Pam,

 

I can't tell you where the rule comes from, but I was taught it as a child, back in the 40s and 50s.  I can, however, tell you that it is not a natural language rule.  There is a widespread constraint in the languages of the world that when more than one grammatical person (I, II, III) is listed in a construction in which the ordering is not syntactically determined, the order will default to I II III, that is, "I you he/she".  In virtually all non-standard dialects of English, the coordinate structure is "me and X", even in subject position, not even "I and X."  The I-last rule is a rule of politeness in Formal Standard English.  My guess is that it would go back to the 19th or even 18th c., but I don't have the details. on that.

 

Herb Stahlke



	

	Subject: pronoun rule?

	

	



	Dear ATEG folks,



	I need some advice about using pronouns in compound constructions. The rule, as I understand it, is that the first-person pronoun I occurs last in a compound construction. (We say, for example, John and I went home – not I and John.) I have 3 questions. First, did I state the rule correctly? Second, where is this rule found – Chicago Manual? Third, is this noun-first pattern limited to just the first-person personal pronoun? Thanks for your help! Pam



	

  _____  



	Do you Yahoo!?

	Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th <http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html>  To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" 



	Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/