Just Edits

Just Edits fan Maggie suggested I offer some advice on the proper captioning of Facebook photos. She’s noticed the tendency for people to misuse I and me when noting their own presence in photographs. She’s starting to grit her teeth over the whole thing, actually, so I agreed to get the word out about how to properly label the pics you post.

OK, so here’s a photo of mine. Captioning it, “Danny and I on the water” would fall in line with what Maggie has been seeing—the improper use of I. The correct caption would be, “Danny and me on the water.”

How can I be so sure? I just break the caption into parts.

Danny on the water—yep.
I on the water—nope.
Me on the water—yes!

I take the winning parts, and I put them together in a grammatically correct caption: “Danny and me on the water.”

There’s a whole lesson that goes along with I and me. I’ll spare you the details in this post—just focus on breaking down your captions into smaller pieces, and you should be set—but for those who wish for more, I wrote a more-detailed post back in May, when Just Edits fan Allison aired her grievances about those who violate the I and me rules; check it out.

Just Edits Facebook fan Allison suggested a post on the proper use of I and me. It’s not that she doesn’t know how to use the words—she just recognizes that so many people commonly misuse them, and it’s kinda driving her crazy.

So, here’s the deal—you can determine which word to use without even understanding any I and me rules. All it takes is a simple little test. 

Let’s say you want to say (or write), “He took Jake and me to the party.” Separate the Jake and me parts of the sentence and try them solo.

Examples:

He took Jake to the party.
He took me to the party. 

Me is the correct word.

Let’s test the sentence, “He took Jake and I to the party.”

Examples:

He took Jake to the party.
He took I to the party.

I doesn’t work—it is not the correct word.

In case you like rules: I is a pronoun that must be the subject of a verb. Me is a pronoun that must be the object of the verb. In essence, if the word comes before the verb, it should be I. If the word comes after the verb, it should be me.

Just Edits is now on Facebook—effective, like, nine hours ago—and, already, more than 40 people have hit their “Like” buttons. You can, too—you know, if you’re interested in keeping up with some edit-inspired social commentary. 

If you are so inclined to join the Just Edit Facebook community:

• Navigate to http://www.facebook.com/JustEdits.
   
• Click the “Like” button. 
   
• Chime in with questions, thoughts, observations, and opinions.
   
• Sit back and watch the conversations unfold.

Come on.

It’ll be fun. 

Promise.