John Torode’s grammar

I’m just watching MasterChef, as I sometimes do when there’s nothing else on telly, and could not help but wince when I heard John Torode say ‘We want you to cook for Greg and I…’

            For Greg and I? 

            The rule is, of course, that the first-person pronoun should be the same as the one that would be used if the other person wasn’t in the sentence. And nobody would say ‘I want you to cook for I…’

            But the rule isn’t really the point. We often break the rules of Standard English in informal speech, but that doesn’t matter if it sounds natural. Me and Greg really liked this  would also break the rules, but I wouldn’t mind that because it doesn’t jar; one often hears it in colloquial speech. But for Greg and I doesn’t sound natural at all. It has the clanging sound of hyper-correction. 

            Couldn’t the director or producer have had a word? I actually met John Torode once when we were filming Back in Time for Dinner. He’s a really nice chap. But I wish I could literally travel back in time and have a quick word with him about grammar. 

Advertisement