I vs. Me

Summary
Eric and Paul explain how you should properly use the personal pronouns "I" and "me".

Transcript
(Paul and Eric are playing tennis. Kayla and Princess are sitting on a bench, watching them play. Paul prepares to serve)

Paul: All right, Smith, it's you and I.

(Suddenly...)

Paul: Geordi's visor!

(Twenty tennis balls pummel Paul at once, preventing him from serving. The tennis balls knock him down and his tennis racket knocks him on the head)

Paul: Ow!

(Paul sits on the ground, dizzy. He hears the chime of a cuckoo clock. Eric stands next to a machine that releases the balls. Eric is loading more balls into the machine)

Eric: Do you like it? I got this machine from Professor Lawrence. It's really good at shooting tennis balls.

Paul: Seriously, Eric? Do you need to put more balls into that thing?

Caption: Today's Lesson: I vs. Me

Narrator: Today, Paul and Eric are going to explain how you should use "I" or "me" in sentences.

(Paul gets up)

Paul: Okay, I guess it's time for another grammar lesson. "I" and "me" are both pronouns. Pronouns take the place of other nouns. We can substitute them for words we've just used.

(A sentence reads: Paul and Eric love tennis. The sentence changes to: They love tennis. That sentence changes to: They love it.)

Paul: "I" and "me" are a special type called first person pronouns. They always refer to the person who's speaking or writing. For instance, I will win the tennis match. Eric can't beat me.

(Text reads "I will win the tennis match. Eric can't beat me.")

Kayla: We'll see about that.

Princess: Show us.

Eric: "We" and "us" are the plural forms.

(A chart of first-person pronouns shows "I" and "me" as singular forms and "we" and "us" as plural forms)

Eric: In simple sentences, it's easy to hear which pronoun to use. You'd never say "Me will win the tennis match" or "Eric can't beat I." It just sounds really weird.

Paul: "I" only works as the subject in a sentence. In other words, when you are performing the action. In the sentence, "I will win the tennis match", "win the tennis match" is the action, and "I" am the one doing it. Use "me" when you're the object in a sentence. That is, when you receive the verb's action. In the sentence, "Eric can't beat me", Eric's doing the action. It's happening to me, or in this case not happening. Heh, heh.

Eric: That's not fair.

(Two other tennis players, Alice and Francis, are standing on the other side of the tennis net)

Eric: Uh-oh. We've got competition.

Paul: Things can get confusing when more people want to play. You might forget who's doing what to whom.

(Text reads: Eric, Alice, Francis, and me/I play tennis every Tuesday. Paul and Eric examine the text)

Paul: Hmmm...We need to figure out if the missing word is a subject or object.

(A chart reminds them that "I" is a singular subject, "me" is a singular object, "we" is a plural subject, and "us" is a plural object)

Eric: There are four of us now, but we're all performing the action. We play, so we use the subject pronoun "I."

Paul: There is a faster way. Just drop the other nouns in the sentence.

(Text reads: Eric, Alice, Francis, and me/I play tennis every Tuesday. The sentence changes to: me/I play tennis every Tuesday)

Paul: Now it's a simple sentence, so it's easy.

(The sentence changes to: I play tennis every Tuesday)

Paul: Let's try another one. Alice is serving to Eric and...

(Paul and Eric prepare to play tennis with Alice and Francis. Alice prepares to serve. Text reads: Alice is serving to Eric and I/me)

Paul: It's tempting to pick "I" when you're not quite sure. But look at the verb. Alice is the one who's serving, and she's serving to us. The singular form of "us" is "me."

(The first person pronoun chart reappears. A circle appears around the word "us." The word "me" is highlighted)

Paul: For a shortcut, just drop the other noun.

(Text reads: Alice is serving to Eric and I/me. The sentence changes to read: Alice is serving to I/me)

Paul: You wouldn't say "Alice is serving to I."

(The sentence changes to read: Alice is serving to me)

Paul: So, there you go. Alice is serving to Eric and me. If you just practice, you might get a better grasp at sentences with "I" or "me".

(Alice serves. The tennis ball knocks Paul over. He lies dazed on the ground, hearing a cuckoo clock)

Paul: Ohhh...me need to practice more.