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In reply to suggested duplicate question: It may be that I can find some useful guidance from the earlier Answer (for which thanks), but I'm really asking whether there's a general trend, particularly in the everyday speech of well-educated people, in misuse of "I" for "me", rather than explanations of individual instances.

Nowadays, people often (usually, even) use "I" when my intuition as a native English speaker (physical scientist; by no means a grammarian) tells me they should be using "me" - even not-so-young humanities graduates from top universities are doing this.

If this is indeed ungrammatical, then perhaps people are acquiring a fear of referring to themselves using "me", as if that is somehow betraying a sense of excessive self-regard, even though "I" serves the same function...?

A PhD colleague today wrote: "Having a test available for Julia and I to review would be helpful."

If this is simplified to: "Having a test available for I to review would be helpful." seems quite wrong to me.

Are a great many other people wrong? Or is it "I" who is wrong? (Though I must confess I'm now not so certain about "I" in this latter example.)

iSeeker
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    In light of your edit, I've retracted my close vote and have supplied an answer to the re-focused question. – Mark Beadles Dec 07 '18 at 19:38
  • It is not only "I". I too frequently hear something like "between he and the tree". – J. Taylor Dec 08 '18 at 01:08
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    I think you should say either "is it I who am wrong" or else "is it me who is wrong." But that's just my intuition, I'm no grammarian either. – bof Dec 08 '18 at 08:32

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I don't believe that this is a new trend, and introduce as evidence the following:

Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since in paying it, it is impossible I should live, all debts are cleared between you and I, if I might but see you at my death

  • Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, [III, 2], 1600

So then all us 'people who are wrong' are in good company at least. In seriousness, I think that the use of "and I", right or wrong, has been a common usage for centuries; although it is a usage often regarded as incorrect.

The OED provides further insight in this regard:

Entry "I": Used for the objective case after a verb or preposition when separated from the governing word by other words (esp. in coordinate constructions with another pronoun and and). This has been common at various times (esp. towards the end of the 16th and in the 17th cent., and from the mid 20th cent. onwards); it has been considered ungrammatical since the 18th cent.

The oldest usage they cite is 1582: "So after certaine familiar behauiour, vsed betweene him and I, he..went into the Refectorium"

Mark Beadles
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    Mark, Thank you for the data points over the last few centuries, and especially that “it has been considered ungrammatical since the 18th cent.” Perhaps my sense of a trend is more to do with listening more closely to others in recent years – a trend in my own awareness rather than in common usage. – iSeeker Dec 08 '18 at 15:19