I always have wondered why this phrase or sentence or whatever you wanna call it, is grammatically incorrect since it sounds "perfectly" fine to me and on some occassions even native speakers make this error.
I know that "... and I" is the correct form but it sounds so formal and quaint. Could any knowledgeable person in grammar please elaborate on why "... and me" is so damn wrong when it sounds so darn right?
Juan,
Take, for example, the sentence: "Mary and I are going to dinner."
Notice how the verb "to be" is conjugated correctly...."are" for the plural.
Now convert the sentence to the first person singular: "I am going to dinner."
One couldn't say "Me is going to dinner," since this is grammatically incorrect.
Now take the sentence: "John gave Mary and me his old television."
This is correct in that you couldn't say: "John gave I his old television."
...And that, my friend, is how you can never get caught up with this problem. In our everyday colloquial speech, you will hear people say stuff like "Mary and me are....blah blah blah".....however, this is grammatically incorrect.
Thanks a lot mjd,
although I don't know if its gonna be as easy as that to put into practice.
Just keep trying. Oh, and another point: you'd put the "I" or "me" after other people, e.g. "Mary and I are going to dinner." not "I and Mary are going to dinner." and "John gave Mary and me his old television." not "John gave me and Mary his old television.", thisis more a matter of courtesy than grammar.