Prince William’s speech

Anniebach

But questioning his suitability as heir !

Nobody did.

Barleyfields

Or me and the wife.

Language changes and evolves while I am sure what you were taught 50+ years ago may well have been the correct way then, doesn't necessarily mean that is how it is spoken of taught today.

Technically speaking, he said it wrong.
So does Boris, so does Starmer. It seems an irritatingly common slip.
I agree, content is more important.

Ilovecheese

Anniebach

But questioning his suitability as heir !

Nobody did.

I certainly didn’t.

A great honour to Catherine and I. Oh dear.

There’s me, not Eton, but a sec mod girl, left at 15. no exams, and yet it grates on me. (Or is that I. ? Ha ha am kidding.).

He just needed to miss out the Catherine bit and say to himself
It’s a great honour for I ….. yes that sounds wrong .

To soften the Me, he could have said ‘for Catherine and for me’ like the newscasters used to say when signing off. Goodnight from David and goodnight from me, easy peasy.

Actually I quite like that he made this common mistake.

I would expect much better English from the heir to the throne Who represents us on the world stage

Not suitable. ?

Well, it was a bit bad, because:
- he was in a formal setting, so his grammar should have been polished
- he was reading from a script which someone should have checked through beforehand
If he's out on the street talking in a relaxed manner, no one notices or cares.

I reckon the majority of working people today would see nothing wrong with it.
It probably was checked.

Some of this reminds me of George V being driven through the Park in the 1920s.
He would rant and rave if he saw a woman with her skirt above her ankles.
Canute style.

So the opinion of those who are not 'working people' does not count?

I see that Prince George is going to go to Marlborough like his mother rather than Eton like his father.

welback is it only the leisured classes, retired people, the unemployed or the minority of the working people wot knows how to speak proper?

Year 6 (10/11 year olds) exercise in school.

Honestly who cares, but this forum is for pedants.

Barleyfields

Or me and the wife.

Or me and the mrs.

Or me and her indoors

Ilovecheese

Having heard some of Boris Johnson's speeches, I am not sure an Eton education is up to much at all.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Indigo8

I see that Prince George is going to go to Marlborough like his mother rather than Eton like his father.

welback is it only the leisured classes, retired people, the unemployed or the minority of the working people wot knows how to speak proper?

Yes 😂😂😂😂😂😂

I blame the show" Me and My Girl" for the constant misuse of me/I.

Sarnia

Somewhere in my woolly brain I can remember being taught at Grammar School that 'Catherine & I' is correct if it precedes a verb.
I am sure I will be told if that is incorrect.

I was always told to take the other person out of the sentence and see which works best.

So "John and I went shopping" becomes "I went shopping", which makes perfect sense.

You wouldn't say "Me went shopping" therefore wouldn't say "John and me went shopping".

Sarnia

Somewhere in my woolly brain I can remember being taught at Grammar School that 'Catherine & I' is correct if it precedes a verb.
I am sure I will be told if that is incorrect.

If you take out the ‘Catherine and ….’ you can see why it’s wrong. You’d never say ‘for I…’

Sparklefizz

Grandma70s

I realise that pedantry is not important compared to the subject of Prince William’s speech yesterday on Holocaust Memorial Day.

However, he said something about it being a “great honour for Catherine and I” - should be “for Catherine and me”. He also pronounced “deteriorate” as “deteriate”. This is a very common mistake, but I would expect better English from the heir to the throne, who represents us on the world stage. So much for an Eton education.

I noticed that immediately Grandma70s
It was still a good speech though.

At least he didn't say 'Catherine and myself' which is becoming more prevalent.

I am with Sarnia in this instance. Catherine and I was correct. My husband and I quite acceptable too. Catherine and me sounds completely wrong.

Grandma70s is right. If you don't understand about the accusative case, which follows a preposition in English, check it out in your head.

He gave it to John and I ... NO
Would you say, He gave it to I ... NO
Would you say, He gave it to me ... YES
Therefore: He gave it to John and me ... YES

PS I'm a retired teacher of German and French. And I did do Latin A level in 1963.

One of my pupils remarked to me:

"I reckon I've learnt more English from you than I have from my English teacher."

It is up to us ML teachers to get some sort of awareness of syntax across!

PS I'm reasonably tolerant of errors like Prince William's in speech, except for "between you and I" which really gets to me.

Actually, I find "me and the wife" entirely acceptable in conversation. Compare French: "moi et ma femme, nous ... "

I've been talking to the lovely guys who are fixing my car. I would have said to them, entirely naturally, "me and my husband used to ... "

"My husband and I ... " would have sounded much too formal, not to say pompous. I would use it in a formal letter or if I were making a formal speech.

“My husband and I”

Sounds like the late Queen.