Do you know?

...-But I maintain that when it comes to a knowledge of the rudiments of English Language, the small islander, such as the Barbadian or the Vincentian, by far surpasses all other nationalities, including the English themselves, the rare exceptions being one or two Trinidadians, one of whom I have frequently named.

Drawn to my attention by Professor Julian Duncan of the University of the West Indies is an example of the majority of people’s inability to understand the basic rules of English grammar.

Here is an excerpt from an English publication (a correspondence course) entitled ADVANCED BUSINESS ENGLISH — Book 1. It is accredited by the Open and Distance Learning Quality Council.

I have mentioned its accreditation so that you may gauge for yourselves the type of misinformation to which students are exposed by people who are supposed to know better.

The offending page begins this way:

“He (Subject) gave the letter to Fiona (Object) and I.

(Incorrect)

(Take away the words Fiona and and you will see what we mean!)

You should always use Fiona and me if the two of you are the object of the sentence.”

It continues:

“Another point worth remembering is that you should say:

She is better than me at writing reports.

not She is better than I.

(She is the subject of the sentence and you are the object ; so this is why you use me and not I.)”

End of quotation!

Rubbish!

It is evident that the writer is not clear in his mind as to what makes a word the object of a sentence. If he is basing his statement on the belief that the object is “me” following the preposition “than,” then he is ignorant of the fact that the word “than”functions both as a preposition and as a conjunction, depending on the context of the sentence.

If “than” functions as a preposition, then it should be followed by “me,” an object-word after the preposition.

eg “She likes him better than me,” meaning “She likes him better than she likes me.”

If, however, “than” functions as a conjunction, which introduces a new clause with its own subject and verb, then “I,” a subject-word, should be used, as in the case of “She is better than I am (understood!) at writing reports.”

The modern generation is a lazy one that cannot be bothered to distinguish between right and wrong, and in everyday language a lot that is wrong grammatically is considered acceptable because of usage.

But “Business English,” which is expected to be formal, should not join the bandwagon.

The accepted expression “It is me,” instead of “It is I” is one that I will not be caught dead saying. I maintain that when I knock at the pearly gates, and St Peter asks the question, “Who is it?” I shall hold my head up proudly and answer, “It is I.”

And if he looks down his nose at me and says scathingly, “Come in, Bajan,” I shall simply crow like a cock, and pass him straight.