I need a ruling from a grammar expert on the correctness of the following sentence: “The reef’s most important partners are you and I.”
My reaction, based on years of writing and editing professionally, but woefully little formal instruction in grammar (I’ve never diagrammed a sentence), is that it should be “you and me.”
My rationale is, simplifying the sentence, you wouldn’t say “The reef’s most important partner is I.”
The writer asserts that just as “It is I” is more correct than “It is me” (even if the former sounds wrong these days), “you and I” is correct above. I don’t think the two cases are analagous. He adds that two Ph.Ds in English agree with him, which gives me pause. But I still think I’m right.
Sorry, the writer is correct. What you’re looking at is a predicate nominative, a noun which follows a linking verb and refers back to the subject of the verb. Predicate nominatives are always in the subjective case. The example you’ve given is awkward, and the sentence would be better if it were reversed, but it sounds wrong to you for the same reason that “It is I” sounds wrong or stilted: no one talks this way anymore. The rule for Standard Written English, however, has not changed.
But if you reverse the sentence, aren’t you switching the object and subject? And are you saying that “The reef’s most important partner is I” is correct?
Earl, could you spell out what you see as the object in the sentence and describe what a linking verb (as opposed to a plain old verb) is and does?
If I remember correctly, “are” is a linking verb basically because it’s not an action verb.
I believe technically that “The reef’s most important partner is I” would be correct, but obviously you’d reverse it to say “I am the reef’s most important partner” (which you should probably do to the original sentence anyway, ie “You and I are the reef’s most important partners”).
My post above got in just after Nametag’s, which answers it mostly. Thanks.
So you’re all saying that “The reef’s most important partner is I” would be correct?
The real problem with the sentence is that it is the final line in a film script. So even if it is correct Standard Written English, it is being spoken as voice over, and is the last thing you hear. So it stands out, and to me it stood out as wrong.
But if you reverse the sentence, aren’t you switching the object and subject? And are you saying that “The reef’s most important partner is I” is correct?
Earl, could you spell out what you see as the object in the sentence and describe what a linking verb (as opposed to a plain old verb) is and does?
“The reef’s most important partner is I” is correct in formal English. The “I” is not an object; it’s a predicate nominative.
However, “The reef’s most important partner is I” would never be used be used in informal English, whether written or spoken. (Informal written English includes most e-mails and personal letters, for instance. Informal spoken English is just about all conversation. Formal spoken English includes most things that are written out ahead of time, such as addresses.)
Whether or not the narration should be written in formal English or informal English is a decision that could be made, making either version “correct,” but my suggestion is simply not to use that sentence as written. Make it “You and I are the reef’s most important partners.” (Or even use some other phrase to take the place of “you and I” – “The reef’s most important partners are the people who understand its importance.”)
I’ve spoken with the film’s producer and, as I suspected, the reason the sentence was structured that way was to enhance its impact: “The most important partners are… us.” The other way isn’t as powerful.
However, I told him that now that I know “you and I” is technically right, I would have still suggested that if they didn’t want to recast or rephrase, they should have used “you and me” anyway, since only a few grammarians would have been likely even to notice it. Whereas this way catches the attention of a lot of partially educated people (like me) who will think it’s wrong.
Most importantly, it could confuse young people because it violates the general principle I applied: if you’re not sure if it’s “you and me” or “you and I,” remove one of the items to see if the remaining one sounds right.
BTW, the film in question, which is otherwise excellent, is “Coral Reef Adventure” by MacGillivray Freeman Films, now showing in IMAX and other giant-screen theaters around the world.
That’s because “are” (present indicative, plural) is a form of the verb “to be” (infinitive form) which does not operate like most verbs that take an object.
“To be” is like an equal sign, it links two things together as equals, and therefore, they both take the same case.
In the sentence in question, “you and I,” is in the nominative case. This is a special form of the nominative called the “predicate nominative.”
So, when do we use the nominative case? As the subject of the sentence, and, in predicate nominatives (and a few other obscure places which I shan’t bore you with).
Of course, in spoken language, the rule gets broken so often, that one questions whether it will continue to be a rule much longer. Oh, woe is I!
The last line of a film, especially a voice over, can not be a sentence that causes so much trouble.
And until you gave the context, I assumed this was the opening line of some PR for Dow Chemical or something. But you probably don’t want to tell the writer I said that…
The problem here is what is normal usage. Formally, I (and he, we, they, etc.) follow forms of “to be,” “to seem” and other linking verbs. However, in informal usage, what you have here is a disjunctive pronoun, and informal American English recognizes the objective case forms of the pronouns as correct usage following “to be.” “It is I” is considered stilted; “It’s me” proper informal usage. (Distinguish from formal usage where the nominative-case pronouns are required.)
You’re right. As Polycarp and others have said in different terms, we’re talking the difference between grammar and idiom. If you ask “Who is it?” nobody but an ultra-formal pedant trying to sound like Gandalf would say “It is I”. Normal usage (that is, long-standing idiom) massively supports “It is me”. So in the context you mention, most definitely go with “you and me”.
As William Safire said in one of his grammar books after advising using “me” in such cases, that if anyone asks who told you to do such a horrible thing, tell that person that it was me.