Blogg / Me or I? "My Friend and I" vs. "Me and My Friend" (18 Real Examples)

Me or I? "My Friend and I" vs. "Me and My Friend" (18 Real Examples)

Use I when you are the one doing the action (the subject) and me when the action is done to you or follows a preposition (the object). The confusion almost always appears when another person is mentioned alongside you. The examples below are real sentences that people sent to Proofread Bot.

The corrections below are written in formal, academic English.

The test: remove the other person

Cover up the other person's name and read the sentence again. "Me went swimming" is obviously wrong, so "Nicky and me went swimming" is wrong too. "Give the papers to I" is obviously wrong, so "Give the papers to John and I" is wrong too.

1. "Me" as the subject of the sentence

✗ Me and my friend went home.
✓ My friend and I went home.

✗ Nicky and me went swimming.
✓ Nicky and I went swimming.

✗ Me and Jess went to the shops.
✓ Jess and I went to the shops.

✗ Sara and me will go to the car.
✓ Sara and I will go to the car.

✗ My dad and me went fishing.
✓ My father and I went fishing.

✗ Josh and me will go to the store later.
✓ Josh and I will go to the store later.

✗ Me is learning English.
✓ I am learning English.

Notice that the corrections also put the other person first. "Me and my friend" is common in speech, but in formal writing it is customary to mention yourself last: "my friend and I."

2. "I" after a verb or preposition

This is the overcorrection. Writers who have been told that "me and my friend" is wrong start using "I" everywhere, including places where "me" is correct.

✗ Give the papers to John and I.
✓ Give the papers to John and me.

✗ This secret is between you and I.
✓ This secret is between you and me.

✗ Between you and I, who is smarter?
✓ Between you and me, who is smarter?

✗ My mom is bringing my brother and I to the movies.
✓ My mother is taking my brother and me to the movies.

"Between you and I" sounds refined to many people, but it is incorrect: between is a preposition, and prepositions are followed by object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them).

3. Other subject and object pronoun mix-ups

✗ We met they in Spain.
✓ We met them in Spain.

✗ John saw we yesterday.
✓ John saw us yesterday.

✗ David knows she.
✓ David knows her.

✗ Angela loves he.
✓ Angela loves him.

4. "Me" where "my" is needed

✗ This is me book.
✓ This is my book.

✗ Me name is Mike.
✓ My name is Mike.

✗ Me dog ate me homework.
✓ My dog ate my homework.

"Me" for "my" is common in some regional dialects and in casual speech, but in standard written English the possessive is always my.

What about "myself"?

Myself is correct only when you have already appeared in the sentence ("I taught myself") or for emphasis ("I did it myself"). It is not a more polite alternative to "me": write "Please contact Sarah or me," not "Please contact Sarah or myself."

Quick reference

Subject (doing the action): I, he, she, we, they
Object (receiving the action, or after a preposition): me, him, her, us, them
Possessive (before a noun): my, his, her, our, their

Paste your text into Proofread Bot to check every pronoun automatically. For a closely related formal-writing point, see "me asking" or "my asking".

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