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In the recently published Report on the Death of Alexander Litvinenko by Sir Robert Owen there is the following sentence in the statement of one of the witnesses (Boris Berezovsky): "This resulted in Litvinenko and I becoming close friends". I think that there should be "me" instead of "I" but I'm not 100% certain. (This, I should note, was not a verbatim recording of Berezovsky's incorrect English speech; he spoke in Russian and then what he said was translated into normal English).

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  • It is a sadly common mistake to use "(other person) and I" when it is the object instead of the subject. But it is indeed a mistake, and should be "... and me."
    – Hellion
    Jan 22, 2016 at 4:21
  • The relevant grammatical context in this case has more to do with the preceding preposition "in" (the verb phrase "resulting in" is generally followed by a noun phrase; the gerund/participle is just part of that). It "technically" should be in objective case ("and me"), but in practice English speakers often use "and I" regardless of the technically prescribed proper case. (In fact, I think some people might actually prescribe the genitive instead here, but compound genitives are really tricky to construct.)
    – herisson
    Jan 22, 2016 at 4:23
  • @sumelic: They only use "I" because they're afraid to use "me"; and this is because someone once told them that using "me" was a sign of ignorance.
    – Ricky
    Jan 22, 2016 at 4:52
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    Related questions, ‘With me being one of them’—grammatically correct? and When is a gerund supposed to be preceded by a possessive pronoun? and more, but I can't find.
    – user140086
    Jan 22, 2016 at 4:56
  • I quite agree with @sumelic. "I" in the function of an object is a misunderstanding due to fearful prudery. But when somebody says, "On behalf of my dear wifey and I let me congratulate...", the mistake is quite clear, while when "I" stands for "me" before the Gerund, the same mistake is somewhat clouded by the somewhat "scholastic" nature of the Gerund construction. Jan 22, 2016 at 5:16

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