Word Usage – ‘I’ and ‘We’ in the Same Sentence and Other Questions

word-in-context

First of all I'm not even sure if the sentence I'm using as an example is correctly formulated. Even a seach for "I was at the church last Sunday" on Google gave me only three results so I think it's not very usual, maybe even wrong, but I don't know a better way to say it.

Ok, here's my question. I'm trying to say three different things using only one phrase. They are…

  1. I went to the church last Sunday and I went by myself – nobody wanted to go with me.

  2. There were many other people inside the church.

  3. At some point a big explosion occurred outside and everybody inside the church heard it. Of course I didn't check that with each person inside the church… I'm just assuming everybody heard it because it was a very loud explosion.

I'm trying to put all that in a single phrase but I'm having a hard time doing that. My first attempt was…

"I was at the church last Sunday when we heard the sound of a big explosion coming from the outside".

This usage of "I and "we" in the same phrase didn't sound good to me (although I'm not sure if it's possible or not). So I tried another one…

"I was at the church last Sunday when I heard the sound of a big explosion coming from the outside".

This phrase sounds fine except for the fact that it gives the impression that I was alone in the church – which isn't true. So I tried this new one…

"I was at the church last Sunday when a big explosion was heard coming from the outside".

This one sounds little better although it doesn't make it clear that there were other people in the church besides me.

It looks like it should be something very easy to be said but I just don't know how. Could someone help me with this one?

Best Answer

First of all, it would probably be simpler if you left it as multiple sentences. However, if you're set on not doing so, you could try something like the following:

When I went to church last Sunday, a large explosion that occurred outside was heard by me and everybody else inside.

Note that the main clause of the sentence has been turned into a passive construction so that me and everybody else can be used.

I don't think it would sound as good, but it is possible to keep the active voice and use both I and we:

When I was at church last Sunday with the regular parishioners, we all heard a large explosion from outside.

This mix of I and we doesn't sound so strange in the single sentence because you introduce the other people (the regular parishioners) before using the plural pronoun.

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