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I am trying to explain to someone why the following quote should use "I am" rather than "I'm":

I don't care how old I'm, I still like [media]

I feel that I am correct, but cannot recall the rule.

John Lawler
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Pleidius
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  • You can't leave capitalisation aside. The first person pronoun 'I' is always capitalised. – chasly - supports Monica Sep 27 '15 at 19:42
  • @chaslyfromUK I removed that and other distractions – Dan Bron Sep 27 '15 at 19:45
  • Subject and auxiliary only contract when something follows the auxiliary in the verb phrase, not with the auxiliary ending the sentence. I.e, there should be a stressed verb in every clause, and you can't stress contracted auxiliary verbs. Contrariwise, I am is very rare outside this and similarly specialized situations; normally one says I'm, you're, he's, she's, we're, they're whenever possible. – John Lawler Sep 27 '15 at 19:49

1 Answers1

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Unfortunately you are not correct with your example usage of 'I'm' as the context doesn't make sense.

Being an old fashioned Englishman. I have always been taught that it is informal to use 'I'm' in a written sentence on a formal document as is it a contraction of a noun (I) and a verb (am).

It is usually used informally when linked to an Adjective (such as 'hungry' or 'tired') but can also be used to connect to a noun (such as the below example using 'dog').

Here are some examples of informal (but also correct) usage:

"I'm hungry."

"I'm tired of waiting for you."

"I'm a dog." (Metaphor)

The formal way of saying the above would be:

"I am hungry"

"I am tired... etc..."

You cannot end a sentence with 'I'm' otherwise I would be expecting additional words to follow in the sentence.

For example:

"Edward, are you hungry?"

"Yes I'm...."

"You're what?"

"Yes I Am."

"That's better, what do you want to eat?"

"I'm thinking of ordering Chinese takeaway".

I hope this clarifies the use of I'm as a contraction.

EdwardT
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  • The problem was that the example didn't make sense to me either and I could not voice the reason it was wrong. Thank you for your responce. – Pleidius Sep 28 '15 at 19:29