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Can I say "Me and John" or do I have to say "John and I"???

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Anonymous:
Help please
:
It depends on whether you and John are the objects or the subjects.

She said she was also going to invite me and John.

John and I are not going to be able to attend.

It's the same rule we've said here over and over. If "John" were not in the sentence, would you use "I" or "me"? Use the same one with John too.
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Anonymous:
The question is really two questions.

1: The word "I" and the word "me" are both words for the same person, the speaker of the sentence, what is the rule for using one word or the other. The rule is the word "I" is used as the subject of a sentence and the word “me” is used as the object of a sentence. In the sentence; "I am going to the store," the word "I' is the subject of the sentence. In the sentence, "He was going to the store for me." the word me is the object. Sometimes it’s confusing when the word "I" or "me" is linked by the word “and” with the name of a person because the name of a person does not change when it is the subject or the object of a sentence. The easiest way to decide which word to use is to say the same sentence without the name of the person.

2: Where does the word that stands for the speaker (I or me) go in a list of nouns linked by the word “and” or linked by commas? The place for the speaker is always of the end the list. If you are going to use "me" or "I" it comes at the end. So if you are going to use the words "John", "and", "me" linked together in a sentence it should be, "John and me" not "me and John"
:
Hi Barbara

She said she was also going to invite me and John.
Shouldn't it be: "She said she was also going to invite John and me"?
Shouldn't 'me' come after "John"?

Thanks in advance.
Veteran Member7,563
:
Hi Yoong Liat,

That's by convention, not for rules of grammar. It's somehow seen as more polite to list the other person first.

"I and John are coming" sounds out and out wrong, even though, grammatically, it's okay. I don't have as strong a feeling about "to me and John" or "to John and me." And when "John" and "me" are linked by an "or" instead of an "and," it's even less of a compulsion to put John first.

Bottom line: John will (just about) always come before I, but while you will probably sound more natural if you put John before me too, the grammar police won't have a heart attack if you don't.
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:
Barbara

Thanks for your explanation. But is this the same case in BrE? I hope to hear from
a native speaker of BrE. Thanks in advance.
:
Hi everyone,
this is interesting. Like Yoong, I noticed GG said "...invite me and John" instead of "John and me" (I was once told that "me" comes last, like "I").
Anyway, I have to say that I think both "me and John" and "John and me" are equally idiomatic in object position, despite the fact that only "John and I" would be idiomatic, in every position (subject or object).
To sum up:

Object position
John and me - ok and good
me and John - ok and good
John and I - not grammatically ok in theory, but idiomatic anyway

Subject position
John and I - ok and good
Me and John - not grammatically ok in theory, but idiomatic anyway
John and me - not used, rare.

I and John - practically never used in either subject or object position.

Interesting, isn't it? Emotion: smile
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Anonymous:
Have a drink with John and me?
:
Yoong LiatBarbara

Thanks for your explanation. But is this the same case in BrE? I hope to hear from
a native speaker of BrE. Thanks in advance.

Hi Yoong Liat

I can't think of any differences in the way we say it (in British English).

Although in colloquial speech I would be more likely to say something like "me and John went to the pub", even though it's gramatically incorrect. If I wanted to be picky I'd say "John and I went to the pub", which although is correct, doesn't sound natural. Either way you will be understood fine.
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