Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
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- [mee]
- /mi/
- /miː/
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [mee]
- /mi/
Definitions of me word
- adjective me of or involving an obsessive interest in one's own satisfaction: the me decade. 1
- noun plural me (used to denote the narrator of a literary work written in the first person singular). 1
- abbreviation ME Metaphysics. the ego. 1
- noun me A traditional rule governing the case of personal pronouns after forms of the verb to be is that the nominative or subjective form (I; she; he; we; they) must be chosen. Some 400 years ago, owing to the feeling that the postverb position in a sentence is object rather than subject territory, me and other objective pronouns (him; her; us; them) began to replace the subjective forms after be, so that It is I became It is me. Today such constructions—It's me. That's him. It must be them.—are almost universal in speech, the context in which they usually occur. In formal speech or edited writing, the subjective forms are used: It was I who first noticed the problem. My brother was the one who called our attention to the problem, but it wasn't he who solved it. It had been she at the window, not her husband. Me and other objective forms have also replaced the subjective forms in speech in constructions like Me neither; Not us; Who, them? and in comparisons after as or than: She's no faster than him at getting the answers. When the pronoun is the subject of a verb that is expressed, the nominative forms are used: Neither did I. She's no faster than he is at getting the answers. See also than. When a verb form ending in -ing functions as a noun, it is traditionally called a gerund: Walking is good exercise. She enjoys reading biographies. Usage guides have long insisted that gerunds, being nouns, must be preceded by the possessive form of the pronouns or nouns (my; your; her; his; its; our; their; child's; author's) rather than by the objective forms (me; you; him; her; it; us; them): The landlord objected to my (not me) having guests late at night. Several readers were delighted at the author's (not author) taking a stand on the issue. In standard practice, however, both objective and possessive forms appear before gerunds. Possessives are more common in formal edited writing, but the occurrence of objective forms is increasing; in informal writing and speech objective forms are more common: Many objections have been raised to the government (or government's) allowing lumbering in national parks. “Does anyone object to me (or my) reading this report aloud?” the moderator asked. 1
- noun me Used by a speaker to refer to himself or herself as the object of a verb or preposition. 1
- pronoun me I: direct object 1
Information block about the term
Origin of me
First appearance:
before 900 One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English me, Old English mē (dative and accusative singular); cognate with Dutch mij, Old High German mir
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Me
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
me popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 97% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".
me usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for me
pronoun me
- yours truly — a conventional phrase used at the end of a letter.
- myself — There is no disagreement over the use of myself and other -self forms when they are used intensively (I myself cannot agree) or reflexively (He introduced himself proudly). Questions are raised, however, when the -self forms are used instead of the personal pronouns (I, me, etc.) as subjects, objects, or complements. Myself occurs only rarely as a single subject in place of I: Myself was the one who called. The recorded instances of such use are mainly poetic or literary. It is also uncommon as a simple object in place of me: Since the letter was addressed to myself, I opened it. As part of a compound subject, object, or complement, myself and to a lesser extent the other -self forms are common in informal speech and personal writing, somewhat less common in more formal speech and writing: The manager and myself completed the arrangements. Many came to welcome my husband and myself back to Washington. Myself and other -self forms are also used, alone or with other nouns or pronouns, in constructions after as, than, or but in all varieties of speech and writing: The captain has far more experience than myself in such matters. Orders have arrived for everyone but the orderlies and yourself. There is ample precedent, going as far back as Chaucer and running through the whole range of British and American literature and other serious formal writing, for all these uses. Many usage guides, however, state that to use myself in any construction in which I or me could be used instead (as My daughter and myself play the flute instead of My daughter and I, or a gift for my husband and myself instead of for my husband and me) is characteristic only of informal speech and that such use ought not to occur in writing. See also me.
- i — the ninth letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
Antonyms for me
Top questions with me
- how long will it take me to get home?