What Should You Do When There is No Grammar Rule?

Sometimes there are no grammar rules!

When this happens, you can’t possibly make a grammar mistake!

On today’s episode you’ll find out the correct order for pronouns with a noun in English.

Find out what grammar to use even when there’s no grammar rule!

No grammar rules?

Aubrey asks Lindsay which of these sentences sounds right to her.

#1: Adam and she went to the store.

#2: She and Adam went to the store.

Lindsay answers that #2 sounds more natural to her.

Aubrey has the same answer.

It may seem that #2 is the correct answer, but neither of the sentences is wrong.

She found out that there is no grammar rule for this.

Today’s episode is inspired by a listener’s grammar question.

Here is the question:

Thank you for making this amazing podcast, I’m currently working in the States and have been listening to this podcast for four years. I have to say, everything told ortaught in the podcast is practical, useful, and helpful. My English proficiency goes to another level each day, which helps me make deeper connections with my American friends.

I have a grammar question for you – recently I was sharing the life of my coworker with my boyfriend (a native English speaker) and when I said ‘oh Adam and she went to blah blah blah …” My boyfriend corrected me and said it should be Adam and her or she and Adam went to… For me, it doesn’t sound right since “her” is not a subject. I understand it’ll be Adam’s and her + an object (e.g. house). I’ve heard some native speakers saying “me and my family went to…, and I asked them about this, they just said “oh yeah, me and someone else is not grammatically correct but just more like spoken English. Could you please elaborate on this and share more examples of spoken English, which are not allowed in written English if it’s possible?

Thank you so much for spending time answering the question,
Rosie

Today’s episode is a follow up episode.

Rosie asked multiple questions and others were answered previously.

You can check the other episodes to learn more grammar tips.

Here are the episodes:

In these episodes, Lindsay and Aubrey shared grammar rules for pronoun order.

Grammar rules

Rosie’s friends are correct that many errors are accepted in spoken English.

These errors are more common in some regional dialects so they’ll sound incorrect to some native speakers but not to others.

Whenever Lindsay and Aubrey teach a grammar point about native errors they share this information.

You have to take note of errors that are generally accepted and common in spoken English.

So, for Rosie’s question, using ‘She and Adam’ and ‘Adam and she’ are both correct.

Surprisingly, there’s no set grammar rule about pronoun order with nouns.

According to the AP Stylebook and Grammar Girl, order doesn’t matter when you’re mixing pronouns with nouns.

However, one will sound right to native speakers due to what they’re used to hearing.

You will often hear native English speakers put the pronoun first.

Examples:

She and Adam went to the store.
You and Julie ate dinner.
He and Matt are at the park.

Object pronouns

Lindsay asks Aubrey about object pronouns.

The grammar is the same, with no set rule.

Aubrey asks Lindsay which of the following sounds right to her.

We met up with Mark and him.
We met up with him and Mark.

Lindsay says that she hears both and both sound correct.

You can use both since there’s no set rule.

What Lindsay and Aubrey would recommend is to listen to what people are using and match it.

Roleplay

Here is a quick roleplay from Lindsay and Aubrey using the grammar tips shared in today’s episode.

In this scenario, Aubrey is asking Lindsay about a party she threw the night before.

Aubrey: I’m so bummed I couldn’t make it last night. How did it go? Kevin showed up, right?
Lindsay: Yes! He and Jenny both came. It was fun to see them.
Aubrey: Very fun. And Maria said she was going early to help set up?
Lindsay: Yeah, she and Lilly got there at 6 and helped. So nice of them!