3.6: Distinguish between Pronouns such as I and Me

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Subjective and objective pronouns are simply pronouns that occur in either the subject or the object of the sentence. Subjective pronouns tell us who or what the sentence is about. Objective pronouns receive the action in the sentence.

*There are some pronouns that are always subjective and others that are always objective.*

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\)
	Singular	Plural
Subjective	I, you, he, she, it	We, you, they
Objective	Me, you, her, him, it	Us, you, them

Sometimes, determining which pronoun we should use in a sentence can be a little confusing, especially when it comes to I and me. You might want to write:

Incorrect: My mother bought my brother and I new clothes for the first day of school, even though we insisted we did not want to go.

The pronoun I in this sentence is actually incorrect because it appears in the object of the sentence. The sentence should read something like this:

Correct: My mother bought my brother and me new clothes for the first day of school, even though we insisted we did not want to go.

The trick is to take out the other person in the sentence to see if you would use I or me. For example:

Incorrect: “My mother bought I new clothes for school.”

Correct: “My mother bought me new clothes for school.”

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