Expression: 'According to me'

Hi

Could we say ‘According to me’ in spoken English?
Is it standard?

Tom

Hi Tom

I think the possible use of “according to me” would depend very much on the context (of the conversation). Grammatically, there’s nothing wrong with it.

How do you think it might be used?

Amy

Thanks a lot, Amy

According to him, the only reason to hold this party is to have our customers bound to us.

According to me, the only reason to hold this party is to have our customers bound to us.

Do you use according to me in your conversation? Does it sound as natural to you as according to him/ her?

Tom

Ive read that "according to me" is grammatically incorrect. I cannot refute a native speakers opinion, though.

Hi tom,

According to someone else seems acceptable because you are interpreting what a second or third person believes/thinks but to refer it to yourself sounds a bit weird. It would be like me saying: Alan thinks that … Preferable would be something like: In my opinion … As I see it …

A

1 Like

Hi SkiIuck (and Tom :wink:)

Grammatically, the phrase is 100% correct. But grammatical correctness is never a guarantee that the usage is correct. Unless you are attempting some irony or have some sort of very special reason to say “according to me”, using this phrase would simply sound weird – as Alan noted.

Amy

Well, I expressed myself wrong. I meant that I had taken a test where there (?) was a question with two answers - correct and incorrect, and I chose correct. It came out to be incorrect. :D, Pff…

englishlearner.com/tests/adv … st_1.shtml

There is the link.

Hi SkiIucK

Sorry to hear about your test-taking misfortune. :wink:

It’s true that this phrase is sometimes (mis)used where “in my opinion” or “as I see it” etc. would be better. But, if I were you, I’d follow the advice of that test, and steer clear of using it that way. :lol:

I didn’t want to write a lot more than I did in my first post until I was sure what Tom had in mind with his question.

Amy