I am unsure as to which of these seems more formal.
My parents will reside with me and my family.
or
My parents will reside with my family and I.
Or is there a better (formal) alternative to it?
coordinationpersonal-pronouns
I am unsure as to which of these seems more formal.
My parents will reside with me and my family.
or
My parents will reside with my family and I.
Or is there a better (formal) alternative to it?
Best Answer
This sentence is okay, because if we shorten it, leaving only me and omitting "my familiy", we notice nothing strange:
Because this pronoun is not in subject position, it's okay to use the form me. The pronoun is the object of the preposition with. Such pronouns are called object pronouns.
Your second sentence is actually considered ungrammatical (but look below for a fuller view):
Why? Because I is a subject pronoun, and should not be used in object position. Let's see how the sentence will look if we omit "my family":
This is a strange-sounding sentence.
In "standard" English there's a tradition to frown upon the use of me in subject position. Why? Because when we omit the "and-part", we get this:
Sounds a bit strange. The "correct" form of the pronoun for subject position is I.
P.S. When someone attempts to use I instead of me in object position in order to be more "formal", it is called "hypercorrection". Quoting Wikipedia,
That's a nice observation by H&P. My test with leaving out "my family" and dissolving the coordination is invalid, from this point of view.
So let's say that's basically how the awkwardness of I in object position and of me is subject position is usually explained. Linguists are arguing about whether it is really ungrammatical. "The jury is still out", as they say.
The take-home message is that your sentence 2 will be marked off as erroneous if you take an English language test.
Related posts:
Is it "Tom and I" or "Tom and me" in "Keep Tom and I/me updated"? -- the deepest answer is in this post by F.E.. A definitive answer, I might say.
Can ME be a subject? - a nice answer by Snailboat to a related question.
Between you and me - or Between you and I - on ELU SE.
“My friends and I” vs. “My friends and me” vs. “Me and my friends” - on ELU SE - with a great psychological explanation of why we tend to use me in coordination.