It's also bureaucratese, of course. The same people will tell you that a
computer program utilizes functionalities instead of using functions. I
can take that for about ten minutes before I snap and ask them if
they've eatulated their lunchifications yet. We're seeing a convergence
of motivations we'd rather people not have.
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lorraine Wallace
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 6:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: I and me questions
What I'm really frustrated by -- and am hearing more and more -- is the
use of reflexive pronouns in the subject or object position:
e.g. My brother and myself traveled to China last summer.
The package was delivered to him and myself.
Ugh! Anyone else bothered? Again, I think it's a matter of
"hypercorrection."
Lorraine
>>> "Spruiell, William C" <[log in to unmask]> 3/23/2009 11:12 AM >>>
Edith,
There are attested examples of object forms in compound subjects going
back a very, very long time, so it's certainly not a new phenomenon.
Parallel to the system that distinguishes subject and object on the
basis of their grammatical function, there's always been a tendency to
use a fast strategy of using "I" at the beginning of a clause, and "me"
everywhere else (or even "me" anywhere the pronoun isn't standing alone
immediately before the verb). I'm not sure if "between you and I" is
increasing in frequency - I suspect it is, but I know I heard it a fair
amount in my youth - but it's another longstanding hypercorrection. Of
course, students who don't know what subjects, objects, and prepositions
are (I mean "consciously know about" here) lack the means to figure out
it's a hypercorrection, and the shift away from explicit grammar
instruction has increased the number of students in that category.
What I have noticed as being relatively recent is the proliferation of
"myself" forms in the same contexts, perhaps as a midpoint in the
"correction-hypercorrection" scale (recognizing that "I/me" s a
potential problem and using a third option to try to dodge it).
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wollin, Edith
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 12:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: I and me questions
Here are some questions for the group from a colleague. I think they
fall in the recent-history-of-the-language category:
) Was there a specific period in the last 30-40 years where "people"
began
to notice a proliferation of "me" used in the subject - especially
compound
subjects ("John and me will be late") and began an "education campaign"
to
correct it? If so, how did the "word" get out (newspaper articles, word
of
mouth, increased emphasis in K-12/college) that people needed to be more
conscious/clean up this part of their grammar?
B) Is there any opinion or evidence that a sudden realization of the
improper use of "me" instead of "I" in compound subjects led (via
overcorrection or other means) to the seemingly recent proliferation of
the
use of "I" in a compound (or even singular) form in the indirect
object/subject of the preposition? Eg: "The chocolate cake was a
surprise
for my sister and me."
C) Any concrete examples of this overcorrection making its way into
mainstream media (Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Larry King, Oprah, etc.)?
My own take on this is I started hearing "between you and I" from even
highly educated people in the 80s. I attributed it to hypercorrection
mixed with a lack of grammar instruction that would have cued people to
know when to use the objective and when the subjective. It's been in
this decade that I've heard the I moving to the indirect object and to
the objective of prep and subject of infinitive places when it is a
compound and even sometimes when it is not a compound.
Edith Wollin
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