QUICK! Grammar police question

[wildernesse]

I am trying to say: neither X or (wildernesse) will be able to make it. I/me/myself? I think I. Email to professor and don't want to look stupid. Some of you are grammar police.

[Skep]

Neither X nor I will be able to make it.


I think.

[Veritas]

Just say neither I nor X. (Using 'neither' makes 'nor' correct, not 'or').

Myself is overload, it's very rarely necessary. When it comes to a choice between I/me ask yourself, would it still make sense if I cut the other thing or person out of the sentence?

For instance, would you say "I...will not be able to make it" or "Me...will not be able to make it"?

If you want to put the other person's name first, still use 'I'. But remember the 'nor', too.

I like these kinds of threads. It gives pedants like me a chance to sound off. :D

[wildernesse]

Woohoo, confirmation! Stupid "nor", that's the second time this summer I've needed to be corrected about that.

Thanks!

And to turn this to a semi-conversational thread, what grammar guides would be fantastic to have handy for someone who worries about casual email. Har.

[livius drusus]

I agree with Skep and peaches, and I think peaches' I first plan is stylistically preferable.

I love how there are 3 answers in less than 10 minutes. We're pedantrific! :yay!:

[Veritas]

Troublesome Words, by Bill Bryson
Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynn Truss
Lost For Words, by John Humphreys.

Yeah yeah, I'm a grammar Nazi to the point of reading in English about English. Does that make me a metagrammarNazi? :)

[wildernesse]

I love how there are 3 answers in less than 10 minutes. We're pedantrific! :yay!:

This is why I love y'all.

[Veritas]

I agree with Skep and peaches, and I think peaches' I first plan is stylistically preferable.

I love how there are 3 answers in less than 10 minutes. We're pedantrific! :yay!:

May I swoon now? :yup:

Picky, moi?

Pedantrific, you betcha bum! :wink:

[Veritas]

Move along madam, nothing to see here.

[livius drusus]

Troublesome Words, by Bill Bryson
Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynn Truss
Lost For Words, by John Humphreys.

Love the first two; haven't read the last one.

Yeah yeah, I'm a grammar Nazi to the point of reading in English about English. Does that make me a metagrammarNazi? :)

God yes. :Cartler:

But the good news is grammar Nazis are widely known as sex symbols in our culture. Or some culture. Not sure which really, but my mom assures me it's true. Really! :suckthumbscared:

[Godless Dave]

Neither X nor (Wildernesse) will be able to make it.
| |
Subject Predicate (verb phrase)


Subject Object
1st: I me
2nd: you you
3rd: he/she/it him/her/it

[Veritas]

Godless Dave, I think I love you. Talk dirty to me. Talk accusative, nominative and ablative to me!

Liv - The probable reason you haven't heard of the third one is, he's a BBC newsreader and broadcaster (speaks the Queen's English like what he should, even though he's Welsh and don't have no accent now). He presents various radio shows and Mastermind on BBC2. And he's my hero, what doesn't start a sentence with a conjunctive, or end a sentence with a preposition, what really winds me up. Oh, and I boobed. His surname is Humphrys, not Humphreys.

[viscousmemories]

Woohoo, confirmation! Stupid "nor", that's the second time this summer I've needed to be corrected about that.
I actually just learned that here a couple days ago. :blush:

Peaches, are you familiar with William Safire's On Language column from the Times? I have one volume of the collected works (What's the Good Word?) and it's really any language nazi's wet dream.

[ceptimus]

That me/myself/I thing always bothers me.

Note: I didn't say it bothers I, or bothers myself.

[Dingfod]

Me don't know nothing about that I stuff myself.

[Veritas]

I shall start buying The Times. Or should that be, me reads The Times, me does? :D A grammar Nazi's wet dream! Huzzah! :D

[Dingfod]

Me don't know, me don't care, me push button and go somewhere.

[viscousmemories]

I shall start buying The Times.
Oops, sorry. A little Googling reveals that the column is in the NY Times Sunday magazine (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/SAFIRE-BIO.html), not the paper. Nevermind the fact that Safire's politics are a bit, um, shady. His language column is outstanding.