Another "I" or "me" question

The correct pronoun is the one that would stand on its own if there was no "you and".

"It never felt right, I on opposite sides."

OR

"It never felt right, me on opposite sides."

In this case, it would be "You and me".

DeleyanLee said:

The correct pronoun is the one that would stand on its own if there was no "you and".

"It never felt right, I on opposite sides."

OR

"It never felt right, me on opposite sides."

In this case, it would be "You and me".

Click to expand...

That's generally the solution to unlock your intuition, but in this case, neither makes sense, because one person can't be on opposite sides.

Instead I'd say substitute "we" or "us". In this case "us" sounds right, so objective case "me" is also correct.

I can't come up with an analytical explanation of why it should be objective case. I thought it would be subjective, because it's the antecedent of "it", which is the subject. But antecedents don't agree anyway. But I'm sure intuitively that "we" would be wrong.

If he's educated, I'd perhaps look at the cliche of 'being on opposite sides'. E.g., It never felt right, us as opposite ends of a revolving door, constantly set in motion to chase each other."

I love the poem "Book Ends" when it comes to expressing opposition: the similarities between father and son as book ends, but how the education caught in the pages between the book ends set them wildly apart, showing how the two parted ways.

I'd just look at something a little more unique to his way of expression via word choice too.

Our being on opposite sides never felt right. << My opinion, keep grammar traps out of your writing (e.g. use of you and me, other). If you make readers labor, they may abandon your work.

DeleyanLee said:

The correct pronoun is the one that would stand on its own if there was no "you and".

"It never felt right, I on opposite sides."

OR

"It never felt right, me on opposite sides."

In this case, it would be "You and me".

Click to expand...

I disagree. What never felt right? The fact or state of the two of them being on opposite sides. There's an implied verb in the second clause: You and I being on opposite sides, or our being on opposite sides. You should use either the possessive + gerund or the nominative, but certainly not the objective case.