I or Me?

There are grammatical reasons for why you use "I" rather than "me" in a sentence, but I just want to simplify things. Use "I" when the next word is a verb, use "me" when the next word is not a verb.

Examples:

✓ I am going for a coffee.

✗ Me am going for a coffee.

✓ Rose and I went for a coffee.

✗ Rose and me went for a coffee.

✓ The dog followed me.

✗ The dog followed I.

✓ Rose spent the day with me.

✗ Rose spent the day with I.

NOTE: Don't be afraid to use "me".

✓ Rose spent the day with Rachel, Trish, and me (not I).

In most cases, "I" is the subject of the sentence: the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something. In this example, Rose is the subject, not me.

BUT...

Rose and I spent the day with Rachel and Trish (because I am now the subject).

There are always exceptions when you can end a sentence with "I" (dang English language). For example, when a negative, emphatic, or certain adverb occurs at the initial position of a sentence, the subject and the verb get inverted. An inversion occurs in the interrogative as well. Some examples follow:

Neither was I.

So was I.

There was I.

Where was I?