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Should I "as well as I" or "as well as me" in the following sentence?

John  visited the party last night as well as I/as well as me.

Eddie Kal
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user254288
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    Actually, I would recommend that you do not use the "as well as" construction for that situation. There are several other phrasings that flow much better and are more common, depending on the surrounding context. – Hellion Aug 28 '18 at 12:49
  • I agree with Hellion: the best answer is "don't use either of those, because that is not how a native speaker would say it." More fluent is "... as did I ." – stangdon Aug 28 '18 at 14:26
  • John as well as I went to the party last night. People do use t his. Sorry. But put it at the beginning not the end. It is often parenthetical: John - as well as I - went to the party last night. – Lambie Oct 09 '22 at 19:30

2 Answers2

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Your question forms part of the long debate over the uses of the personal pronouns I and me. The issue arises partly because in most contexts usages such as: It is I tend to sound archaic and formal.

For example, the majority of English speakers would probably say: It's me at the door. rather than It is I at the door.

Most confusion occurs when speakers are not aware that I and we are used as the subject of the verb and me and us as the object, whether direct or indirect.

So one hears people saying things like: Me (or Myself) and my friend were at the party and This comes from my wife and I. These are simply wrong.

Coming to your particular question: while it's correct to say:John visited the party as well as I, it sounds all wrong and very few native English speakers would say that.

Nearly all would say as well as me in the same way that they would say It's me at the door. The use of I sounds more natural if you add did. He visited the party last night as well as I did.

Things get a bit trickier in constructions such as: It was I who gave them a lift. You are likely to hear: It was me who gave them a lift but this (me gave) is wrong - at least until such time as popular usage makes it inevitable.

So the short answer to your question is that if you want to sound natural, prefer me; or add did after I.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/96718/which-is-correct-i-or-me

Link

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/when-to-use-i-and-when-to-use-me

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/when-to-use-i-or-me-in-a-sentence.html

Glorfindel
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Ronald Sole
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This situation is actually different from the often discussed examples like 'than I/than me' (https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/461930/what-should-come-as-object-i-or-me/461932#461932) where a choice is possible to use I as the second subject or me as an object. If the sense is that both visited that party, it's about subject and there must be I:

John as well as I visited the party last night.

With another word order (like in the question) you most likely need to 'refresh' the verb (as you can see, me did is impossible):

John visited the party last night as well as I did.

If you simply use me,

John visited the party last night as well as me.

the sense will change to 'he visited both the party and me' (me is an object).

Alex_ander
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  • It's a nice distinction that I should have noticed in my answer - although I suspect that it would have escaped lesser scrutiny. – Ronald Sole Aug 28 '18 at 13:07
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    I like your answer but I think "...as well as I did" is not really correct (it sounds like "he visited the party as skillfully as I did"); "...as did I" seems like a more fluent way to phrase it. – stangdon Aug 28 '18 at 14:25
  • The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to ..., Volume 8 The honourable gentleman who sits near me, agreed to it as well as I did; both of us did agree to it... – Alex_ander Aug 28 '18 at 14:45