Penny, my editor and friend, recently sent me a helpful note on the correct and clear usage of “like me,” rather than “like I.” I found it interesting and useful and think that you might, too.
In the course of your writing, you often want to draw attention to the common experiences that you and the reader have in certain circumstances. This is an excellent technique for bringing the reader in to your work.
To compare the reader’s reaction with your own and predict that it will be the same as yours, you must use the conjunction “as” with “I” and then a verb. “Eventually, you will, as I have, come to a simple realization…” In this case, “as I have” is a dependent clause with “I” as the subject of the verb “have.”
Examples: as I did, as I have, as I’ve told you before, as I mentioned earlier, etc. Or you could avoid the ‘as’ and use a double subject, e.g., “You and I discovered it together during that wonderful summer in Aruba,” or “ It’s something that you and I can both do,” with “you and I” as the subject of a sentence or clause.
If you use “like” as your preposition, describing writer and reader together, as in “Like you and me, others have…” use “me” to indicate yourself. Like you and me, like you and her, etc. Object of the preposition like—objective case. “People just like you and me have looked up and wondered….”
Here’s what Merriam Webster has to say on the use of “as”.
In short, “Like I,” or “Like you and I,” is not correct.
Just a point to rescue your excellent rhetorical device of identifying with your reader.
I think this is great advice. Use sentences similar to these: “My guess is that you, as I have, will find…” or “Like you and me, others have found…” to point out connections and similarities with readers. It’s advice you and I can both benefit from.
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Randy MurrayLike Me, As I Do by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You kinda made that explanation rather convoluted. It’s a lot simpler if you just remember that if there is an implied verb after the pronoun then you write “I”, if not, you write “me”.’
Example:
‘between you and me’ is correct; ‘between you and I’ is not correct.
I am always appalled when a movie character — who is supposed to be educated/erudite — says “between you and I”. ugh ugh ugh
P.S. I have six blogs and I don’t allow comments on any of them, because if I did I’d spend half my writing time refuting the comments.
Instead, I use that time for finishing or starting a new book. If you read murder mysteries, you HAVE read at least one of mine, but I write under a male pseudonym.
I don’t mind comments like yours—they can be very helpful!