Editing Tip of the Day: Me and I

Today's tip is all about whether to use ME or I when writing about two (or more) people. And I have to admit that I get this one wrong far too often if I don't stop and think about it. So for me, and anyone else out there who struggles with me vs. I, here's a handy reminder.

I functions as the subject noun of a sentence. I is the same grammatically as she or he or they.
Example: My aunt and I went to the beach.
My kids and I read a book together.
Stephanie, Whitney, and I are friends.
In each of these sentences, I could be replaced by another subject pronoun, like she/he/they, and the sentence would still be correct, because I is the subject of the verb. I is doing the action in the sentence.

Me functions as an ​object noun in a sentence. Me is equivalent to her/him/them.
Example: Stephanie went to the beach with Whitney and me.
My kids read a book to Kate and me.
In each of these sentences, me could be replaced by the object form of a pronoun, like her/him/them. To be honest, this is the one that gives me trouble, because it just sounds strange to me. In spoken language, many native English speakers do mix up the pronouns in this construction. But if you're like me, and you sometimes say it wrong, you can at least catch it in your manuscripts when you're editing and get it right in print.
Happy editing!