it’s me vs it’s me
One of my students recently asked me the difference between“it’s me or it’s me“and which one is the correct one to use in a sentence.
- It is me who writes all the articles on the website.
- It is I who writes all the articles on the website.
This is a common confusion that learners of English have. Let’s understand what to use: it’s me or it’s me.
ME vs I
Both I and I are pronouns in English.
Me is an objective pronoun. Here are the 7 objective pronouns in English: I, you, we, he, she, they, and it. Objective pronouns are used in place of an object: the object of a verb or the object of a preposition.
Examples:
- They love me a lot. (object of the verb ‘love’)
- She is thinking about me. (object of the preposition ‘me’)
On the other hand, ‘I’ is a subjective pronoun that is used instead of a subject. These are the subjective pronouns in English: I, we, you, he, she, it and they.
Examples:
- I love teaching English.
- I am a teacher.
Now, you should know the difference between It’s me and It’s me.
The first thing we need to understand is that ‘is’ is a linking verb here. It is a ‘to be’ form of a verb: is, am, are, was and were. A linking verb connects the subject to a part called the complement of the subject. Linking verbs do not indicate any action; they simply link the subject to the subject’s plugin and display the state of the subject.
A subject complement is either a noun or an adjective. As a noun, it renames the subject, and as an adjective, it describes the subject.
It’s me
According to traditional grammatical rules, the pronoun I should not be placed after a linking verb, since you can use a noun or a pronoun subjectively (adjectives can also be used in case you want to describe the subject ).
Me is an objective pronoun and is used instead of an object. But here, it doesn’t work as an object; works as a subject complement. What comes after the linking verb(s) here is the subject’s complement, not an object. So with this logic, the use of me is wrong here.
But in modern English, people tend to use me (an objective pronoun) in this structure, and we’ve almost accepted it. Although it doesn’t follow the traditional grammar rule, it’s perfectly fine to use an objective pronoun in the structure.
Examples:
- Who is at the door?
- It is me, Rahul.
- It was me who they wanted to hire.
- It is me who has come up with this idea.
- I feel it’s me who you should be apologizing to.
It’s I
Now, you must have understood that I is grammatically correct. I is a subject complement that replaces a noun. But in today’s conversations, ‘it’s me’ is not often used and is considered old. But you can still find it in older textbooks.
Some examples of It’s me:
- It is I who have fought for your rights.
- It is I who is getting death threads; you are living your life peacefully.
- Who is behind the curtains? It is I.
- They think it was I who is responsible for the loss.
It’s me vs It’s me (Conclusion)
Although using a subjective pronoun (I, we, you, they, he, she, it) is grammatically correct here. But it is not a common practice nowadays. We use an objective pronoun in everyday conversations.
But if you need to get technical, use the subject pronoun. Use the target pronoun in another way.
- It is Ashish who teaches the English class.
- It is me who teaches the English class.
- It is I who teaches the English class.
In conclusion, it is correct to use both it’s me and it’s me, and introduce yourself and the action you perform. I is simply more formal but foreign to people’s ears in modern (but correct) English, and I is less formal and more common and loved in today’s conversations.
