What is the sentence subject?

There is often confusion about when to use me or I. " I " belongs to a group of words that we will call subject pronouns. Most of these pronouns (but not all – you and it are the exceptions) can only be the subject of the sentence. The subject is the person or thing doing whatever happens in the sentence.

I eat muesli, every morning.

I will just stay in bed.

More than one clause in a sentence

Complex sentences

A sentence can happily have more than one clause, (see Sentence fragments), each of which has its own subject and verb.

Teachers are striking today, so I will just stay in bed.

Multiple subjects

It is also common and acceptable to have more than one person (or thing) occupying the same subject position of the sentence and doing the same thing in that sentence.

My flatmates and I eat muesli every morning.

The cat and I will just stay in bed.

My husband and I wish you all a prosperous New Year.

[Someone] and I

A polite note

When there is you and another subject or subjects, we always place I last in the list. For example, we never say: ...

I and my flatmates eat muesli every morning. * (Note: red asterisks signal that the sentence is wrong.)

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