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June 30, 2015 edition

Jennifer Lindsay
All through the day, I me mine, I me mine, I me mine', the Beatles' song goes. In English, we have four forms for the first person singular (add 'my' to the litany above) but they are all cases of the same word 'I'a ghost of Old English where all nouns, and not just pronouns, had cases. The choice of 'I' or 'me' is fairly straightforward ('I' for subject and after the verb 'to be'), although many English speakers nowadays muddle up 'I' and 'me' and one often hears things like, 'she asked my daughter and I to go', or 'between you and I', when it should be 'me'.

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More Word Watch articles in other editions

May 26, 2015 edition

Jennifer Lindsay*
We native speakers of English are often baffled by the choices existing in other languages, including Indonesian, for the second person pronoun, 'you'. This is because English is rather strange in not having options. Whether we are addressing one person or many, a lover or a stranger, an old person or a baby, we use 'you'. The phrase, 'Would you like me to help?' for instance, will be identical, no matter who it is we are talking to.

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