For you and me, pronouns can be a personal matter

There it was.

In a news story on the front page of the Columbia Missourian, the newspaper written and edited by the students of the Missouri School of Journalism under the tight supervision of its faculty of experienced editors — there it was.

“… but he’s hoping this is the first phase of several that might eventually lead to a bridge over Perche Creek, which he said would give he and his wife better access to the city’s center.”

Now if that’s not enough to make you cough up your morning coffee, what is?

So many people tell me they might not know the rules of grammar, but they know what sounds right. The trouble with that “he” in the above example is that it begins to sound right. The same is true of the people who say “between you and I,” or “he took my wife and I to dinner.” They sound so erudite, so educated.