"That's me"

[Once]

I have a grammar question that is bugging me and I wonder if anyone could help me.

 

What is the phrase "That's me"? Is it an interjection?

 

Why do we not say "That's I" since it seems that "I" am the subject not in the predicate.

 

Is it a prepositional phrase?

 

What's up? Please forgive my ignorance. I need to know. It is bugging me.

[Marie in Oh]

But I will give it my best shot. If I am wrong, someone here will correct me I am sure.

 

It would be:

 

That would be the subject, though not a very good one, is would be the linking verb, and me would be the predicate noun (in this case a pronoun) renaming "that."

 

I have never heard anyone say this. Is it an expression?

[elbac]

"That" would be the subject, "is" the verb, and "me" the direct object/appositive.

 

I guess depending upon the context, "That's me!" could play the part of an exclamation or an interjection.

[Ellie]

It sounds funny because most people don't say it and we're not used to hearing it.

[Once]

Thank-you. I will have to go look up some grammar terms.

 

I was thinking of when you are looking at a photograph and you point and say "That's me". I guess you could also use it like this - "I like turnips but that's just me."

 

Do these examples change the explanations?

[yslek]

According to linguists, if enough people say/write it, it becomes correct, or usage dictates convention. (This is how our language/grammar came to be the way it is.) Really annoying, I know. It seems so wrong that something can become right in this way!

 

This is something my Dad (Ph.D. in Ancient Semitic Philology) pointed out to dh, who bristled at the use of "fellowship" as a verb rather than as a noun. It's also something I learned in a course I'm just finishing (History of the English Language, through U. of Wisc. IL.)

 

So, "it's me" is correct, even though it shouldn't (:confused:) be.:D

 

Kelsy

[stephanie]

I have a grammar question that is bugging me and I wonder if anyone could help me.

 

What is the phrase "That's me"? Is it an interjection?

 

Why do we not say "That's I" since it seems that "I" am the subject not in the predicate.

 

Is it a prepositional phrase?

 

What's up? Please forgive my ignorance. I need to know. It is bugging me.

 

Here's how we use it...You're sitting in a Doctor's office, and they call your name. You answer, "That's me!" Of course, we are always saying phrases that people never even hear of down here in South Texas. We do R&S grammar, and my dc can't believe that fixinta, gunna, and member (remember) aren't words!

[Once]

This history of language is so interesting.

 

Thanks ladies! I am going to go look up what an apositive is. I've never heard of that one.:001_huh:

[nmoira]

So, "it's me" is correct, even though it shouldn't (:confused:) be.

I prefer "colloquial" to "correct." :)

[yslek]

I prefer "colloquial" to "correct." :)

 

:D Me, too. :D

 

Or maybe "non-standard"...

 

Although in 50-100 years (totally making those figures up;)) it may well be "correct" (or should I say "standard?) and taught as such in grammar books.

 

Kelsy

[yslek]

:D Me, too. :D

 

 

Meaning: I like your way of putting it better.

 

:tongue_smilie:

Kelsy

[profmom]

I would say "that's me" isn't proper grammar because you should use the nominative case pronoun after a state of being verb. So, I think "that" is the subject; "is" is the (state of being) verb; and "I" is the predicate nominative.

 

It reminds me of how many people answer the phone when someone asks to talk to them by name: "This is her" (instead of "This is she," which would be proper.)

[profmom]

Thank-you. I will have to go look up some grammar terms.

 

I was thinking of when you are looking at a photograph and you point and say "That's me". I guess you could also use it like this - "I like turnips but that's just me."

 

Do these examples change the explanations?

 

I don't think so. You have a compound sentence with "that" being the subject of the 2nd half, etc. I still think it should be "I."

 

Also, I forgot to comment on your other original questions. "That's me" is a sentence, not an interjection or prepositional phrase.

 

HTH!

 

profmom (who has always enjoyed grammar, but is learning even more in connection with Latin!)

 

P.S. Here's an example of an appositive: Mary, my daughter, is sleeping. "Mary" and "daughter" are two nouns naming the same person -- an appositive. :)

[Kathie in VA]

"An appositive is a noun that follows another noun to explain or identify it."

That's how we memorized it for Classical Conversations-Foundations.

Have you met our visitor, John?

Here John is the appositive because it is a noun that follows the noun visitor to identify who the visitor is.

 

Not sure on the original question though.

I've learned that, "It is I" is the correct way for me to answer, "Who is there?" ... although I've always heard It's me.

Sooo I'm guessing [That's I] would be correct while [That's me] is what I'm used to hearing.

[Reya]

I have a grammar question that is bugging me and I wonder if anyone could help me.

 

What is the phrase "That's me"? Is it an interjection?

 

Why do we not say "That's I" since it seems that "I" am the subject not in the predicate.

 

Is it a prepositional phrase?

 

What's up? Please forgive my ignorance. I need to know. It is bugging me.

 

We don't say "That's I" because the rule of using the subject form of pronouns after a linking verb is a fake hypercorrection that no native English speaker uses naturally or has ever used in the history of the language. It came about through bad attempts at making English more "logical"--just like the rule of not ending a sentence with a preposition. No native speaker NATURALLY says "It is I," either. Those sorts of affectations will mark a person poorly among the truly educated (versus the pedantic pseudo-educated.) In its way, it is worse than not conjugating "to be" at all. At least the second isn't failed pretension.

 

You canNOT make a sound argument for something being standard usage (or correct) if it has NEVER existed beyond the classrooms of primary and secondary English teachers. "It is I" or "that is I" is NOT standard. It is more nonstandard, in fact, than using ain't--that, at least is spoken by actual human being who know the English language without them being told specifically to do it. You can't just make up a rule and try to foist it off on people and expect to be taken seriously--which, unfortunately, is exactly what generations of school teachers have done. Just because something might be hard to diagram or might not follow the *same* logic of some other element of the language doesn't mean that all the speakers of the language have been wrong all along.

 

Yes, I have strong feelings on the subject.

[Ellie]

because I do use "It is I," as well as "This is she" and any other permutation/variation thereof.:D