What’s another way to say I?
We don’t traditionally think of
I as having synonyms, but there are several situations in which it can replace—or be replaced with—another word, phrase, or series of words.
me Me is sometimes used in place of
I in a very informal way, as in
Me and Greg are going hiking on Saturday. Such sentences are considered grammatically incorrect, but they’re very common in casual speech. It’s also commonly used after
linking verbs (like
is and
was) in sentences like
It’s me or as an alternative to the awkward-sounding
It is I (or
This is he or
This is she). These kinds of constructions are especially common in situations when identifying yourself at someone’s door or on the phone, or perhaps when pointing yourself out in a photo (
Hey, that’s me!). Though considered informal, this use of
me is much more widely accepted.
myself The word
myself is sometimes used in place
me or
I, especially in cases in which there is a compound subject, object, or complement (meaning one that has more than one person or thing), as in
John and myself were asked to attend or
The event was planned by Kim and myself. slang synonyms for I There are a few creative, informal ways of referring to oneself. One common one is
yours truly, which is often used as a way to end a letter before signing your name, but can also be used in place of
me,
myself, or
I in certain cases, as in
Guess what? Yours truly is the lucky winner. Other phrases can be used in the same way, such as
this guy.
What can I say instead of I?
There may be some situations when you want to avoid using the words me or I in a piece of writing, such as in journalism or a scientific report. This is typically done to avoid focusing on the writer’s point of view and to create a sense of objectivity. In these cases, you can reword things to avoid referring to yourself altogether. For example, instead of saying I will further discuss this data in the next chapter, you could rephrase with a passive construction, as in This data will be further discussed in the next chapter. Though less common today, journalists have sometimes used terms like this writer when referring to themselves, especially in columns or opinion pieces, as in This writer will certainly not endorse such legislation. Despite the tradition of avoiding the use of me and I in journalism, using a firsthand point of view can be very effective and may even be preferable in certain cases, especially when the writer is a part of the story being told.
What kind of pronoun is I?
I is a
personal pronoun.
Pronouns are used as substitutes for nouns—they’re another way of referring to a noun without using a specific name. Personal pronouns are used to refer to the one communicating, to the one being addressed, or the one being talked about.
I is a
nominative pronoun, meaning that it’s typically used as a subject of a sentence. On the other hand,
me is an
objective pronoun, which means that it’s used as an object.
I, along with
me (and forms like
myself and
mine), is categorized as a
first person pronoun, meaning it refers to the speaker or writer themselves. In contrast, a
second person pronoun (like
you) is one that’s used to address the person being spoken to or reading.
Third person pronouns (like
he,
she,
they,
him,
her, and
them) refer to anyone other than the person doing the addressing or the ones being addressed. In literature, first-person
point of view is a common form of narration in which the events of the story are told using the first person, as if the action is happening from the point of view of the narrator.
