Incorrect: "They sold the tickets to Chantal and I."

Concept A
Incorrect: "They sold the tickets to Chantal and I."
Correct: "They sold the tickets to Chantal and me."

Does that surprise you? If you're like me, this might be making your head itchy. I know how to make you feel better.

The Thumb Test!
Cover "Chantal and" with your thumb and read each option aloud. "They sold tickets to . . . me" vs. "They sold tickets to . . . I." Now you can hear and see that "me" sounds better than "I."

But why didn't it sound right before? Sometimes we feel weird saying "me" in combination with another person's name. That's probably because we confuse Concept A with a rule most of us know very well:

Concept B
Incorrect: (Hillbillie accent) "Me and Chantal done bought the tickets."
Correct: (English Butler accent) "Chantal and I bought the tickets."

But look carefully at the difference between the two concepts. Concept A puts you and your friend Chantal at the end of the sentence, after the verb. You two are part of the predicate, you're the indirect objects of the verb. In other words, you are not doing the action of the sentence (selling tickets), you are receiving it. 

In Concept B, you and Chantal come before the verb. You're doing the action of the sentence, which makes you two the subjects of the sentence. When using pronouns, double-check your writing to make sure your subject is a subject pronoun, and your object is an object pronoun.

Subject Pronouns (Doing the action of the sentence). AKA Nominative Pronouns

I, you, he, she, it, we, they


Object Pronouns (Receiving the action of the sentence). AKA Objective Pronouns

Me, you, him, her, it, us, them


Any questions? Okay, great. Bye--have a nice day!
 . . . unless you're ready for the . . .


BONUS ROUND!
Subject pronouns are not always at the beginning of the sentence, and object pronouns are not always at the end of the sentence. Pronouns that follow state of being verbs like "is" or "seem" are often subject pronouns as in:

(Phone Call) "Hello, may I speak to Beverly?"
"Yes, this is she."

We'll talk more about this one later. :)