I 1 ( )pron. Used to refer to oneself as speaker or writer. n. pl. I's The self; the ego. [Middle English, from Old English ic; see eg in Indo-European roots.] Usage Note: The question of when to use nominative forms of the personal pronouns (for example, I, she, they) and when to use objective forms (for example, me, her, them) has always created controversy among grammarians and uncertainty among speakers and writers. There is no problem when the pronoun stands alone with a single verb or preposition: every native speaker says I (not me) read the book; They told him (not he); The company bought a computer for us (not we); and so forth. But the decision is more problematic in other environments. · When pronouns are joined with other nouns or pronouns by and or or, there is a widespread tendency to use the objective form even when the phrase is the subject of the sentence: Tom and her are not speaking to each other. This usage is natural in colloquial speech, but the nominative forms should be used in formal speech and writing: John and she (not her) will be giving the talk. · When pronouns joined by a conjunction occur as the object of a preposition such as between, according to, or like, many people use the nominative form where the traditional grammatical rule would require the objective; they say between you and I rather than between you and me, and so forth. Many critics have seen this construction as originating in a hypercorrection, whereby speakers who have been taught to say It is I instead of It is me come further to assume that correctness also requires between you and I in place of between you and me. This explanation of the tendency cannot be the whole story, inasmuch as the phrase between you and I occurs in Shakespeare, centuries before the prescriptive rules requiring It is I and the like were formulated. But the between you and I construction is nonetheless widely regarded as a marker of grammatical ignorance and is best avoided. · In other contexts the traditional insistence that the nominative form be used is more difficult to defend. The objective form sounds most natural when the pronoun is not grammatically related to an accompanying verb or preposition. Thus, in response to the question "Who cut down the cherry tree?" we more colloquially say "Me," even though some grammarians have argued that I must be correct here by analogy to the form "I did"; and few speakers would accept that the sentence What, me worry? is improved if it is changed to What, I worry? The prescriptive insistence that the nominative be used in such a construction is grammatically questionable and is apt to lead to almost comical pedantries. · There is also a widespread tendency to use the objective form when a pronoun is used as a subject together with a noun in apposition, as in Us engineers were left without technical support. In formal speech or writing the nominative we would be preferable here. But when the pronoun itself appears in apposition to a subject noun phrase, the use of the nominative form may sound pedantic in a sentence such as The remaining members of the admissions committee, namely we, will have to meet next week. A writer who is uncomfortable about using the objective us here would be best advised to rewrite the sentence to avoid the difficulty. See Usage Notes at be, but, we. |
| I 2 1. The symbol for the element iodine. 2. Electricity The symbol for current. 3. also i The symbol for the Roman numeral 1. |
| I 3 abbr. 1. incomplete 2. interstate 3. isospin |
| i 1 or I () n. pl. i's or I's also is or Is 1. The ninth letter of the modern English alphabet. 2. Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter i. 3. The ninth in a series. 4. Something shaped like the letter I. |
| i 2 The symbol for imaginary unit. |
i the imaginary number ∛-1
I 1
pron
used by a speaker or writer to refer to himself or herself as the subject of a verb [Old English ic]
I 2
1. Chem iodine
2. the Roman numeral for one
| i () The number whose square is equal to -1. Numbers expressed in terms of i are called imaginary or complex numbers. |
| I 1. The symbol for electric current. 2. The symbol for iodine. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  I - a nonmetallic element belonging to the halogens; used especially in medicine and photography and in dyes; occurs naturally only in combination in small quantities (as in sea water or rocks)chemical element, element - any of the more than 100 known substances (of which 92 occur naturally) that cannot be separated into simpler substances and that singly or in combination constitute all matter iodine-131 - heavy radioactive isotope of iodine with a half-life of 8 days; used in a sodium salt to diagnose thyroid disease and to treat goiter iodine-125 - light radioactive isotope of iodine with a half-life of 60 days; used as a tracer in thyroid studies and as a treatment for hyperthyroidism halogen - any of five related nonmetallic elements (fluorine or chlorine or bromine or iodine or astatine) that are all monovalent and readily form negative ions |
| 2. |  I - the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number; "he has the one but will need a two and three to go with it"; "they had lunch at one"digit, figure - one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration; "0 and 1 are digits" singleton - a single object (as distinguished from a pair) | |
| 3. | i - the 9th letter of the Roman alphabet Latin alphabet, Roman alphabet - the alphabet evolved by the ancient Romans which serves for writing most of the languages of western Europe alphabetic character, letter of the alphabet, letter - the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech; "his grandmother taught him his letters" | |
| Adj. | 1. |  i - used of a single unit or thing; not two or more; "`ane' is Scottish"cardinal - being or denoting a numerical quantity but not order; "cardinal numbers" |
Translations
I1, i [aɪ] n (= letter) → I, i m;
I2 [aɪ] pron → je;
I for Isaac (US);
I for Item → I comme Irma
I2 [aɪ] pron → je;
(before vowel) → j';
(stressed) → moi
abbr (= island, isle) → I
I, i [aɪ] n (letter) → I, i f or m inv;
I [aɪ] pron → io
I for Isaac (US);
I for Item → I come Imola
I [aɪ] pron → io
abbr (= island, isle) → Is.
pron I [ai]
(only as the subject of a verb) the word used by a speaker or writer in talking about himself or herself I can't find my book; John and I have always been friends. ek أنـا: ضَمير المُتَكَلِّم аз já jeg ich εγώ yo mina من minä je, moi אֲנִי मैं सर्वनाम ja én saya ég io 私は 나 aš es saya ik jeg ja eu eu я ja jaz ja jag ผม; ดิฉัน; ข้าพเจ้า; หนู; กระหม่อม ben 我 я میں tôi 我
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