SLAMMIN THE ... 2004. Michael ... c'mon c'mon c'mon now touch me ... you see that I am not ... was that promise that you made?Why won't you tell me what she ...
SLAMMIN THE DOORS Copyright 2004. Michael LaRocca
C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon now touch me baby Can't you see that I am not afraid? What was that promise that you made? Why won't you tell me what she said? What was that promise that you made? Now I'm gonna love you 'til the heavens stop the rain I'm gonna love you 'til the stars fall from the sky for you and I
SLAM!!
Great song, but it's time for Michael to slam The Doors. Michael, self-appointed grammar police. Bad career choice, by the way. Ya oughta see the questions I get in my email.
"For you and I." It's wrong. Always has been, always will be. Even though it rhymes.
I have two ways to do this. I can turn teacher, since that's my job from time to time. Or I can turn goofball, just because I enjoy it so much. Let's do it both ways.
Teacher: "For" is a preposition. The nouns that follow this word are objects of the preposition. Thus, they must be in the objective case.
"You" is one of those easy words that is the same regardless of case (subjective/objective) or even singular/plural. Unless you're from Down South, in which case we say y'all, or from Brooklyn, in which case youse will say youse, or from Pennsylvania, in which case younse will say younse, or...
But I digress. "I" is subjective and "me" is objective. Since these pronouns are objects of the preposition "for" they must be objective case. Thus it should be "for you and me" and the rhyme is shot.
WAKE UP CLASS!
Goofball: Pretend "you" isn't even there. Let's look at what remains. "'til the stars fall from the sky for I." Wrong! You know in your heart of hearts that this is wrong. Trust your instincts. You really want to say "'til the stars fall from the sky for (you and) me." So, say it!
If Jim Morrison is in fact dead, he's not rolling over in his grave because I corrected his grammar. No doubt he knew the rule but chose to break it. And that's fine. We can break the rules whenever we want. We be authors. But, if we have no clear reason for breaking the rules, or we just don't know the rules, we be looking stupid. And that, friends and neighbors, inhibits understanding. We never want to do that. Writing is telepathy. From my head to your head. Let's keep the impediments to a minimum.
Michael LaRocca's website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published two novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.
