Me versus I

Remember when you were young and you started out a story to your grandmother all excited-like,
"Today, me and Lauren went up to the..."
And your grandmother interupts you, quickly saying, "Lauren and I."

So you stop, look around, wonder what just happened, and continue on... "Yea. So me and Lauren went up to the...."
"Lauren and I" she interupts you again without even looking at you or changing the tone of her voice.
Is she even listening to me? you think.
"Ok, yea whatever, Lauren and I went up to the teacher and asked her if we could be first in the line today and she told me and Lauren that..."
"Lauren and I."
There she goes again!! What is up with this "I" stuff??!!

Does this sound vaguely familiar at all?
Please say yes, because this was the story of my childhood.

I know not every little girl has a grandmother that went to Duke and apparently studied her grammar books like she did her nursing school books....but I did. And my grandmother is probably the single driving source that led me into my English teaching career without ever knowing it. Even I didnt know it at the time.
I didnt even know it until I started teaching, and I realized that all my knowledge and reference points came from little conversations that I had with my grandmother along the way.

And here we are.
I know the difference between Me and I because of her.
Not because of my school grammar books in elementary, middle, high school and college.
Because of Nana.
So I'll share it with you :)

How do you know when to use Me or I?

Here's why my grandmother spent countless hours correcting my sentences when I excitedly told her a story....

Example: Lauren and me went up to the teacher to ask her a question.

The reason my grandmother told me to change the "me" to "I" is because if you were to remove "Lauren" from the sentence, then you would be saying, Me went up to the teacher to ask her a question.
Obviously, that is incorrect.

RULE: So basically, the rule is that you use "me" or "I" with a pronoun or noun just as you would if you would say it alone.

Incorrect: My sisters and me went shopping on Saturday.
Think: Did "me" go shopping or did "I" go shopping?
Correct: My sisters and I went shopping on Saturday.

Incorrect: Derek and me had dinner at The Pig Friday night.
Think: Did "me" have dinner or did "I" have dinner?
Correct: Derek and I had dinner at The Pig Friday night.

Okay, so do I ALWAYS use "I" and not "Me" ???

No. For some crazy reason everyone thinks that if they use "I" instead of me, it will make them sound more educated. Well in some cases it does. But in other cases, you SHOULD be saying "me" instead of "I", in which case you just tried to sound educated...butchya didnt at all. OUCH!

So let's fix that problem, mmkay?

Incorrect: My dad drove Lauren and I to the movies.
Think: Did dad drive "I" to the movies or did he drive "me" to the movies?
Correct: My dad drove Lauren and me to the movies.

Incorrect: My mom bought this dress for Emily and I to share.
Think: did mom buy this dress for "I" or for "me"?
Correct: My mom bought this dress for Emily and me share.

So remember, use whichever word would be correct if it were standing alone without other other noun/pronoun.

Now go put this into practice!!

Well... this blog and I will see you later!
Or should it be.... me will see you later.... hmmmm..... :)