This tip is a follow-up to my previous one, about the frequent misuse of singular first-person pronouns.
(I should disclaim that there is a situation where there is such a word as “I’s” – in a phrase such as “dot the i’s and cross the t’s.” But that’s not what this post is about.)
The continual hypercorrection of “me” to “I” has also led to people trying to wrongly invent a new possessive version of the singular first-person pronoun: “I’s.” For example, someone might say, “Are you coming to Jason and I’s party?”
This drives me crazy when I hear it in speech, or even see it sometimes in casual writing, because there is no such word!
The word, of course, is “my.” Just as with the objective case (“me”), combining the pronoun with another noun (“Jason”) does not change the pronoun’s case, and it certainly isn’t a reason to invent a new word.
If you ever get the urge to use this non-word, please, I beg you, stop before it’s too late!
Catherine Lai 