Sunday, April 11, 2010

It's Just Me and I

"Mirror mirror on the wall
Tell me mirror what is wrong?
Can it be my De La clothes
Or is it just my De La song?"

No, De La Soul, it’s not your clothes. If there's anyone who can pull of a splatter-painted collared shirt, it's you.

And, the song is definitely not the problem: it's one of hip hop's best.

How do I say this without hurting your feelings? It’s just that...well...okay here it is: your lyrics “It’s just me, myself, and I” aren’t 100% grammatically acceptable.

Now, don’t worry: they are 66.666666...% acceptable.

It is grammatically correct to say

It's I.

And, although it's not grammatically correct, it is becoming acceptable to say

It's me.

But, it's never correct to say

It's myself.

We only use myself when the subject of the sentence is I.

In the sentences above, the subject of the sentence is it. But, if the sentence subject is I, we can use myself for emphasis or we can use it as the object of the verb. Let's use a couple of your songs' titles to show you what I mean.

"I Can Do Anything" can become "I Myself Can Do Anything," which uses the myself to emphasize the I, meaning that I can really do anything. Or, it can become "I Can Do Anything Myself," which takes on a slightly different meaning: it means that I can do anything on my own.

"I Be Blowin'" can become "I Myself Be Blowin'," which emphasizes that I am blowin'. Or, it can become "I Be Blowin' Myself," which means...well, you know what that means. It means I am very flexible.

And, just to prove that there's nothing wrong with your De La song, here it is:



References:

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/me-myself-and-I.aspx

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-linking-verbs.aspx

1 comment:

vawriter said...

Oh, I love this! You are a truly fab teacher, baby. You can make us laugh while sneaking the lesson by us.