We (Edith Hope Fine and Judith Josephson) are the Grammar Patrol. Both of us taught for years and are now writers, with thirty plus books between us, including our two popular grammar guides, Nitty-Gritty Grammar and More Nitty-Gritty Grammar. For close to twenty years, we taught writing and grammar basics and now we blog about grammar for writers.
In Perfect Grammar Land, you’d hear, “Put out a BOLO for a blue station wagon, license ISPKGOOD.” We want you to put out a BOLO on agreement bloopers when prepositions pair with incorrect pronouns. Such errors abound, especially in speech and on TV and radio shows.
The Grammar Patrol winces when a best-selling writer says on NPR, “It was a big thing for my wife and I to take the plunge.” Would you say, “It was big for I?” or “Where are the Girl Scout cookies for I?” (No way: for me . . . me . . . me!)
Can you spot the bloopers? Clues are in boldface.
1. Here’s a picture of Sam and I holding hands.
2. He said it to Alex and I many times.
3. The photocopier decision was made by he and she.
4. Between you and I, I’m not a Downton Abbey fan.
5. Our cow costume won for she and I.
All five examples have incorrect pronouns used with prepositions. This is an easy error, made by the most erudite among us.
To get this straight, you need to know three things:
• what a preposition is
• what a prepositional phrase is
• which form of a pronoun to use.
