did it."

not

• * "Me did it."[lower-roman 4]

With other pronouns, such as we (strictly speaking when used as a personal determiner), there may be exceptions to this in some varieties of English.[5]

In all varieties of standard English, the accusative form me is used exclusively when it is the whole[lower-roman 3] direct or indirect object[lower-roman 5] of a verb or preposition.[5] The accusative me is also required in a number of constructions such as "Silly me!"[6]

In many situations, both the nominative I and the accusative me are encountered.[7]

When the pronoun is used as a subjective predicative complement, the nominative I is sometimes encountered in (very) formal style:[7]

• "It is I."

But this is often seen as hypercorrect and may be unacceptable, as in:

• * "This one [photograph] is I as a baby.[lower-roman 4]

Me is usually preferred as a subjective predicate, especially in informal style:[5]

• "This is me as a baby."
• "It's me!"

The nominative I is more common in this role when it is followed by a relative clause:[5]

• "It is I she loves."
• "It is I who love you."

though even here me is more common in non-formal style:

• "It's me she loves."
• "It's me who loves you."

Following as or than (without a following explicit verb), the accusative form is common:[8]

• "She is older than me."

However, where it is possible to think of the pronoun as the subject of an implicit verb and than or as as a conjunction, the nominative I is found in formal style:[8]

• "She is older than I [am]."

In Australian English, British English and Irish English, many speakers have an unstressed form of my that is identical to me (see archaic and non-standard forms of English personal pronouns).

The above applies when the pronoun stands alone as the subject or object. In some varieties of English (particularly formal English), those rules also apply in coordinative constructions such as "you and I".[9] So the correct form is

• "My husband and I wish you a merry Christmas."
• "Between you and me..."

In some varieties of non-standard informal English, the accusative is sometimes used when the pronoun is part of a coordinative subject construction,[9] as in

• "Phil and me wish you a merry Christmas."

This is highly stigmatized by academics but common in many non-standard dialects. [10]

On the other hand, the use of the nominative I in coordinative constructions like "you and I" where me would be used in a non-coordinative object is less stigmatized—and in some cases so widespread as to be considered a variety of standard English:[11]

• "President Bush graciously invited Michelle and I to meet with him..."
• "All debts are cleared between you and I."

That the non-standard form is less grammatically correct in prescriptive grammars becomes more obvious in the following variations of the sentence, "Carl went with George and I."

• Reverse the proper noun and pronoun as in "Carl went with I and George."
• Eliminate the proper noun as in "Carl went with I."

In each case the pronoun me would sound more appropriate.

In casual conversations, myself is often used where "me" is more appropriate, as in the sentence "The room was painted by Jane and myself". This seems a contradiction since "myself" would imply doing the job alone. A more precise sentence would be "The room was painted by Jane and me."