{"id":1089,"date":"2020-10-06T07:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2021-02-18T11:00:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T17:00:02","slug":"two-more-reasons-pronouns-plague-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronouns\/two-more-reasons-pronouns-plague-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Two More Reasons Pronouns Plague Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

For several weeks now, we\u2019ve been counting the ways that pronouns give us nightmares. Today we\u2019ll look at two more culprits: infinitives<\/strong> and verbs that end in -ing <\/em>(known technically as participles <\/strong>and gerunds<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

To form an infinitive, precede a verb with the word to<\/em>. The infinitive of look<\/em> is to look<\/em>. Constructions like to be looking<\/em>, to have looked<\/em>, and to have been looking<\/em> are also infinitives.<\/p>\n

Note what happens if we paraphrase I believe he is honest<\/em>, using an infinitive: I believe him to be honest<\/em>. The presence of the infinitive (to be<\/em>) turns he <\/em>(the subject of is<\/em>) into him <\/em>(the object of believe<\/em>).<\/p>\n

If we change the statement to a question, should we use who <\/em>or whom<\/em>? The rule of thumb we discussed when this series began in late August is who <\/em>= they <\/em>(subject) and whom <\/em>= them<\/em> (object). So it would be correct to say Who<\/em><\/strong> do you believe is honest?<\/em> (Who is honest, do you believe?)<\/p>\n

But with an infinitive, Whom<\/em><\/strong> do you believe to be honest?<\/em> would be correct. (Do you believe them<\/em> to be honest?)<\/p>\n

The situation is similar with verbs ending in –ing<\/em>. There are times when an –ing<\/em> verb in a sentence lets you say the same thing with either a subject pronoun or an object pronoun. For instance, you could say We recall she<\/strong> was driving home<\/em> or We recall her<\/strong> driving home<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Again, converting those statements to who-<\/em>or-whom<\/em> questions poses a challenge. Who<\/em><\/strong> do you recall was driving home? <\/em>would be correct. (Who was driving home, do you recall?) And Whom<\/em><\/strong> do you recall driving home?<\/em> would also be correct. (Do you recall her <\/em>driving home?)<\/p>\n

Such fine distinctions further illustrate why certain everyday pronouns are endlessly confounding.<\/p>\n

To be continued\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Find the grammatically correct pronouns.<\/p>\n

1. I discovered they\/them and Al sleeping in the barn.<\/p>\n

2. I discovered they\/them and Al were sleeping in the barn.<\/p>\n

3. Mary trusted we\/us and the team would return her car.<\/p>\n

4. Mary trusted we\/us and the team to return her car.<\/p>\n

5. Who\/whom do you predict to win the match?<\/p>\n

6. Who\/whom do you predict will win the match?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. I discovered them<\/em> and Al sleeping in the barn.<\/p>\n

2. I discovered they<\/em> and Al were sleeping in the barn.<\/p>\n

3. Mary trusted we<\/em> and the team would return her car.<\/p>\n

4. Mary trusted us<\/em> and the team to return her car.<\/p>\n

5. Whom<\/em> do you predict to win the match?<\/p>\n

6. Who<\/em> do you predict will win the match?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For several weeks now, we\u2019ve been counting the ways that pronouns give us nightmares. Today we\u2019ll look at two more culprits: infinitives and verbs that end in -ing (known technically as participles and gerunds). To form an infinitive, precede a verb with the word to. The infinitive of look is to look. Constructions like to […]<\/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":[12,8,23,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-effective-writing","category-pronouns","category-verbs","category-whowhomwhoeverwhomever"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089"}],"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=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}