“Me and my brother were late to school.”
“This photo is of me, Kayla, and Lauren.”
“Me, Shirley, and Jane want to do our project on Monday.
Is anyone else seeing and hearing “Me and _____” (fill in the blank) repeatedly? Without question, I have more students uttering this solecism today than I have had at any point in my career.
When I first started teaching 30+ years ago, I often heard students utter “Me and ___,” but these students were not academically advanced students or students who were planning to attend college. Oh, how things have changed.
Today, I have to correct Advanced Placement students who not only utter “Me and _____” when they speak but also write it in formal papers. I know this probably sounds like an old English teacher concern, but I have reached my limit.
I don’t usually correct a student’s grammar errors in front of other students, but I’m making an exception on this one.
Years ago while I was teaching a grammar lesson, a student blurted out, “But that don’t sound right!”
I immediately stated to the student, “Don’t ever determine what’s proper according to what sounds right to YOU!” When so many people continue to make the same errors and students hear the error repeatedly, they think the error is correct.
I don’t want to embarrass kids, but when so many of even our best students think it’s okay to say “Me and ____,” it’s time to circle the wagons and take a stand.
