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In a photo caption, if we use the elliptical 'My kids and me', would 'me' be correct, or would 'I' be correct? It seems as though it could go both ways.

[This is a picture of] 'My kids and me' or 'Me and the kids'.

Or,

'My kids and I' [are in this picture]

Which is the correct choice -- 'me' or 'I' in these elliptical constructions?

Thank you

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    You can fin some answers here: english.stackexchange.com/questions/162229/usage-of-me-or-i
    – Mynamite
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 0:55
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    It would certainly be more common to see a photo marked just "Me" than just "I". Captions apparently have objects more than subjects. There are cases where one could argue for I and I tend to use I in those cases, but this one seems a clear "me" to me.
    – Jon Hanna
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 0:57
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    The default case for English is oblique, not subject case. You would label it Me.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 1:08
  • Context is king: If you are sharing the photos with your family and friends, then me is much the better choice than I, which would sound pretentious. If the context is formal (for example, a letter of application), then I is probably better. But then of course you would need to write children, not the informal kids.
    – Shoe
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 7:07

4 Answers 4

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Either is fine. Alice and me means

This is a picture of Alice and me at the beach.

You're both objects of the preposition "of," so you use the objective case. Alice and I means

In this picture, Alice and I are at the beach.

Now you're both are subjects, so you use the nominative case. It's your picture, so it's your choice of caption.

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  • It could also mean “This is Alice and me”—or indeed (if you’re about 150 years old and learned to speak from Charlotte Brontë) “This is Alice and I”.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 20:23
  • While both could be correct I really don't think that most people are thinking of the second choice though. I'd bet that the huge majority are thinking, "This is a picture of {} and me." Who is in this photo? "{} and me"
    – mindmischief
    Commented Nov 28, 2015 at 0:32
  • @mindmischief I'm disinclined to dispute the mind reading powers of someone who calls himself "mindmischief."
    – deadrat
    Commented Nov 28, 2015 at 0:36
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Nobody addressed your separate constructions. "My kids and I are in this picture" is correct (subject), anx not overly formal. "This is a picture of me and my kids (or my kids and me)" are also correct (object), in amy context.

However, in a photo caption, it is silly to put it that way. Put your name, your kids's names (identify them by position in the picture, if you have room), the date, and ages of kids. Think about how meaningless "me and the kids" will be 30 years from now if some distant cousin or grandniece looks at the photo. Everyone has useless pictures like this, handed down through generations, of unidentifiable people labeled "me and the kids".

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The rule of thumb with "me" vs "I" is that if you can take out the other person's name, it still has to make sense. Following this rule, I would use "Alice and me", but the rule may not apply here.

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A quick & dirty way to figure it out is to take the sentence, remove the second party then restate it to find the proper grammar useage. It it doesn't make sense, it's likely incorrect when using it with both parties as well.

"Alice and I are going to the store" turns into: "I am going to the store".

"The store manager gave free ice cream to Alice and me." becomes, "The store manager gave free ice cream to me".

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    Well, that’s not much help here. In the use case given here, that yields “I” or “Me”: still not a sentence, and still both perfectly correct.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 20:22
  • Janus, put the word "me" into the 1st instance, and it turns into "me am going to the store". Clearly not correct, so in this instance, "Alice and me are going to the store" would also be an incorrect use of the word "me". Thus, the answer is to use the word "I" for this sentence structure. In the 2nd instance, "The store manager gave free ice cream to I.", or "The store manager gave I ice cream." In this case, the correct use is the word "me". You then place the word into the original sentence, "...manager gave ice cream to Alice and me", or, "manager gave me and Alice free ice cream".
    – TychoAussie
    Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 15:10
  • You seem to be missing the context of the question, which is a caption to a photo that reads, in its entirety, “Alice and [I/me]”. Nothing more, no further context. Take “Alice and” out of that, and you're left with just a single pronoun. Obviously, a single pronoun with no context cannot possibly be incorrect no matter what case it's in.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 15:12
  • Okay, I understand now. the most popular way to phrase is likely by using the word "me". It is a one word answer to the unstated question, "who is this person?" Q: "Who is this?" A: "Alice and me" But, it can also be the word I if speaking in formal english: Q:"Who is this?" A: "It is Alice and I."
    – TychoAussie
    Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 15:21

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