Subjective Pronouns

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Feb 14, 2013 In the Grammar Tree 2 Comments

Sing the following to nice C major scale.

“I, you, he, she, it, we, they—will NEVVV-VER be objects.”  Now repeat it. “I, you, he, she, it, we and they” are subjective pronouns, and they will NEVVV-VER be objects. When they appear in sentences, they are the subjects, the doers, the instigators.  Their counterparts, “me, you, her, it, us, them,” are objective pronouns and so receive the action of the sentence.

So many people, in the pursuit of sounding educated, use the subjective form of the pronoun to over-compensate for the incorrect use of the objective form.  Here’s what I mean about mis-using the objective form.  “Me and Will are going to eat donuts for breakfast.”  This is an example of using the objective form of the pronoun (me) incorrectly.  Because “me” is the subject of the sentence, it doesn’t belong. “I”  is the correct pronoun, and it should follow “Will” to be polite.  “Will and I are going to eat donuts for breakfast.”   Because so many of us recognize this common grammar mistake, we often want to prove to the world that we are not the sort of people who make it, and we do this by over-compensating and over-using the subjective pronouns.

“Granddad cooked the carrot soufflé for Richard and I.”  “Robbie sent Dad and I the pictures of his hiking trip.” Don’t be afraid to use the objective pronoun!  It’s often correct.  “Granddad cooked the carrot soufflé for Richard and me.”  “Robbie sent Dad and me the pictures of his hiking trip.”



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