The Proper Use of "I" and "Me"

Poor English grammar bothers me. Yeah, sure, if you know me well, you know a lot of things bother me. Well, screw you... ok, just kidding. Anyway, this one seemed like such a simple fix, yet such a common error. So I thought I should write about it.

When we were in elementary school, our teachers thought it important to correct the common mistake of using the term "me" when "I" should be used in specific reference to a person or persons and the speaker. Thus, most of us correctly say things like, "John and I are going to watch football." This was such a cultural phenomena amongst elementary-school-English-teachers, that the "learned" of our day are hard pressed to use the word "me" when it is required in these situations, as if it has become a 4 letter word itself ('meee'). Alas, the error is just as egregious.

So, I intend to give a quick rundown on the proper usage of these words. The rules are quite simple. Most of you who read this are smart already, so it's probably nothing new. You can just use the discussion thread to complain about other English errors. If you didn't know, I hope this makes it clear (you can be smart and not know, too - they obviously didn't teach it very well in elementary English - I just mean that those who read this blog have a higher chance of already knowing these rules).

Essentially, to know if you are to use "I" or "me", ask yourself what sounds right if not using the other person or persons in the sentence. For example, if the sentence at hand is:

"My wife and I live in Florida."

I would take out the reference to my wife, and say:

"I live in Florida."

Well, that is very obviously the proper usage. Thus, the first sentence is correct. Let's look at another example:

"Jordan gave my wife and I a nice wedding gift."

Removing the reference to my wife again, this becomes:

"Jordan gave I a nice wedding gift."

That is obviously incorrect. Thus, the sentence should have been:

"Jordan gave my wife and me a nice wedding gift."

For those looking for a more technical distinction between the two usages, what we are looking for is whether the phrase is the subject or the object of the verb. In the first example, for instance, "My wife and I" is the subject. Thus, the usage of "I" is correct. In the second example, the verb is "gave" and the object of that verb (or, what the verb acts upon) is "my wife and me". In this case, "me" is correct.