I wouldn't call using 'him and me' in subject position an error. If a
lot of people are doing it, that means it is becoming a part of the
language. If it is old, then it is all the more established.

English has been revising its case system for hundreds of years and this
is no doubt part of it.

Instead of calling this an error, I'd say it is very informal English. I
 certainly hear very educated people do things like this in informal
speech, and it sounds quite natural. Kids should know that they need to
use 'he and I' in more formal situations and in writing. But calling
subjective 'him and me' an error gives kids the impression that they
have learned 'bad English'; that they are not competent at English. This
isn't true. They may need to add a formal register to their repertoire
of types of English, but they are quite competent at whatever language
they have learned outside of school.

Among the numerous reasons children don't like grammar instruction is
the constant message that their natural English is wrong, mistaken. How
can a child interpret this, except to understand that they must be
stupid, they must have missed learning 'correct English' somehow? And
how can it give them confidence that they can learn the correct version?
Instead of using grammar instruction to undermine children's security
about their use of language, we should use it to make them aware of the
great amount of grammar they learned on their own, and to support the
idea that they can learn more styles of English so as to function
successfully in a wide range of situations.

Another reason changing this mindset is so important is that it will
help remedy language-based prejudice. If children understand that
language varies naturally across situations and social groups, they are
less likely to look down on others because they speak a nonstandard
variety of English.

I choose to harp on this point because of a regrettable incident I
witnessed recently. A good friend of mine has a 6-year-old daughter who
just finished kindergarten. My friend has taught the girl to use 'whom'
correctly. The girl notices that other children don't do this; her
mother's explanation for this is that 'some kids don't learn English
very well'. This patent falsehood has the potential to set up this
little girl to think that she is smarter than other children and that
other children somehow have deficient backgrounds. Not a message I'd
want my kid to internalize,  especially before she has even entered
first grade.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •  Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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