Which is correct--I or me?

Maybe incorrect grammar doesn't bother you--possibly because you're not a grammar Nazi or even a grammar geek--but in an age of  rapid digital communication, social media, online articles, books, and other reading material, you seriously need to reconsider correct form. 

Reason number one concerns time.  You have so little of it when it comes to making an impression online.  What you write is all that people will really see, except maybe a photo, which could be you long ago or even not you at all.  If you want to reach people and keep them reading, make the best impression possible.  Correct grammar and usage of language can help to accomplish this.

Reason number two has everything to do with your own literacy.  Success sometimes happens to lucky people.  I, however, do not believe in luck.  Successful people work hard to become the people they want to be, and so they actively engage in self-improvement.  They take classes, they join Toastmasters, they read everything they can get their hands on, and they don't quit.  They don't settle for almost-good-enough.

Many adults laugh off their inability to write or to use the language with skill and confidence, but actually they regret not gaining the necessary tools to become a more articulate writer and speaker.  That's where this little piece of advice can help. Listen up.

My motto is "Little by little does the trick," so I'm offering an important piece of grammar usage that can make you sound incredibly literate immediately.

Let's get these two pronouns straight once and for all:  I and me.
When do you use I and when do you use me?

Thinking this is perfectly correct, the average person might say, "As for my husband and I, we would choose the west coast again any time for a great vacation."  So what's wrong with that?  ANY time you want a pronoun for an object--and it seems objects of prepositions cause the most trouble--you have to choose the word me.  What's a preposition?  Words like to, for, about, by, of, around, against.  And a noun or pronoun follows it:  to the store (to it), for my daughter (for her), and so on.

The thing is, you probably wouldn't say, "Give it to I," or " This article was written by I."  What causes us grief is the fact that another person has been added to the mix.  For example, you might say, "They gave the award to Jane and I," or "This article was written by Sam and I."  Don't say it!  Just remember, if the word I follows a preposition such as the ones I've suggested, it's incorrect.  Use the word me instead.  Correct usage would be, "They gave the award to Jane and me," and "This article was written by Sam and me."

Using the correct pronouns I and me is just the beginning of lambent literacy.  As the foundation of our ability to communicate clearly and articulately--and yes, even eloquently--with others, our language is the most important tool we have.  I challenge you to work to improve it every day. I'll be back with some more tips soon.  Stay tuned.

Top Ten Actions of Literacy Lovers

Having focused on literacy most of my life, right alongside the privileges and obligations of family life, I’ve finally decided that literate people have more in common with each other than the obvious ability to read and write.  Their thought patterns appear to derive from the cerebrum far more often than the cerebellum.  And you say, huh?  What’s that? 

That’s right.  I maintain that lovers of literacy think more often from their cerebrum where creative and constructive thought processes begin, not from that old brain cerebellum where its rigid, primitive, restricted, mindlessly automatic and programmed responses occur. 

Yes, we have and need both operations in order to reason and create consciously as well as think quickly and perform repetitive actions.  Our collective problem here is too often we allow the quick and repetitive cerebellum to take control over too many critical decisions.

Without getting political, I’ll let you read between the lines at any point.  Below is what I consider to be the top ten actions of literacy lovers, now referred to as LL:

#1  LL get in touch with nature whenever they can. Some people I know have gardens with compost heaps and wash lines.  Some live in Colorado and post their hiking photos every week on FB.

#2  LL consider eating sacred.  Preparing food for others is even more sacred.  They use pure organic foods whenever possible and seldom leave their bodies to chance.

#3  LL meditate, love quiet time, pray, and make a serious effort to relax.

#4  LL connect with animals.  Some even spend big bucks on life saving surgery for pets. And one couple I know began feeding the voles that crawled under the back fence for the bird seed scattered on the ground and built a little fence to protect them from feral cats.  That is, until they began feeding the homeless cats.

#5  LL regard their body as the temple of God and take special care of the precious gift of life.

#6  LL look at cash as an enabler, a means to an end and not the end itself, especially if they can spread it around.

#7  LL help others and have a serious concern for the welfare of all people, especially hungry children.

#8  LL create art, music, literature and if they can’t, they surround themselves with the art, music and literature of others.

#9  LL love the feel and smell of books even though they’re intrigued with technology.

#10 LL constantly work to improve their writing, speaking, and listening skills in order to communicate more effectively with people.  They aren’t afraid of hearing ideas different from their own and appreciate learning about the “other.”

We are often fooled into thinking very basically.  The unfortunate effects of that kind of thinking can lead us to cold dogmatism and automatic rule following that strip us of our power, not to mention creativity.  My friends, it’s a vicious cycle.  We must love our literacy enough to let it permeate our lives, for the end result will be freedom, security, and harmony with men, women, and children, and with God and the natural world.