Is it correct to write: "I versus my family"?

Question

Is it correct to write: "I versus my family"

Answer 1

Family vs. self would be better.

Answer 2

Chris gave a great explanation of the reasons why “me” is correct. I’m going to add the two tricks that first helped me learn whether to use ‘“I” or “me”, which are way less official and intelligent than Chris’s answer, but were very useful when I was first learning which pronouns to use.

1:

Separate each part to see if it sounds right. One way to do this is by breaking each part into its own little sentence: “Me and Susan went to the store” becomes “Susan went to the store” (which sounds fine) and “Me went to the store” (which does not sound fine). “I went to the store” is correct. (Though you’d probably switch the order here to make it sound more normal: “Susan and I went to the store.”)

“The teacher called on my sister and I” breaks down to “the teacher called on my sister,” and “the teacher called on I.” Definitely not correct- “the teacher called on me” sounds right.

You can also rephrase the sentence as a question and test which way of answering sounds right. “He’s taller than me” is something we’re used to hearing, but let’s test it. Who is taller? “He is” definitely sounds right. “Me is” (or “me am”) really doesn’t. “I am” does, which means the grammatically correct sentence is “he’s taller than I.” That might sound stuffy, and of course we use colloquial phrases all the time when we’re speaking so it’s not a big deal if you say it the other way. Though the sentence does sound a lot more normal if you add the extra word: “he is taller than I am.”

We can even do this with “I versus my family,” though we need to replace “versus” with a synonym for it to work- we’ll use “against”. If we ask “Who am I against?” we can answer “I am against my family.” Then we ask “Who is my family against?” Does it sound better to say “My family is against I,” or “my family is against me”?

2:

Replace “I” or “me” with “she” or “her”, and see which sounds right. Most of us are much better at recognizing when to use third person subject vs object pronouns. If you weren’t sure if “my family is against me” or “my family is against I” sounded better, try it as “my family is against she,” and “my family is against her.” Probably you recognize that “her” is better.

Remember that “her” and “him” = “me”, while “she” and “he” = “I”.

This also works for “who” vs “whom”.

Subject pronouns are:

I

She

He

We

They

Who

Object pronouns are:

Me

Her

Him

Us

Them

Whom

If we use that trick, we actually see that the way I phrased the above question (“Who is my family against?”) is wrong. We figured out that “my family is against her” and “my family is against me” are correct. “Her” and “me” = “whom”, so the question should have been “whom is my family against?”

Those are much less reliable ways of figuring things out than knowing the actual rule, but they can be helpful for quickly testing a sentence.

Answer 3

"Me versus my family" is correct. Versus is a preposition, not a verb, so you use the object pronoun "me" rather than the subject pronoun "I." Similarly, you would say "me versus them" rather than "me vs. they."

Answer 4

That depends. Are your family members against you or is it that you are against them, but they are not against you. If it is the former, then it would be , "The family versus me." If it is the latter, then "I against my family." would be correct but sad,