It’s All About Me!

Kristen King

by Barbara Davis

www.inkthinkerblog.com — The typical American business writer seems to have an aversion to using the word “me.” It’s as though somehow “me” got assigned to informal writing, and only “I” and “myself” are allowed into the hallowed ground of business writing. This is both illogical and ungrammatical.

Personally, I blame the parents. I think it harkens back to when, around the age of eight, you’d burst into the kitchen saying something like, “Me and Jimmy saw the biggest snake ever!” Your mom (if she was like 82.6% of American moms) would not say something like “Don’t your dare bring it into this house!” (which would be logical response), but instead, she’d say archly “*JIMMY AND I* saw a snake.” This resulted in grown ups afraid to ever utter the word “me,” let alone use it in their business writing. Unfortunately for suffers of this phobia, “me” sometimes is the right word.

Here are the symptoms: A letter that closes something like “Please feel free to contact Joe Smith or myself if you have any questions.” An e-mail that says “Between you and I, I think the customers will …”

A grammar geek will tell you that you use “I” when you are the subject – the one doing something. (“I saw the snake. I screamed. I ran away.”) Use “me” when it’s the object – the one receiving the action. Hint: When you have a word like “to” or “between” or “from” (and if some part of your brain says “I remember those little words – those are prepositions!” your former English teachers would be so pleased) immediately before, “me” is almost always the right choice – in that case, it’s the object of the preposition. Okay, no more grammar terms, I promise.

Most people find it natural enough to use “me” when you’re the only one involved: “Send it to me” or “You’ll be hearing from me.” Just remember that the same rules apply when other people are involved. “Sent it to both Jim and me,” or “Between you and me…” or “You’ll be hearing from either Susan or me by Friday to follow up.” (For that matter, it’s “Jimmy and I saw the snake.” Mom was right about that.)

So here’s the cure: Temporarily remove any other person the phrase, and see what makes sense with what’s left – which sounds right, “me” or “I”? Just between you and me, “me” just might be right.

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Barbara Davis has been in communications in one form or another for 20 years. She does occasional freelance work, enjoys the writing process, and gets great satisfaction helping others make their writing clearer. Contact her at barbarafdavis@comcast.net.

Although this article was published by Kristen King, the original author retains all copyright and should be contacted for reprint requests.