Me, myself and I

I was interested to note the differences in the testing of pronoun use in the recent KS2 Grammar, punctuation and spelling test, compared with the sample questions previously provided to teachers by the Department for Education.

Previous questions focused on the correct use of ‘I’ and ‘me’ in a number of sentences and included plural subjects and objects, where a pronoun had to be added to a name in the subject or object position. (Click on link above for more information on this.)

In contrast, the May 2013 paper focused only on the selection of a pair of pronouns which would make sense when completing the cloze sentence provided.   Neither ‘I’ nor ‘me’ was included in the pronouns provided and the subject and object required were singular.  

Is this change because the Government has decided it would be unfair to expect 11-year olds to use a grammatical feature correctly, when they are bombarded daily with such poor examples of use?  In fact, how can adult members of the public be sure about the use of ‘I’ and ‘me’ when so many ‘communicators’ on television and radio (including those in entertainment, business and politics) constantly get it wrong? 

I have just returned from a holiday in Holland, where the standard of spoken English was extremely high.  I did not hear ‘I’ or ‘me’ used incorrectly once.  Yet, within 24 hours of returning home, I had heard about 4 or 5 examples of incorrect use on BBC radio and television programmes.  I understand that many dialects use non-standard constructions and I have no issue with this in conversations and informal speech.  However, I do expect those who represent organisations and companies in the media to use standard English.  We often hear politicians and business leaders lamenting the fact that children leave school without the required standard of English.  Well, it’s about time they started setting a better example to everyone and sharing some of the responsibility with teachers and schools!