Pain in the English

Forum for the gray areas of the English language

"It is I" vs. "It is me"

March 6th, 2006 by Sue

Which of the following is correct?

It is I.
It is me.

A grammar teacher mentioned to me something about the nominative case being used after the verb “to be” and not the usual objective case (“me”) that I thought it should be. He said the verb “to be” was an exception, but I can’t find anywhere that this is written down as such. Anyone any thoughts?

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62 Responses to “"It is I" vs. "It is me"”

  1. Fábio says:

    I've had such a great time reading your posts! Terribly interesting topic and even crazily funny in certain moments!

    Current score: 0
  2. Ichbin's says:

    "Everyone in our family speaks ungramatically," said I.
    "That's we!" said she.

    Current score: 0
  3. Xjs says:

    Well, actually "It is I" may be more correct, but actually "It is me" sounds better as domain name (itisme.org).

    Thus I use the incorrect case as my domain name, not the correct itisi.org, for aesthetical reasons.

    By the way: I found that blog by searching for "It is me" ;-)

    Current score: 0
  4. Dina says:

    So…which one is RIGHT?

    Current score: 0
  5. pam says:

    ty kyle (nov 13, 06)….
    wow…it's feb 17, 08….anyway, today i was trying to get the correct answer to my question is it it is i, or is it me….
    i aint spendin no mo time researching, but yers seems to me to be the right 1

    Current score: 0
  6. Sherri says:

    I smell flowers, but I am in an office in the warehouse and there are no flowers anywhere near me A strong fragrance of roses especially What does this mean?

    Current score: 0
  7. eve says:

    what about

    It is I who Have chosen this fate

    or

    It is I who has chosen this fate

    which one is correct?

    Current score: 0
  8. AO says:

    I like "It is I who have chosen this fate" better.

    Current score: 0
  9. Dinh van Thanh says:

    Hi Eve,
    "It is I who have chosen this fate" is correct. The relative pronoun "who" stands for the words "I".

    Current score: 0
  10. Alexis says:

    In spanish we say:

    soy yo – It´s I

    "It´s me" is incorrect

    Current score: 0
  11. Alexis says:

    what about

    It is I who Have chosen this fate

    or

    It is I who has chosen this fate

    which one is correct?

    In spanish the second one is correct. You are speaking in 3rd person about yourself.

    Current score: 0
  12. clueless says:

    Interesting…in the hymn 'Here I am Lord', there is a sentence that says "Here I am Lord, it is I Lord, I have heard etc. etc." I don't think it sounds right but after reading this blog, I guess it is grammatically corroec.

    Current score: 0

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