[jmadsen]

"My friends and I" not "me and my friends"

Yes, call me a Grammar Nazi Troll, but I see a shocking amount of this most fundamental error all over forums where otherwise intelligent, educated people discuss things.

You sound ignorant when you make the same mistakes as my 12-yo daughter. I can tell you make it because you are typing as you speak, which means you are in public, in meetings, and some day in presentations using bad English.

People will judge you by how you speak. I'm not being a troll, I'm helping you have a better future.

[Twisol]

The rule is to use the same pronoun you'd use as if you didn't have two parties involved, right? "My friends and I did X" is right because "I did X" is, and "Me and my friends did X" is wrong because "Me did X" is obviously wrong.

[hotloo]

Sorry guys, not a native here. I am sorry if I upset you with my poor English.

I learnt my lesson :)

[jmadsen]

It's not something we are "upset" about, and considering the level of English you used throughout the rest of your post and response, I'm not sure "not a native" is a valid excuse.

I suspect if you aren't a native, the reason you say "my friends and me" is because it's a bad habit you've picked up from natives, like typing "gonna". I think anyone who can make a sentence such as,

"We cleaned up the procedure names manually, and matched the procedure related specialties to the hospital specialty ranking made by US News, and it gives much better perspective to the users"

is far beyond making English 101 mistakes confusing objects and subjects of sentences. Actually, in 15 years of on and off English teaching, I have run into very few non-natives who have that issue, since they had to actually study it. I find you to be somewhat unique.

In any case, there are plenty of natives who consistently say write and say this, so hopefully a few of them will take it to heart.

[hotloo]

Thanks :) I fix it then :)

[pseingatl]

It is utterly unfair to complain about errors made by non-native speakers who are making a good faith effort to communicate in English.

[jmadsen]

Why not?

It's not an attack on him personally, but ...why not?

Read the rest of his posts. He clearly has a very high level of English, and can state his ideas and opinions clearly. Yet he fell into the same shit-English trap that his friends are all in.

My complaint isn't that someone made a mistake. My complaint is that someone who knows better couldn't give a fuck to say it correctly.

This is about standards, not grammar mistakes. There's no difference between someone who speaks English at his level saying "my friend and me", and an experienced programmer not error handling his code because he's in a rush.

I don't point this problem out where ever I see it because I'm an anal Grammar Nazi; I point it out because it is slipshod, lazy, I-don't-give-a-shit attitude. It is becoming the norm among people who grew up on chat and it is garbage.

I stand by my statement; ESL students learn this in their second week of English class, and hotloo says it because he is copying his native friends on chat who speak like crap, and now he is picking up all their bad habits as well.

So hotloo, do yourself a favor and take this to heart. Some day you'll be in a suit and tie, in front of people who care about this sort of thing, and it will win land you a contract or a good job or something important you want.