{"id":1078,"date":"2020-09-08T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2021-02-18T10:35:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T16:35:53","slug":"shape-shifting-troublemakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronouns\/shape-shifting-troublemakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Shape-shifting Troublemakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

No nouns in our language behave like pronouns. The most common subject pronouns (I<\/em>, he<\/em>, she<\/em>, we<\/em>, they<\/em>, who<\/em>, whoever<\/em>) all become different words (me<\/em>, him<\/em>, her<\/em>, us<\/em>, them<\/em>, whom<\/em>, whomever<\/em>) when they are objects.<\/p>\n

Colloquial English has always thumbed its nose at proper English. A seemingly innocent everyday sentence like It\u2019s me<\/em> is Exhibit A.<\/p>\n

As we discussed in\u00a0I Subject, Your Honor<\/a>, in formal English, It\u2019s me<\/em> is wrong, and It\u2019s I<\/em> is correct. In such sentences, pronouns linked by any form of the verb to be<\/em> are equivalent to subjects\u2014but me<\/em> is an object<\/em> pronoun. If It\u2019s me<\/em> were correct, then we\u2019d also have to say, \u201cMe is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down through the years, correct pronoun usage has been of little concern to the masses, who would rather drink from Lake Erie than say, \u201cThe culprit was they, but we thought it might be he.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having dealt two weeks ago with the havoc that the verb to be<\/em> wreaks in sentences with pronouns, let\u2019s look now at another disruption to correct English: compound subjects<\/strong> and compound objects<\/strong> that contain pronouns.<\/p>\n

A compound subject is two or more nouns or pronouns joined most commonly by and <\/em>or or.<\/em> Joe and I<\/em> is a compound subject. It is correct in Joe and I went fishing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Joe and her<\/em> is a compound object. It is correct in The group chose Joe and her<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here is an easy, foolproof way to get such sentences right: Remove the noun and say the sentence with just the pronoun. Without the nouns, the two sentences are a breeze: I went fishing <\/em>and The group chose her<\/em>. Using this method exposes incorrect sentences such as It was up to Joe and I <\/em>and Either me or Joe will help<\/em>, because we\u2019d never say, \u201cIt was up to I\u201d or \u201cMe will help.\u201d<\/p>\n

One more thing: It is always <\/em>wrong to mix subject and object pronouns, such as \u201cher and I.\u201d In an oft-heard sentence like \u201cHer and I arrived,\u201d it\u2019s clear that I arrived<\/em> is correct, but no one would say \u201cher arrived,\u201d so the sentence requires she<\/em>, the subject pronoun: She and I arrived<\/em>.<\/p>\n

More on finding the correct pronoun next time \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Correct any wayward compound subjects or objects.<\/p>\n

1. Me and him went to the game.<\/p>\n

2. The dog was always with Vinnie and I.<\/p>\n

3. May my wife and me join you for dinner?<\/p>\n

4. Either you or him must be willing to help.<\/p>\n

5. Alice and me were who it was meant for.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. He and I<\/em> went to the game.<\/p>\n

2. The dog was always with Vinnie and me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

3. May my wife and I<\/em> join you for dinner?<\/p>\n

4. Either you or he<\/em> must be willing to help.<\/p>\n

5. Alice and I<\/em> were whom<\/em> it was meant for. (whom<\/em> is the object of the preposition for<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No nouns in our language behave like pronouns. The most common subject pronouns (I, he, she, we, they, who, whoever) all become different words (me, him, her, us, them, whom, whomever) when they are objects. Colloquial English has always thumbed its nose at proper English. A seemingly innocent everyday sentence like It\u2019s me is Exhibit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pronouns","category-whowhomwhoeverwhomever"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}