me or I?: Usage Guide
Me is used in many constructions where strict grammarians prescribe I. This usage is not so much ungrammatical as indicative of the shrinking range of the nominative form: me began to replace I sometime around the 16th century largely because of the pressure of word order. I is now chiefly used as the subject of an immediately following verb. Me occurs in every other position: absolutely
, emphatically
, and after prepositions, conjunctions, and verbs, including be.
Almost all usage books recognize the legitimacy of me in these positions, especially in speech; some recommend I in formal and especially written contexts after be and after as and than when the first term of the comparison is the subject of a verb.
Video
I vs. Me
'Between you and __'? Simple guidance for a tricky pronoun.
Cite this Entry
“Me.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/me. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share