MLP: Her and me won’t butcher pronouns

Mrs. Language Person, that galling grammar snob, admits to her share of fauxs-pas, but never with pronouns.

When she hears, “Me and him are going …” or “It was her and I,” your MLP experiences those spine-shattering creepy crawlies, like the screech of nails on a chalkboard (would that chalkboards still existed, sniff sniff).

So pursuant to a reader’s request, today we review: Pronouns as subjects, direct objects, and indirect objects.

Him and he. She and her. Them and they. I and me (and please, Dear Reader, skip the “myself” when “I” or “me” already covers it). “I myself” is simply overdoing it.

Perhaps a touch of the ever-butchered who and whom.

The concept is so simple one wonders why this little trick is so difficult to remember. Which pronoun is right? Simple Simon says, “Mentally separate into two sentences.” (A tad rude, but effective.) Then try it both ways:

“He uses correct grammar” and “She uses correct grammar” sound much better than “him uses” and “her uses.” When combining the two pronouns, this little trick makes the choice obvious:

“She and he use correct grammar.”

To put it linguistically, she, he, I, and they serve as subjects in the sentence; they are subjective pronouns. Me would never go to the store. Them don’t go. I go to the store; as do they and he (go to the store).

In other words, if the pronoun is the subject of the sentence, the correct choices are subject pronouns: She, he, I and they. Perfectly logical. Once the sentence is separately completed for each pronoun, the choice becomes clear, and applies even when a series of pronouns is used.

Who went to the opera? He, they, and I went. It was magnificent.

Now consider when subjects are renamed or reordered: It doesn’t change a thing.

Let’s stir things up with a triple-subject: “Is it he who edits this column?” Again, separate and find out.

“It is (Mike) (who edits this column).” “He” (is, or he edits) and “who” (is, or is who edits) all fit perfectly as substitutable subjects for “it” in the sentence, therefore they (snuck in another subject pronoun!) are all correct choices.

Assure MLP, Dear Reader, that you would never say it’s him who edits the column. It is he.

Now for those oft-abused objective pronouns: Me, her, him, them, and whom.

When pronouns function as “objects” of a verb or preposition (hence the name, objective), a similar trick helps: mentally reverse the nouns’ positions, or insert an omitted “of” or “for,” etc. More on that in a moment.

MLP annoys readers; she drives them bonkers. She couldn’t drive “they” crazy, could she? They may be driven crazy, but “she” (subject taking action) drives “them” (object of drive) bonkers. Call it a pronoun role reversal.

Take “who” (who is the subject of a phrase or sentence, the primary actor) and “whom” (an objective pronoun, the receiver of action). To whom may you turn for answers? Mr. Professor Person, that’s (to) whom. Reverse the phrases, and it’s clearer. You (subject) may turn to MPP/whom (object) for answers.

MPP is who answers questions (MPP and who are two substitutable subjects, hence the subjective pronoun, “who”), but he is also to whom you may turn, when "whom" is the object of to (whether "to" is visible or hidden).

Yes, MLP knows; that’s hardly an easy example. Simple Simon, go stuff yourself.

Her manners slipping, MLP again retreats to the rock under which she languishes, lamenting linguistic misuse.

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Mrs. Language Person and Sholeh Patrick are cranky columnists for the Hagadone News Network. Contact them at Sholeh@cdapress.com.