First - don't beat yourself up even a little bit. Novelists and screenwriters frequently fuck this up, sometimes to the degree that they have character A "correct" character B's language - incorrectly!
Anyway, it's easy. Couple simple tricks and we're there.
"I" or "me"
Almost always happens when it's a group, *insert person we'll call him Jim* and *either I or me*.
Jim and I or Jim and me?
Simple...
Step one: Kill Jim.
There is no step two.
Example of how it's fucked up way too often:
They sent flowers to Jim and *I or me*.
KILL JIM! *Jim dies horrifically*
They sent flowers to I.
They sent flowers to me. (bingo - obviously)
Easy Example:
Jim and *I or me* went to the store.
KILL JIM! *Jim dies horrifically*
Me went to the store.
I went to the store. (bingo - obviously)
When in doubt - kill Jim. Did this thread arise because I was reading a visual novel and the father corrected his daughter to say "badly" when "BAD" was the actual correct word to use? Yes. And that brings us to "BAD or BADLY".
Okay - cards on the table, everyone gets this wrong, you get this wrong, I get this wrong, movies get this wrong all the time (with the exception of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.) So it's not on you. The multitudes of posh Brits I was once forced to mingle with for too long - most of them got this wrong and these are the same ass(arse)holes who dare criticize the superior American vernacular.
On the bright side - once you know the correct way to employ it, the mistakes are HILARIOUS!
And me would say to I that there's a simple trick to this one too but also an exception:
BADLY examples.
Jim badly has to piss. = Jim is about to piss all over your living room.
Jim has to piss, bad. = Technically incorrect, but we'll let it slide since the narrator would never "*morgan freeman voice* Jim had to piss, bad."
Jim has to piss badly. = Jim is somehow obligated to do a terrible job at urinating and we fear the consequences. (note: killing Jim also fixes this.)
EXCEPTION: FEEL.
Ignore Merriam-Webster. (That's actually good advice on the whole, btw. Oxford English or American Heritage for definitions. Purdue online for grammar - this is a HUGE resource to have in your pocket when you're in college, btw.) MW presents this question as though the jury is out, or that any English nerd is a dork for snickering at people who use "feel badly". (As though an English nerd in full dork-mode gives a shit about Webster social-shaming them.)
The jury's been in on this one since I was a young boy in the mid-1800s, and it's:
I feel strongly. = I am strongly feeling my emotions.
I feel badly = I am not very good at feeling my emotions.
I feel bad = I feel like shit.
And if you're curious about how dorky the nerds can get with this - actual full-on dork snickers when a supposedly intelligent character says "I feel badly about that." (*dork-mode* haha, what so he's not very good at feeling anything about that?! lmao *dorks off into the sunset*)
Yes, this source is literally a binary choice between "trust me, dude" and "find a Purdue.edu article that proves me wrong, without the 21st century flavor of 'it's literally impossible to do anything incorrectly.'"
Example that led me here (straw, camel's back, that whole thing)
Arya: "Surely you're not drowning in work so bad that asdfghjkl."
Ned: "Badly."
Me: I am now on Joffrey's side. Getting it wrong is a small thing, correcting someone incorrectly is a capital offense. Ned just told Arya she should have implied he wasn't very good at drowning? WTF does that even mean, NED?! Get chopped.
LITERARY LICENSE:
It is, of course, perfectly normal to have characters who use these things incorrectly. It really doesn't matter. BUTT (heh), if your character is a genius/space marine/captain/mad scientist or all of the above (make that game please), THEY would not get it wrong. When a WH40K primarch says "They're sending a message to I," (I killed Jim) - this destroys immersion.
And if anyone's still reading:
Fewer/fewer than: used when things are quantified. "Are there 5 or fewer than 5?"
Less/less than: used when things are not quantified. "Is it a shitload or less than a shitload?"
Shoutout and RIP to Mrs. Peters.
Edit
On the bad/badly front - yes, it's the opposite of superman.
Superman does good. Superman does good well. But when he's in bad mood, Superman feels bad.
The bad/badly conundrum is fairly recent as English goes. Until fairly recently, "bad" just meant "not good" and "badly" was rarely used in any context but someone doing a bad job. Often, but certainly not always, if "badly" is being used in any fashion other than someone fucking something up, it's being used incorrectly.
But there's the FEEL exception.
We don't feel badly.
Psychopaths feel badly.
We feel bad.
Yes I know "bad for nouns badly for verbs" - if English were that simple, Purdue wouldn't have essays like "Understanding the seventeen different forms of irony."
(Did I finish my edits? I certainly didn't save but I'm tired and not going to re-read this. Good night.)
Anyway, it's easy. Couple simple tricks and we're there.
"I" or "me"
Almost always happens when it's a group, *insert person we'll call him Jim* and *either I or me*.
Jim and I or Jim and me?
Simple...
Step one: Kill Jim.
There is no step two.
Example of how it's fucked up way too often:
They sent flowers to Jim and *I or me*.
KILL JIM! *Jim dies horrifically*
They sent flowers to I.
They sent flowers to me. (bingo - obviously)
Easy Example:
Jim and *I or me* went to the store.
KILL JIM! *Jim dies horrifically*
Me went to the store.
I went to the store. (bingo - obviously)
When in doubt - kill Jim. Did this thread arise because I was reading a visual novel and the father corrected his daughter to say "badly" when "BAD" was the actual correct word to use? Yes. And that brings us to "BAD or BADLY".
Okay - cards on the table, everyone gets this wrong, you get this wrong, I get this wrong, movies get this wrong all the time (with the exception of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.) So it's not on you. The multitudes of posh Brits I was once forced to mingle with for too long - most of them got this wrong and these are the same ass(arse)holes who dare criticize the superior American vernacular.
On the bright side - once you know the correct way to employ it, the mistakes are HILARIOUS!
And me would say to I that there's a simple trick to this one too but also an exception:
BADLY examples.
Jim badly has to piss. = Jim is about to piss all over your living room.
Jim has to piss, bad. = Technically incorrect, but we'll let it slide since the narrator would never "*morgan freeman voice* Jim had to piss, bad."
Jim has to piss badly. = Jim is somehow obligated to do a terrible job at urinating and we fear the consequences. (note: killing Jim also fixes this.)
EXCEPTION: FEEL.
Ignore Merriam-Webster. (That's actually good advice on the whole, btw. Oxford English or American Heritage for definitions. Purdue online for grammar - this is a HUGE resource to have in your pocket when you're in college, btw.) MW presents this question as though the jury is out, or that any English nerd is a dork for snickering at people who use "feel badly". (As though an English nerd in full dork-mode gives a shit about Webster social-shaming them.)
The jury's been in on this one since I was a young boy in the mid-1800s, and it's:
I feel strongly. = I am strongly feeling my emotions.
I feel badly = I am not very good at feeling my emotions.
I feel bad = I feel like shit.
And if you're curious about how dorky the nerds can get with this - actual full-on dork snickers when a supposedly intelligent character says "I feel badly about that." (*dork-mode* haha, what so he's not very good at feeling anything about that?! lmao *dorks off into the sunset*)
Yes, this source is literally a binary choice between "trust me, dude" and "find a Purdue.edu article that proves me wrong, without the 21st century flavor of 'it's literally impossible to do anything incorrectly.'"
Example that led me here (straw, camel's back, that whole thing)
Arya: "Surely you're not drowning in work so bad that asdfghjkl."
Ned: "Badly."
Me: I am now on Joffrey's side. Getting it wrong is a small thing, correcting someone incorrectly is a capital offense. Ned just told Arya she should have implied he wasn't very good at drowning? WTF does that even mean, NED?! Get chopped.
LITERARY LICENSE:
It is, of course, perfectly normal to have characters who use these things incorrectly. It really doesn't matter. BUTT (heh), if your character is a genius/space marine/captain/mad scientist or all of the above (make that game please), THEY would not get it wrong. When a WH40K primarch says "They're sending a message to I," (I killed Jim) - this destroys immersion.
And if anyone's still reading:
Fewer/fewer than: used when things are quantified. "Are there 5 or fewer than 5?"
Less/less than: used when things are not quantified. "Is it a shitload or less than a shitload?"
Shoutout and RIP to Mrs. Peters.
Edit
On the bad/badly front - yes, it's the opposite of superman.
Superman does good. Superman does good well. But when he's in bad mood, Superman feels bad.
The bad/badly conundrum is fairly recent as English goes. Until fairly recently, "bad" just meant "not good" and "badly" was rarely used in any context but someone doing a bad job. Often, but certainly not always, if "badly" is being used in any fashion other than someone fucking something up, it's being used incorrectly.
But there's the FEEL exception.
We don't feel badly.
Psychopaths feel badly.
We feel bad.
Yes I know "bad for nouns badly for verbs" - if English were that simple, Purdue wouldn't have essays like "Understanding the seventeen different forms of irony."
(Did I finish my edits? I certainly didn't save but I'm tired and not going to re-read this. Good night.)
Last edited: