The motorcycle nearly hit Jane and …

Analyze the question: The sentence is "The motorcycle nearly hit Jane and __." We need the pronoun that correctly completes it.

Explain the concept: The case of a pronoun depends on its grammatical function.

• Subject pronouns: I, he, she, we, they
• Object pronouns: me, him, her, us, them

"Jane and ___" is the object of the verb "hit". The motorcycle is the subject, and Jane and the speaker are the ones receiving the action. So we need the object pronoun.

Solution:

1. Subject: The motorcycle
2. Verb: nearly hit
3. Object: Jane and ___
4. Test by removing "Jane and": "The motorcycle nearly hit ___." We would say "hit me", never "hit I".
5. So the answer is "Jane and me".

Checking the other options:

• B. I is a subject pronoun, so it is wrong in object position.
• C. myself is a reflexive pronoun. It is only used when the subject and object are the same person, or for emphasis. Here the subject is "the motorcycle", so it is wrong.
• D. mine is a possessive pronoun and does not fit here.

Correct answer: A. me

Tip: When you see "X and ___" in a sentence, drop "X and" and read the sentence with only the pronoun. If "hit I" sounds wrong, then "hit me" is right. This trick works for questions like "between you and me" too, which is a common WASSCE/JAMB favourite.