More than 50% of the UK couldn't answer this basic grammar question, new survey reveals

Clear communication perhaps trumps all language rules. Maybe not because a bit of change in grammar can make a "world of difference" in what the other person understands, especially when a person is native to that language. So, it was quite surprising when over 50% of people in the UK who are mostly native English speakers got a basic grammar sentence incorrect. The explanation behind finding the right answer is quite simple and will help anyone avoid a mishap in the future. A survey posted by YouGov UK asked people to identify the grammatically correct sentence.

The options were as follows: "It really has made the world of difference to William and me." 22 percent of people selected this option. "It really has made the world of difference to William and I," was the second option. 56 percent of people selected that option. 13 percent selected "Both are correct." While 4 percent selected "Neither is correct." While 5 percent of people simply chose: "Don't know." 6,097 adults in Great Britain participated in the survey.

The statement became wildly popular after a recent update from Kate Middleton about her cancer. In her statement, she said, "It really has made the world of difference to William and me." Several people thought it would be "I" and not "me." A Reddit post by u/lobotech99 read, "Apparently, there's some confusion here about Kate Middleton's statement, 'It really has made the world of difference to William and me.' 'William and me' is grammatically correct. 'William and I' would have been incorrect." Another person wrote, "It is William and I, my husband and I. Personally, I think she wrote it that way to be 'one of the people.' It is the way we talk, but grammatically it is William and I."

However, a simple method from u/Famous-Composer3112 has made it clear that the Princess' statement was correct. "Gawd, I hate it when ignorant people correct people's English. Even if you don't know the difference between a subjective and objective case, just remove 'William.' The sentence says, 'It's made a world of difference to me.'" Clearly, "It has made the world of difference to I" would not make much sense. Hence, about 78 percent of people got the answer wrong or didn't know about it.

Several people thanked the person for clearing it in such a simple way. u/MadWyn1163 wrote, "Well, I am 60 years old and this is the simplest explanation ever. I knew the correct answer, but the 'just remove William,' advice makes it easy and clear." u/DeadCupcakes23 commented, "It's so easy to check this as well, you just remove the 'William and' bit and see what sounds right."

u/BanserellaWT remarked, "'It really has made a world of difference to I.' See how that sounds wrong? It is. Because 'I' is the subject and 'me' is the object. Remove the other person and see if it makes sense. If it doesn't, use the other form. 'William and I' does sound correct. I get it. You'd be stunned how often I've had to have this conversation with students. But it is, in fact, 'William and me.'" u/Indigo-Waterfall expressed, "I remember I had this exact discussion at school. And the person I was talking to asked the English teacher and the English teacher said I was wrong. I'm still mad about it 20 years later."