I got an e-mail from Raj!

[Liberal]

I know, I know, big deal. But it’s cool to me that we’re having a discussion. I had sent him a note, correcting his grammar:

> You are very cool. I
> love your stuffiness
> and melancholy
> temperament. I thought
> you might want to know
> that the sentence on
> your front page, “With
> respect to the text,
> it may be long-winded,
> but it is me,” should
> read, “…but it is
> I.” Predicate
> nominative. Good luck.

(I don’t care to straighten out all the formatting.)

He replied:

OK, but are you sure? It was my belief that “text” is the subject of the
sentence and that therefore makes “me” correct. Thanks in any event.

And I’ve just responded:

Yes, I am sure. The conjunction, “but”, introduces an independent clause, “it is .” The subject of the clause is “it”; the verb is a form of “to be”; therefore, the verb takes a predicate nominative rather than an object. That means it should be, “it is I.”

[ftg]

Most people, especially writers and such, are not cool about having their private correspondence posted to the Net. Are you sure you have permission to do this?

[Astroboy14]

Color me clueless; who is Raj?

[Liberal]

This guy:

http://www.rajbhakta.com/

[Astroboy14]

Thanks, Lib!

I spent a few seconds squinting at his picture, and I can’t decide… is this the Raj who is/was (I haven’t been watching) on The Apprentice? I think it is, but I’m not 100% sure.

[Liberal]

Yes, that’s the one!

[Homebrew]

Websters says

Main Entry: me
Pronunciation: 'mE
Function: pronoun, objective case of I
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English mE; akin to Old High German mIh me, Latin me, Greek me, Sanskrit mA
usage Me is used in many constructions where strict grammarians prescribe I. This usage is not so much ungrammatical as indicative of the shrinking range of the nominative form: me began to replace I sometime around the 16th century largely because of the pressure of word order. I is now chiefly used as the subject of an immediately following verb. Me occurs in every other position: absolutely <who, me?>, emphatically <me too>, and after prepositions, conjunctions, and verbs, including be <come with me> <you’re as big as me> <it’s me>. Almost all usage books recognize the legitimacy of me in these positions, especially in speech; some recommend I in formal and especially written contexts after be and after as and than when the first term of the comparison is the subject of a verb.

This seems to indicate either is correct. I would tend to use “me” with a contraction “it’s me”, but “I” in the full form “It is I”.

[Already_in_Use]

Yeah, from a descriptive point of view, using a nominative after “to be” is something that everyone seems to think is right, but nobody really does, except when being dramatic (sometimes jocularly so), writing formal academic or journalistic-style pieces, or when answering the phone: “This is he.” Maybe there are a few other instances as well, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. So if everyone uses “it’s me” and doesn’t think twice about it in everyday speech, how is it wrong?

[Liberal]

Oh, sure. I concede that English is becoming more and more synthetic and agglutinative. And I suppose that, since existence can now be said to be a predicate, “to be” may as well take an object.

[Rubystreak]

I have to agree with Raj-- the “but it is I” would sound just terrible, whether it’s correct or not. It violates the spirit of the colloquial “but hey, that’s me” that Raj was trying to convey. I hope he didn’t change it.

[lissener]

I think it’s indisputable that “it is me” very clearly communicates what he’s trying to communicate, while “it is I” would communicate only that he’s a shut-in with a grammar book who couldn’t communicate clearly to another human being if his head was on fire.

[lissener]

@Liberal

Oh, sure. I concede that English is becoming more and more synthetic and agglutinative. And I suppose that, since existence can now be said to be a predicate, “to be” may as well take an object.

[Frank Sinatra]
I gotta be I!
I gotta be I!
What else can I be, but what I am?"
[/Frank Sinatra]

[Liberal]

Actually, if you read what he wrote, it is clear that what he wants to convey is a stiff, old English style fop. Therefore, “but it is I” would be perfect. It’s something that Frasier or Niles — or Raj — would say. All that’s aside from the fact that it’s unassailably correct.

[carterba]

As I read it, he’s using “is” to mean “represents” or “describes”, in which case “me” is the direct object. “It is I” sounds totally wrong to me in this case.

I guess your point of view depends on what the meaning of “is” is.