Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Comments on Order of pronouns

Post

Order of pronouns

+7
−1

In an examination in my country (India) I had a multiple choice question on the order of pronouns.

Q: Please try to remember when I, you and my wife were talking there.

Options:

A. you, I and my wife

B. I, my wife and you

C. you, my wife and I

D. No correction.

For the exam, we follow books by local authors and according to that rule, the order should be:

  • 231 for general conversation
  • 123 for confession

I was told about this in a study group. I don't have access to the text mentioned.

231 means second person, third person and first person. Similarly, 123 means first person, second person and third person.

So, the correct answer as suggested by the books by local authors is the third option: Please try to remember when you, my wife and I were talking there.

I am struggling to find reference on that topic in any books written by British authors. Someone (a British person) suggested it is just a thing of etiquette, that is probably borrowed from other languages. He also hinted that it's based on the idea on the lines of "God first, others next, self last". In this case "Others first, family next, self last". I am not really convinced because the local writers can't just write some rule out of nowhere which goes on to be a norm for exams. I might be wrong because not every exam in my country asks this type of questions.

Question: Are there any such rules prescribed by English grammar books (by British authors)?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

1 comment thread

General comments (4 comments)
General comments
Lundin‭ wrote almost 4 years ago

I think this is a thing of tradition and etiquette rather than grammar.

Severus Snape‭ wrote almost 4 years ago

@Lundin Thanks. I have found a local book which explicitly mentions that it's a matter of etiquette. I am convinced now :) I am adding that as an answer here.

curiousdannii‭ wrote over 3 years ago

Why are all the options borderline ungrammatical, and none include "me"??

Moshi‭ wrote over 3 years ago

@curiousdannii https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1047/which-is-correct-you-and-i-or-you-and-me None of the examples should use "me", that would be ungrammatical.