YP Letters: The newsreader's grammar was correct on this occasion

Do newsreaders put both feet in it when it comes to grammar and use of the English language?

AFTER reading Rosamund Gray’s letter about the ITV newsreader who says “Mary Nightingale and me” instead of “... and I” (The Yorkshire Post, July 26), I made time to witness the same item.

Ms Gray’s version is incomplete and leaves out the full comment of the newsreader Mark Austin who says “Join Mary Nightingale and me at 6.30”.

The word “me” is a pronoun and is used as the object of a verb or preposition. Mark asks us to “join” (verb) Mary and him (not he) so “me” is the correct word.

The easy way to prove this point of grammar is by deleting “Mary Nightingale” from the sentence and asking if Mark would say “Join I at 6.30”  which sounds, and is,  incorrect.

Radio and TV announcers do often make grammatical mistakes, but they are correct this time and accusing them of never learning English grammar should give Rosamund Gray a rather red face.

From: Mary Alexander, Knab Road, Sheffield.

ROSAMUND Gray castigates an announcer for saying ‘Mary Nightingale and me’. I would bet that the whole sentence was ‘Goodnight from Mary Nightingale and me’, which is correct, because it follows a preposition.

From: Michael J Robinson, Park Lane, Berry Brow, Huddersfield.

ROSAMUND Gray asks if the announcers on the ITV News never learned grammar at school, with particular reference to their signing of with such as ‘Mary Nightingale and me’.

Ms Gray claims that they are wrong to say “will you join Mark Austin and me at 6.30”. Thank goodness they didn’t learn their English grammar at her school.

I wonder if it would help if, when considering whether to say me or I, they turn the plural into the singular, so that if you would never say ‘will you join I at 6.30’, or to I, or from I, or with I, then resist the temptation to say ‘join Mark Austin and I’, ‘to you and I’, ‘from you and I’, ‘with you and I’, or ‘between you and I’, etc.

From: Andrew Mercer, Guiseley.

I COULD not agree more with your Editorial about teachers – and the fact that so few science staff have degree qualifications in a relevant subject (The Yorkshire Post, July 26). What hope is there if schools, and pupils, depend on teachers without sufficient academic experience? I do hope Theresa May takes this on board.