Correct use of I and me. Which is correct: I’ll wait or I’ll be waiting? like I'll wait... or what's the difference

If you are studying, you will find this article very useful. Difficulty learning foreign language is that very often you want to literally translate certain figures of speech, while a foreign language has its own rules that differ quite noticeably from Russian ones.

Read about these common mistakes , which Russian-speaking people do in English speech. This useful information will help you become more literate and improve your English.

15 common mistakes in English

"How" or "What"?
Wrong: “How do you call this in English?”

Right: “What do you call this in English?”

Phrase “What is it called?” translated exactly like that, no need to use literal translation the words “how”.
The word "Normal"
Wrong: "How are you?" - “I’m normal, thanks.”

Right: "How are you?" - “I’m fine, thanks.»

You should not give in to the temptation and answer that your affairs are “normal,” as we are used to doing in Russian speech. After all, in English everything is different - the word “normal” means “average” or “not strange.” That is, answering the question "How are you?" with this word, you communicate that you are normal and not crazy, for example. It is better to use the words “fine” or “good”, even if this is not always true.
“Scientist”, “scholar”)
Incorrect: Scientists study history so that humanity can learn from the past.

Correct: Scholars study history so that humanity can learn from the past.

“Scientist” is a highly specialized scientist who conducts experiments, an expert in the exact sciences - physics, mathematics, chemistry. While "scholar" is a broader concept, it can be a person who studies the humanities, or simply someone who is well versed in a particular subject.
"City"
Incorrect: I am from Moscow city.

Correct: I am from Moscow or the city of Moscow.

Most cities use the construction "the city of". You can say the name of a city without using the word "city".
How to talk about feeling unwell
Incorrect: I feel myself bad.

Correct: I feel bad.

Using the word “myself” in this context implies that you physically touch your body and you kind of feel... Of course, foreigners will understand what you mean, but it sounds a little strange and funny. So remember English grammar and talk about feelings without the notorious “myself”.
"Do" or "Make"?
Incorrect: I think I did a mistake.

Correct: I think I made a mistake.

Use "do" for everyday activities or work that does not produce a physical object. For example, do a job, do the shopping. “Make” expresses building and creating something that can be touched - make food, make a cup of tea. Make money, do someone a favor, do business, make a decision, do good, make a plan, make a mistake - exceptions that need to be remembered.
"Place" or "Room"?
These two words mean "place". But "place" is a place in the sense of "occupied space", and "room" is a free place, a space that can be occupied. Don't confuse them please.
"Decide" or "Solve"
"Decide" means to make decisions, and "solve" means to solve problems or problems. Depending on the context, you need to choose the right word.
"I agree" ("I agree")
Incorrect: I am agree.

Correct: I agree.

Don't forget that the word "agree" is a verb. It is incorrect to insert one or another form of the verb “to be” before it.
"Free"
Incorrect: I want to speak English freely.

Correct: I want to speak English fluently.

If you want to convey the idea that you still speak fluently foreign language, use the word "fluent". "Free" means something that is not valuable in a financial sense, something that is worth nothing. When "free" is placed after a noun ("smoke-free", "car-free", "alcohol-free"), it means that the thing or action is prohibited.
"Last time" or "Recently"
“Last time” means “last time”, and “lately” means “recently”. Avoid literal, word-for-word translations.
"If" + "will"
These two words are never used together! Remember this. The part of the sentence that contains the condition must not contain “will” (even though the future tense is intended).
For example: “If it rains tomorrow (conditional part), I will stay at home (main part).” (“If it rains tomorrow, I’ll stay home”).
"No problem!"
Incorrect: No problems!

Correct: No problem!

This expression, like several others - thank God, no comment - must be remembered and used exclusively in the singular.
"Teach" or "learn"
“Teach” is to give knowledge, and “learn” is to receive it. Unfortunately, these two words are often confused.
"Must" or "have to"
“Must” rather means your own confidence that something is necessary, and “have to” means a need caused by external circumstances. Formulate your thoughts correctly!

Let this article help you do English speech more literate. Don't forget to tell your friends about these common mistakes, let them say it correctly!

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Which is correct: I"ll wait or I"ll be waiting? like I'll wait... or what's the difference?

Ill wait ( Future Simple) - I'll wait! (limited time) or I'll be waiting! (Always)
Ill be waiting (Future Continuous) - I will wait (at a certain moment).
Example:
Ill wait for two hours (I will wait two hours - limited time)
Ill wait for you forever (I will wait for you forever - always)
Ill be waiting for you at two oclock (I will wait for you at 2 o'clock)
Ill wait! - Nothing, I'll wait...
Option
Ill be waiting for you for two hours - I will wait for you for two hours - also possible
In short, if I “wait” - then “Ill wait”
If I wait, then I need to ask the question “always?” or “at some point?”
If at some point, then "Ill be waiting"
If always, then "Ill wait"
Ill be wait - wrong
Ill be wait -as a rule future tense education
Celery is a loser...
Translation depends on the context. If you mean that I will be waiting for you at such and such a time, then Ill be waiting. If there is no connection to specific moment there is no time, for example, “Is there one like this, but with mother-of-pearl buttons? - No. - Okay, I’ll wait,” then Ill wait.
i will wait is the simple future tense and i will be waiting is the future continuous
Ill be waiting - I will wait (duration)
Ill wait - I'll wait (fact)

Anna Kovrova

How to say correctly: “ you and me" or " you and I"? And so and so - it all depends on the situation. To figure out what's what, you'll have to dive into grammar!

“You and me” or “you and I”?

Let's start with the fact that “I” and “me” are the same word, just in different forms.

“I” in the sentence plays the role of the subject (subject, that is, the one who performs the action). Corresponds to the Russian pronoun “I” in the nominative case.

“Me” plays the role of a complement (object, object of action). Corresponds to “I” in all other cases: “me”, “me”, “by me”.

I saw Jane. I saw Jane.

Jane saw me . Jane saw me.

It’s easy to remember this difference: “I” will be placed at the beginning of the sentence (or closer to the beginning), and “me” will be placed closer to the end (of course, if this sentence is simple and not complex).

Now let’s look at the word “you”. Unlike "I", it retains the same form regardless of its role in the sentence. That is, “you” can be translated as “you”, and “thee”, and “to you”, and “by you”.

Now you see that both phrases are correct, but they have different meanings and are used in different situations:

you and I- “you and me” (subject)

you and me- “you and me”, “you and me”, “you and me” (object)

If you are in doubt about what form to put the pronoun in, try removing the word “you” and translating the phrase into Russian. For example, you need to say: You and (I or me?) like sweets.

Examination:

I like sweets. — I I love candy. - a meaningful proposal.

Me like sweets.— To me love candy. - nonsense.

So it will be correct: You and I like sweets.

A little earlier we talked about some of the secrets of English pronouns.

What about other pronouns?

Almost all other personal pronouns also have two forms. The exception (besides "you") is "it", which does not change.

If you are interested in relative pronouns in English, you can refer to one of the previous articles.

Can you remove the words from the song?

Even those who speak English as a native speaker make mistakes! For example, Lady Gaga. Remember her song “Bad romance”, where there is the following line:

But the Scorpions group, despite their German origin, would be given an excellent mark by an English teacher:

Word usage that is not entirely correct, from a grammatical point of view, is extremely common. It is found in books and films - often for the sake of rhyme. For example, the engraving on the watch that Carrie Bradshaw from the movie Sex and the City gave to her lover most likely meant “ You and I“, only then the inscription would not have turned out so memorable (see picture).

With option“You and I” this phrase would not sound so impressive.

In the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway we read:

And in parentheses I would like to note that the opposite phenomenon also occurs, when instead of “you and me” they say “you and I”. This is the so-called hypercorrectness. People hear from teachers: “We must say “you and I”” and begin to use this phrase in all situations indiscriminately - both in the role of subject and in the role of object. Then errors appear again - like the one in the song You and I by the boy band One Direction:

But here it is an object! So it was necessary:

The boys from One Direction look like they should sign up for

How to correctly – ‘taller than’ me’ or ‘taller than I’?

If you need a quick answer, then both options are correct. However, not everyone will agree with this, and therein lies the problem. Today, the word than (than, rather than) is classified both as a conjunction (then after it the pronoun is placed in the nominative case - I), and as a preposition (this means that after it the pronoun is placed in the indirect case - me).

The safest option is to spread the sentence after than as widely as possible.

Than as a union

Than as a union can accept the following options:

John is taller than I am.

John is taller than I.

Than as an excuse

Than takes the following option after itself as a preposition:

John is taller than me.

Grammarians have been arguing for several centuries about which part of speech this than belongs to. Here is the preliminary result of these disputes:

‘than I’ (than he than she than we than they)
or
than me” (than him than her than us than them)

For most 'than me’ sounds more natural, but this version, which is more often criticized, is always criticized. All because 'than I‘ was more common for a long time and was therefore considered grammatically correct. However, today it sounds more “pathetic”, so there is something to think about using more weighty arguments.

How to avoid ambiguity in using Than Me

Unfortunately, the subject of our article does not imply the use of at will with reference to the fact that grammarians themselves have not been able to agree on the correct use for several generations. There is one more point: sometimes the option “than me” implies ambiguity. Let's look at an example:

Anna likes Peter more than me.

This could mean:
Anna prefers Peter to me.
or
Anna loves Peter more than me.

The best way to deal with than in in this case- is to use it as a conjunction, and write the part of the sentence after it in full:

John likes Peter more than I do.
or
John likes Peter more than I like Peter.

Than Whom

There is one more “meanness”. Nobody will like a proposal like this:

You like him more than who

Anyone will agree that it should be like this:

You like him more than whom?

Therefore, when who is a pronoun in a question, than should always be taken as a preposition and correctly written or said “than” whom.”

The safest option is to spread the sentence after than as widely as possible. As a rule, this means at a minimum adding a verb (for example, than he is / than they have). This will remove any ambiguity and make the sentence more natural.

When you were telling the story, you doubted how to say: “Hector and I went to the movies” or “Hector and me went...” Here, you should say: “Hector and I went to the movies”, but “ Hector and I" – this is not always correct option. “The race was won by Hector and I” sounds as ignorant as “Hector and me won the race.” Do right choice easy if you remember a few simple rules.

Steps

Choosing between I and Me

Remember the difference between pronouns. Both "I" and "Me" are pronouns that we use to refer to ourselves, but "I" is in the nominative case and is suitable for use as the subject of a sentence, and "Me" is a genitive case, suitable for use as the object of a verb.

Nominative– The nominative case is used when the pronoun is the subject (for example, “I was driving in the car”) or, when we speak formally, after the “to be” form of the verb (for example, “It's I” is the formal form, “It's me” is the informal form) ).
Accusative case– Accusative case – used when the pronoun is an object (for example, “He drove me to work”), and also in combination with prepositions (for example, “between you and me”, but not “between you and I”).

Think like a native speaker. Most native speakers rarely make mistakes when using these pronouns, except when they are paired with other nouns as part of a compound subject. (Unfortunately, pronoun problems are more common today than they were twenty years ago.) Although almost no one would say, “Harry took I in his car,” we often hear sentences like “Harry took Jordan and I in his car." If you are trying to determine which pronoun to use in the same sentence as compound predicate, try writing a sentence that uses only the pronoun as part of the subject. Whatever the pronoun I or Me, one thing will turn out to be correct - that’s what needs to be used in a compound predicate.
Beware of "Bizarro-speech". In the comics, there is an imperfect superman named Bizarro and he does everything in reverse. He says "Goodbye" when he means "Hello" and also says "I'm so sad to see you" (meaning "I'm glad to see you"). Bizarro and a little self-confidence can help you find out correct use pronouns: if you change the subject to any other part of the sentence, and we're talking about about you, and only you, you can easily identify places where misusing "I" and "me" can make you sound like Bizarro.
- Examples:
  - Harry and me went to the store. (Change it so that Harry is not in the frame and it is only about you - you will never say: “Me went to the store.”)
  - "Who's at the door?" You answer, “It's me.” (No, no, no! You would really have to say, “It is I.” Consider the corresponding sentences: “That writer is me.” Try switching the words around and you’ll end up with “Me am that writer.” You use the pronoun “I” in the nominative case after the forms “to be” (i.e. am, are, is, was, were, be, being, and been “To be” – as an equal sign, so the nouns and). pronouns on both sides of the “equal sign” are in the nominative case.)
  - The cake was made by Justin and I. (Would you ever say: “The cake was made by I” = “The cake was made by I”?)
Use pronouns correctly in comparisons to avoid ambiguity. Write down the entire comparison in order to decide which pronoun to use.
- She likes Winifred more than I do. (The sentence can be shortened to “She likes Winifred more than I,” but the previous version sounds more natural.)
- She likes Winifred more than she likes me. (The sentence can be shortened to “She likes Winifred more than me.”)
- Don't use "myself" instead of "I" or "me". “Myself” can act as both a reflexive and an intensive pronoun.
  - David and myself were present. (The pronoun must be in the nominative case: “David and I were present.”)
  - The event was catered by Elizabeth and myself. (The pronoun must be in genitive case: “The event was catered by Elizabeth and me.”)
  - I cut myself. (The sentence is composed correctly, since the pronoun is reflexive; the object did something to itself.)
  - I saw it myself. (The sentence is composed correctly because the pronoun is intensive; it adds emphasis.)
- Be careful with pronouns when you change emphasis. Remember that “by” is a preposition that requires the use of accusative case in sentences, for example: “The story was written by me.” This sentence would use nominative pronouns, if written in active voice: "I wrote the story."