“Between you and I”––if you don’t know what is wrong with that phrase, maybe you should read this.

As a licensed high school English teacher and editor for a publishing company, I often joke about being part of the grammar police. My English teacher son is even more so, which is why I had to buy this coffee mug for him.

I’m not saying my grammar is perfect. As an editor, I am constantly double checking and researching. I make mistakes. But I am hearing public speakers, news anchors, and others in the media making some common mistakes, and it makes me cringe. They’re professionals. They are supposed to know better.

The following list is to help writers and others interested in using correct grammar. My motivation for sharing is to help, not condemn.

1.  The phrase “between you and I”  is wrong. It should be “between you and me.” People use “I” because they think it sounds correct, but “between” is a preposition. Here is a list of pronouns used after a preposition: me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. You wouldn’t say “between we.” You would say “between us,” right? The other night I heard someone say “with (name) and I” on television. Yikes! “With (name) and me” is correct. One trick to help you decide is to eliminate the other noun or pronoun. For example, when trying to decide whether to say “to you and me” or “to you and I,” eliminate the “you.” Does it sound right to say “to I?” No, it doesn’t. So don’t use it in the compound object. The correct phrase is “to you and me.” There are too many prepositions to list, but you can go online and search for a list. Keep it handy for reference.
2. It is correct to use “I” as part of a compound subject. For example, “Johnny and I went to the game.” Subject pronouns, whether used as single subjects or with other nouns or pronouns, are: I, you, he, she, it, we, and they. Some of you may wonder why I am including such a simple rule. Well, I taught high school. You’d be surprised how many seniors said things like “Johnny and me went to the game.”
3.  Fiction writers, journalists, and bloggers have the freedom to use incomplete sentences for effect, so the rules for writing essays don’t always apply. When I am editing a book, if a writer has written something like “No reason to go there,” I leave it alone. It is just an effective way of writing the story. But if a writer has written a complete sentence, I want it punctuated correctly. The most common mistake I see is comma placement with sentences containing “and” or “but.” Read point four to continue this thought.
4. Incorrect: Maggie walked into the kitchen, and went straight to the refrigerator. Correct: Maggie walked into the kitchen and went straight to the refrigerator.” Why is the first one incorrect? The subject is still “Maggie.” There is no new subject after “and.” The way to determine if the comma is needed is to determine if the phrase after “and” can stand alone. If it can, it needs a comma. If it can’t, it doesn’t. So in the first example, can “went straight to the refrigerator” stand alone? Of course not. Let’s change the sentence with a subject. “Maggie walked into the kitchen, and she went straight to the refrigerator.” “She went straight to the refrigerator” can stand alone, so the comma is needed.
5. What if there are more parts to the sentence than two? Correct: Maggie walked into the kitchen, went straight to the refrigerator, and pulled out a bottled water.” In this case, the commas are needed because of a series.

Grammar rules and style manuals evolve as our culture evolves. Some of the rules we were taught in school no longer apply. For now, however, the issues I addressed hold true, so I hope it helps!