From the candidates’ statements in the sample ballot for next month’s election.
Running for school board:
Yes, Dan. I can hardly wait to join “I” in this exciting education journey. I am especially thrilled about this prospect considering that you are an incumbent. I think you are or have been president of the school board. Such leadership!
Would me hold a bad pronoun choice against Dan? Yous bet I would.
OK, why is that wrong? When I say it aloud, it sounds just fine…
“I” is the personal pronoun for subjects of sentences. “I” is not correct for other parts of a sentence like direct objects or ablative uses. “Me” is used for those.
We say, “Join me at the movies.” It’s wrong to say “Join I at the movies.” When it’s wrong to use “I” in a single object, it’s also wrong to use “I” in a compound object.
The sentence is either using an implied “with” or it’s is using the transitive sense of the verb “join”. (see http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=join definition 4) with an implied subject of “you”.
It’s either “Join [with] Mayor Newsom and I (sic)” or it could have been written, “Please [you] join Mayor Newsom and I (sic) in this effort in any way you can.”
In either case, the pronoun should be “me” not “I”.
A member of the school board doesn’t have to be an English teacher, but he should at least know an English teacher who likes him well enough to save him from using incorrect grammar in official campaign materials!
I understand your explanation, but from a purely sonic perspective, saying “me” doesn’t sound right. It sounds awkward and unnatural.
That ain’t good English.
No no no … that should be “Youse bet me would.”