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I know normally to use:

"My friend and I went shopping."

But what about when we make it into:

"My friend and I, we went shopping."

It seems to me that in this structure, we could or should change it to:

"Me and my friend, we went shopping."

My reasoning is that it "sounds correct" to say "Me, I went shopping."

What's correct?

tchrist
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Josh
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    My friend and I is correct, as you and your friend are still the subject of the sentence (albeit in apposition). However, it is common to say me and my friend, particularly in colloquial situations. If you are speaking in a formal register, use my friend and I; if not, use whichever you prefer. – Anonym May 06 '14 at 16:35
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    @user61979 No, that is incorrect: one says “Me, I went shopping” in English, never “I, I went shopping.” – tchrist May 06 '14 at 16:57
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    The preposed noun phrase is not the subject; it's an extra feature provided by the syntactic rule of Left-Dislocation. – John Lawler May 06 '14 at 17:11

3 Answers3

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Given that these are acceptable:

  • Me, I went shopping.
  • Us, we went shopping.
  • Her, she went shopping.
  • Him, he went shopping.
  • Him and her, they went shopping.
  • Them, they went shopping.

Then that means you continue to use object-case pronouns in emphatic position, no matter how many of them you happen to find there:

  • My sister and me, we went shopping.
  • Him and her and me, we all went shopping together.

The Moral of the Story: Joining two object-case pronouns with a coördinating conjunction doth never a subject-case pronoun make.

tchrist
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    I think that your answer is correct, but I'd consider a small rephrasing to make it clearer which side of the fence you're coming down on. "If A then B" could argue that A is right so B is too, or that B is ridiculous so A must be wrong. – frances May 06 '14 at 20:27
  • Can these versions be considered short forms of 'Speaking of (As for) him, us, her...'? If so, is it possible to use 'myself' - as in 'speaking of myself'? – Alex_ander Jun 11 '19 at 05:37
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My friend and I went shopping. Rule of thumb is to eliminate "My" or "I" and read the sentence.

I went shopping. My friend went shopping. You always prefer another before yourself.

Ms MJC
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  • Hello Ms MJC, while what you have said has some validity, many many people on this site describe how people talk, not prescribe. You may wish to have a look at some of the questions to the right under RELATED to see what I'm talking about. – Arm the good guys in America May 15 '18 at 18:56
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Me as putting myself first in a sentence is correct. Example Me and my friend went shopping however if you were to put yourself second Example My friend and Me would be incorrect.

Sarah
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  • Welcome to EL&U. Your answer has already been posted by Anonym in the first comment and doesn't provide any additional information. Please take the tour and visit our help center to see how it works here. –  Dec 27 '15 at 06:30