{"id":3273,"date":"2019-09-10T23:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=3273"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:31:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T22:31:10","slug":"picking-proper-pronouns-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronouns\/picking-proper-pronouns-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Picking Proper Pronouns: Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week we began our review of using pronouns that help guide rather than trip our written eloquence. We started with pronouns as clause subjects, for objects, before assertive or attributive expressions, and after than <\/em>or as.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Today we\u2019ll look at pronouns before a gerund, for an infinitive, and for complements of forms of the verb be.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pronoun before a gerund
\n<\/strong>When a pronoun appears before a gerund, we will most often use the possessive case unless we wish to emphasize the pronoun more than the gerund.<\/p>\n

Emphasis Gerund: <\/em>They disapproved of his<\/em> evading the issue in that way. [They disapproved of the act<\/em> of evading the issue more than they disapproved of the person.]
\nEmphasis Pronoun: <\/em>They disapproved of him <\/em>evading the issue in that way. [They disapproved of the person<\/em> evading the issue more than they disapproved of the act.]<\/p>\n

This is a subtle but noteworthy distinction that may appear more often in writing than in speech. With speech, we\u2019ll find the speaker might use one form or the other depending on choice in the moment.<\/p>\n

Pronoun for an infinitive
\n<\/strong>Use the objective case for the subject, object, or complement of an infinitive phrase.<\/p>\n

Mariah requested him<\/u> to assist her<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Him <\/em>is the subject and her <\/em>is the object of the infinitive to assist.<\/em> The phrase him to assist her <\/em>is the direct object of the verb requested.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a different construction from Mariah requested that he assist her. <\/em>The dependent clause that he assist her <\/em>does not include an infinitive; rather, it applies the subjunctive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pronoun for the complement of be
\n<\/em><\/strong>If our construction is a subject, a conjugated form of be <\/em>(e.g., is, was, were<\/em>), <\/em>and a subject complement, we use the subjective case.<\/p>\n

Incorrect: <\/em>It was them<\/em> who made the decorations.
\nCorrect: <\/em>It was they <\/em>who made the decorations. [They <\/em>is the subject complement of it <\/em>after the linking verb was.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

As we can see, using the right pronouns strengthens smart, persuasive writing\u2014and that, in the end, is a great reward of our art.<\/p>\n

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

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Using what you\u2019ve learned in this article, choose the correct pronoun in each sentence.<\/p>\n

1. We agree with [them\/their] passing the proposal. (Emphasis on the act rather than the acting agent)<\/p>\n

2. I\u2019m fully against [him\/his] wanting to borrow more money from us. (Emphasis on the acting agent rather than the act)<\/p>\n

3. The delivery service hired [he\/him] to support [them\/they].<\/p>\n

4. The winner of the grand prize is [she\/her].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. We agree with [them\/their<\/strong>] passing the proposal. (The possessive pronoun their<\/em> emphasizes the act of passing the proposal.]<\/p>\n

2. I\u2019m fully against [him<\/strong>\/his] wanting to borrow more money from us. (The objective pronoun him<\/em> emphasizes being against the person wanting to borrow money more than the act of borrowing it.)<\/p>\n

3. The delivery service hired [he\/him<\/strong>] to support [them<\/strong>\/they]. (Infinitive phrases use the objective case for subjects, objects, and complements. In this infinitive phrase, him<\/em> is the subject and them<\/em> is the object of the infinitive to support<\/em>. The full phrase him to support them<\/em> is the direct object of the sentence.)<\/p>\n

4. The winner of the grand prize is [she<\/strong>\/her]. (She<\/em> is the subject complement of winner<\/em> following the linking verb is<\/em>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week we began our review of using pronouns that help guide rather than trip our written eloquence. We started with pronouns as clause subjects, for objects, before assertive or attributive expressions, and after than or as.\u00a0 Today we\u2019ll look at pronouns before a gerund, for an infinitive, and for complements of forms of the […]<\/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":[34,8,43,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-possessives","category-pronouns","category-subject-and-verb-agreement","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273"}],"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=3273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}