Make Your Editor Cry: [I, He, She, They] Better
![Make Your Editor Cry: [I, He, She, They] Better](https://successfulchristianselfpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/MakeYourEditorCry.png)
When I say “I better run to the grocery and get some eggs,” I mean “I had better,” abbreviated to “I’d better” and further abbreviated via eggcorn and combined with my particular US English dialect to “I better” when spoken aloud.
The same pattern is followed for “he had better,” “she had better,” or “they had better.” Naturally, any combination of a pronoun followed by better like “[I, He, She, They] better” is grammatically incorrect so when written out so, while it may be okay to use inside of dialogue, keep it out of the narrative text.
Examples:
Incorrect:
I better close out this article now.
She better stop reading this article now.
He better forward this article to his critique group.
They better read this article upon receipt.
Correct:
I had better close out this article now.
She had better stop reading this article now.
He had better forward this article to his critique group.
They had better read this article upon receipt.
Gregg Bridgeman is the Editor-in-Chief at Olivia Kimbrell Press. He is husband to best-selling Christian author Hallee Bridgeman and parent to three. He continues to proudly serve in the US Armed Forces and has done so in either an active or reserve capacity for more than twenty years as an airborne and air assault qualified paratrooper, earning a Bronze Star for his service. Most importantly, he was ordained in October of 2001 after surrendering his life to Christ decades earlier.