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The Pronoun Problem

Copyright © 2002-2005 by David E. Ross

Would you say: "Her went to the store with I."?

If not, then why do I see: "Betty and her went to the store with George and I."?

While it might seem artificial and pedantic, writers must learn the difference between nominative and objective pronouns.

Nominative	Objective	Possessive
Use as the subject of a sentence. Who does this?	Use as the object of a sentence. To whom is this done? Use as the object of a preposition: to, from, with, for, etc	Use to show ownership. Whose is this?
I	me	my, mine
we	us	our, ours
you	you	your [not you're], yours
he	him	his
she	her	her, hers [not her's]
it	it	its [not it's]
they	them	their [not there or they're], theirs [not their's]
who	whom	whose

If you continue to write sentences such as "Sam and me threw the ball to Bill and he", your readers can only conclude you are illiterate. That is no better than writing "Us threw the ball to they".

(Hint: If you do not understand what is wrong with the above paragraph, read it aloud.)

Here is another one. It's obviously wrong to say:

He … gets we to sit next to each other.

Why then do I see:

He … gets Pete and I to sit next to each other.

The bold I and we are nominative where objective pronouns are required.

Between is a preposition just as are to, from, and with. It takes only objective pronouns.

Things between Chris and I would get complicated.

should be

Things between Chris and me would get complicated.

Updated 14 April 2005

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