Is “and I You” Grammatically Correct?

Grammar / By

You might’ve frequently come across the phrase “and I you” when reading a book or overhearing a conversation between two people. Although this phrase might seem incomplete due to the lack of a verb, it doesn’t break any grammar rules and is totally acceptable. Read on to find out more about it and its usage!

Is “and I you” grammatically correct?

If you’ve heard the phrase “and I you” in a movie, on television, or somewhere else, you might be wondering if it is grammatically correct. You are not alone. This phrase doesn’t seem to be grammatically correct because it is missing a verb. And the phrase “and I you” doesn’t make sense on its own.

But this phrase is used after an independent sentence and the verb is present in that independent sentence. Thus, to avoid redundancy, the verb isn’t repeated in the phrase “and I you” but is understood to be there in the phrase even though it isn’t explicitly written.

So, yes. “And I you” is perfectly correct in terms of grammar and sentence structure if it comes after an independent sentence and the two make logical sense. In the next sections, we’ll see when this phrase is used and how it is used.

When is the phrase “and I you” used?

The phrase “and I you” can be used in a variety of situations and can refer to a variety of different verbs. More importantly, this phrase is used to avoid repetition and to leave out certain words that are not needed. This practice of skipping words to remove repetition from sentences is known as “ellipsis” in linguistics.

If we take the simple example of a person saying “I love you” and the second person replying “and I you,” the meaning and importance of the phrase becomes clear. If the second person had said “I love you too,” the verb “love” would have been unnecessarily repeated.

Essentially, “and I you” indicates reciprocity in conversation. The person saying this phrase is reciprocating whatever verb or emotion is there in the first person’s sentence.

Examples of usage of “and I you”

Here are a couple of examples of the phrase “and I you” to help you better understand how it is used in written and spoken English.

Example 1:

Person 1: “I love you.”

Person 2: “And I you.”

Example 2:

Person 1: “I highly admire you.”

Person 2: “And I you.”

“And I you” Modern Usage

Nowadays it is not common to use “and I you” as people tend to think it sounds overly formal. The phrase sounds like something out of Downtown Abbey. People tend to repeat the verb nowadays.

Example 1:

Person 1: “I love you.”

Person 2: “I love you too.”

Example 2:

Person 1: “I highly admire you.”

Person 2: “I admire you too.”

 

 

 

Conor
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