A recent letter to the editor asserted that poor grammar might be one contributing factor to the decline in newspaper circulation. I would like to think that there were enough discerning grammarians at large to have such an effect, but I’m afraid the evidence speaks otherwise.
Numerous times I have heard otherwise intelligent speakers on TV unable to use the correct form of the first-person pronoun in a compound object of a preposition. It might be that they over-correct because they are sitting in front of a camera, but they end up saying something to the effect: “He served dinner to him and I.”
Not all of my grandparents finished high school, but they all knew the simple rule: If separately it would be, “He served him. He served me.” Then compounded it would be, “He served him and me.” Rather than sounding well-educated in using “I” in this case, it sounds like someone is trying harder than is necessary.
Thomas J. Munyon
Marysville
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