I admit it, I judge people.
When your dad references Latin and Greek roots at the dinner table growing up, you learn to appreciate grammar.
No, really, you do judge people. We just have different ways of doing it.
“Him and Dr. Walton went to the conference and it was a huge success.” *
Dr. Walton hopefully wouldn’t say this, but if he did, he might say, “Him and me went to the conference and it was a huge success.” But I wouldn’t put it past him–MD or not. Years of medical school grammar doctor does not make.
Keep It Separate Stupid
Yeah, apparently the medical conference of a success than your 8th grade grammar class. There’s a super-simple trick to this one. If you have more than one subject and are curious about which pronoun to use, just take them individually and make sure they work. Take each sentence separately:
He went to the conference.
Him went to the conference.
Pretty easy to tell which is correct, right?
I went to the conference.
Me went to the conference.
That second makes you sound like Tarzan, doesn’t it? So imagine how a grammar Nazi (like, ahem, myself) thinks of you every time you say, “Him and me went to the store.” My poor little brain screams, “Caveman! Brute!”
This isn’t to say I know everything. In fact, I just know a few things, but they’re biggies. I still honestly would lose money if an 8-year old challenged me to write out the whole tables for “lie” and “lay.” I usually just try to use different verbs. “Yesterday, I set the screwdriver down on the bench.” It’s chicken, I know, but I’d rather find a different verb then, gasp, use one incorrectly.
Yes, I’m a language dork. I’m proud. I’d wear a T-shirt if I had one … but I don’t see that option at the T-shirt shop very often.
Yes, my mother sent me this graphic … and I thanked her for it as only we would understand.
* I heard this on a radio show this morning, although it wasn’t a doctor who said it, it was his office manager.
