Hatrack River Writers Workshop: It was I....

This is topic It was I.... in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by rjzeller (Member # 1906) on :

Or maybe me?

Which self should it be? I or me?

It was I.

Or,
It was me.
?

Seriously, this is one point I've never been clear on. Can someone confirm. I want to say that the correct grammar would be: "It was I."

But is that correct?

Posted by punahougirl84 (Member # 1731) on :

Technically, "It was I."

"I" is the subjective case, and in your example, the "I" is a subject complement - "words following linking verbs that complete the meaning of the subject" - if it sounds odd or too stilted you can rewrite around it.

Mary admitted that the thief was she.
Mary admitted that she was the thief.

"Me" is the objective case when it "functions as a direct object, and indirect object, or the object of a preposition."

Jon gave me a surprise party.

(quotes from "A Writer's Reference" by Diana Hacker)

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

Well, my understanding is that the verb to be takes the subject form of the pronoun on both sides.

I am he.
We are they.
It is I.
You are she.

However, informal usage has moved toward using the direct object form of the pronoun following to be (as well as using contractions.)

I'm him.
We're them.
It's me.
You're her.

Update: Looks like punahougirl84 beat me to the explanation.

Incidentally, if somone calls me on the phone and asks to speak to Eric Stone, I say, "This is he," not "That's me."

[This message has been edited by EricJamesStone (edited September 02, 2004).]

Posted by ambongan (Member # 2122) on :

Actually, The case depends on the rest of the sentence. Or the sentences around it.

Posted by shadowynd (Member # 2077) on :

I'd just say "Sorry, wrong number!"

And if someone called asking to speak to Susan? I'd reply, "Speaking".

Susan

Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :

Impressive grammatical acumen.

But, going back to what Eric was saying about common usage, you need to look at the character who is saying it, or the context in which it is used. If you're writing a formal letter to someone, or if your character is a throwback from the 19th century or an English teacher, you would use the grammatically correct.

But if your character is a contemporary teenager or really pretty much anyone speaking informally one with another you'd use what sounds less stuffy--It's me. IE, if a twenty-something person snuck up behind someone else and whispered "It is I," into the ear of another person I would automatically make the assumption, if I didn't know better, that the story setting was Victorian England or that the character was a highly educated dweeb.

Sorry Grammarians. I'm a language barbarian.

(OOOHHH!! A rhyme!)

Posted by Jeraliey (Member # 2147) on :

Dakota's a poet and didn't know it!

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

But her feet do, 'cause they're long fellows!

[Sorry]

[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited September 02, 2004).]

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

Larry is going to the store.
I am going to the store.
Larry and I are going to the store.

The phone was for Larry.
The phone was for me.
The phone was for me and Larry.

Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :

GGGRRROOOAAANNN!!!

Posted by shadowynd (Member # 2077) on :

I groan.

She groans.

We groan.

It is I who groans.

It is she who groans.

The groan was for thee and me, and him, and her, and them, and...

Aw heck!

Susan

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

Ask not for whom the shadowynd groans. She groans for thee.