I vs Me
Difference between I and me is a very confusing subject to some as I and me are two terms used for a single person that is oneself. Those who are not native speakers of English have a lot of confusion between these two words that is reflected in their incorrect usage. Sometimes, an altogether different meaning is conveyed when either of the two terms is used incorrectly. To avoid embarrassment and to make sure one uses both these terms as per established conventions in appropriate contexts, read on as this article attempts to clarify differences between I and Me.
How to use I?
While there is this great similarity between I and Me that both are personal pronouns, there are differences between the two of them, as well. I is a pronoun, and when someone uses it to talk about himself, he is using the term as a subject. Therefore, I is a subject pronoun just like He, She, They, and It. So if you are telling that a friend and you are working in an office, you simply say that He and I work in the same office. It is clear here that He and I in this sentence are subjects.
How to use Me?
Me, on the other hand, is an object rather than subject pronoun. When you are talking or referring to yourself, but in a manner that describes you as an object rather than as a subject, it is me rather than I that has to be used. Counterparts of Me, when talking about others as if they are objects, are terms like Him, Her, Us, It, Them and You. Have a look at the following sentence.
Mom brought a glass of chocolate for brother and me.
It is clear from this sentence that mother or mom is the subject in the sentence and brother and me are the objects. One cannot use I in this sentence because oneself is being talked about as an object rather than subject.
Now look at this sentence.
Is there any mail for I?
It is clear that mail is the subject while the person is an object, which is why this sentence is grammatically wrong, it has got to be me and not I in this example. So, the correct way to say is, ‘is there any mail for me?’
It is always easier as you know you have to use I whenever you are talking about something that you have done like I went to school or I got an A grade in math.
However, it is ‘no one but me’ and ‘no one but I’ that confuses most nonnative speakers. Grammatically speaking, the correct form would be no one but I. However, that is more formal in usage and you will hear no one but me used in day to day conversations.
There are no quick fixes to the problem of incorrect usage of me and I, but with practice, it comes all too easily to a student of English language. What one can do in initial stages of learning is to remove the other noun from the sentence and see if the sentence still makes sense. Try this method in this sentence.
Mini and I went to the beach.
If you were to remove Mini from the sentences, the sentence reads I went to the beach which sounds OK, isn’t it? This means that you cannot use Me in this sentence as Me went to the beach doesn’t make sense.
“Mini and I went to the beach.”
What is the difference between I and Me?
• Me and I are pronouns for oneself just like He and Him, though there are obvious differences.
• I is to be used when the sentence talks about oneself as a subject.
• Me is to be used when oneself is referred to as an object in the sentence.