You and I or You and me??

[ali_alic]

Which one is it. I have just answered someone with "Lucy and me", then apologised and said "ooops I should say Lucy and I" and my boss is insisting that it should be Lucy and me. He says if you take out the other name and it still works, then its correct. So "Lucy and me are walking the dog" is incorrect as you wouldn't say "me is walking the dog". So in answer to "who's left in the office" Lucy and I and Lucy and me are both correct. Is that so???

[Grunty]

A rough guide is to leave out one of the people. You would not say 'Me is going to the pub', so you say Lucy and I are going to the pub. You would not say 'Please call and visit I when you are in the area', so it is correct to say 'Please visit Lucy and me'.
If you require a more technical guide, I have no doubt that one will appear here soon.

[Grunty]

Sorry, I pressed the button too early. It is correct to say 'Lucy and I are in the office' so 'Lucy and I' is the correct answer. However, in this case we are accustomed to the incorrect sentence, so 'Lucy and me' is usually acceptable, although not strictly correct.

[DaisyD]

I agree, it is "Lucy and I". I don't know why, it just is. Even though it feels more natural to say "Lucy and me". Language constantly evolving though, so who knows?!

[Quizmonkey]

This is basic grammar: the remains of the case system in English. All has to do with whether the first person (I or me) is the subject or object of the sentence. The subject is the DOER of the verb, so in your example "are walking" is the verb phrase. Who are walking? Answer: Lucy and I.

The main problem with this area of grammar is over-correction: people assuming that the "and I" construction is always right, which of course isn't the case. That's why you hear "between you and I" a lot which is impossible and wrong: should be "between you and me".

[heathfield]

Simple test....it must sound right if you leave the other person out of the sentence.

[ali_alic]

Thank you one and all - it is as we thought. In fact the boss and I were both right so he didn't lose face and I didn't get sacked!!

Cheers from him and me (or is it him and I?????)

xx

[Bert]

Americans never seem to get this right. They always say "you and I", "Lucy and I", when, 9 times out of 10, it should be "you and me" or "Lucy and me". I think that this all went wrong because most people seem to say, naturally, " Lucy and me are going out tonight". As Grunty said in his or her second response, it is so common as to be almost acceptable. It is like when someone asks, "Who is it?" and you reply, "It's me." It would sound crazy to say "It is I" or, even worse, "It's I". There is no problem in Italian, for instance, where one would say "Sono io" (it is I, or Am I to be really precise ).

So, when people are corrected and told that "Lucy and me" is incorrect, and that they should say "Lucy and I are going out tonight", they think that "Lucy and I" is always correct, so you hear the abominable "between Lucy and I", and "Good night from Lucy and I", etc.