I Subject, Your Honor
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
I Subject, Your Honor
In past discussions of who-whom and whoever-whomever, we passed along a handy memory aid: who (and whoever) = they; whom (and whomever) = them.*
That’s fine as far as it goes, but it goes nowhere unless we can tell a subject (they) from an object (them).
One reason that distinguishing between subjects and objects is so difficult can be traced to what’s called the subject complement, a fancy term for the B in A = B. In the sentence It is you, the word you is a subject complement: it = you.
Math teaches us that if A = B, then B = A. If it = you, then you = it. In the sentence It is you, the word you is a kind of secondary subject.
However, you stays the same whether it’s a subject or an object. Things get trickier with the subject pronouns I, he, she, we, they, who, and whoever, which all change forms when they function as objects (me, him, her, us, them, whom, and whomever).
A conversational sentence like It’s me is technically wrong, because me is the object form of I, when what we need is a subject complement. Therefore, It’s I would be proper English (it = I). Remember, if It is I, then I am it. Since no one says, “Me am it,” It’s me can’t be correct.
Look at these everyday sentences: It’s us. Wait, it was him. No, it has been them all along. But it could’ve been her. We hear these all the time—and every one of them is technically incorrect. In such sentences, informal speech tends to prefer object pronouns like me, her, and them over the formally correct I, she, and they. Who knows why? They just sound better, or something. For whatever reason, not many folks we meet on the street would say, “It’s we.” “It was he.” “It has been they.” “It could’ve been she.”
But no one can ever master whom and whomever without knowing when object pronouns in everyday speech should be changed to subject complements in formal English.
More next time…
This classic grammar tip was contributed by our late veteran copy editor and word nerd Tom Stern.
* Actually, our previous handy aid was who = he and whom = him. We support using gender-neutral pronouns as we discussed in our post of January 15, 2020, 2019’s Word of the Year is Inclusive, not Divisive.
Pop Quiz
Make the following colloquial sentences consistent with formal English.
1. She’s just glad it turned out to be me.
2. The way I see it, it must have been them.
3. The culprits were Joe, Jack, Jake, and whomever else.
4. It ended up being her who the group could count on.
5. It seemed like them, but it was him.
Pop Quiz Answers
These answers are academically correct. But if you talk to your friends like this, you’re on your own.
1. She’s just glad it turned out to be I.
2. The way I see it, it must have been they.
3. The culprits were Joe, Jack, Jake, and whoever else.
4. It ended up being she whom the group could count on. (whom is the object of the verb count on)
5. It seemed like them, but it was he. (them is the object of the preposition like)
If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.
I have a question about I or me for this case
“It is …………[I/me] they want to punish, not you.”
I think It should be “me” because They want to punish me.
Is it correct?
Thank you for the best grammar rules on your website.
They are very helpful to me.
It should be I. The object of “want to punish” is an implicit whom: “It is I [whom] they want to punish …”
Is it “Your Honor” or “your Honor” when it does not appear at the beginning of sentence?
Our rule 6a of Capitalization says, “Capitalize a formal title when it is used as a direct address.” Since “Your Honor” is a formal title used as a direct address, both words should be capitalized.
Would you then capitalize “The Court” when referencing a formal title? Or would it simply be “the Court” or “the Judge”?
In most situations we would not recommend capitalizing either “the court” or “the judge.” Please see our post “Capitalization of Governmental Words” for more information.
Is it whoever or whomever in the following sentence: “And we value the opinions of average people, whoever/whomever they happen to be”? Thanks!
Whoever they happen to be is correct. The pronoun should be subjective in your sentence because it must agree with “they,” the subject of the verb phrase “happen to be.”
Is it who or whom in the following sentence: “Most of us are taught to believe that we are who/whom we are called”? Thanks.
The correct choice is whom because it becomes the object of the relative clause we are called whom. Otherwise, we would have a double subject in the clause—both who and we. Note the difference between your sentence with that final clause with a sentence such as Most of us are taught to believe that we are they/them (the correct choice in this case would be they).
Below is your explanation, but can we say “whomever” is the object of “to”?
Quiz Results
1. For each of the following, choose the correct sentence.
Correct Answer: B We’ll give the prize to whoever calls in first.
Explanation: “whoever” is the subject of “calls.”
Your Answer: A We’ll give the prize to whomever calls in first.
Determining whether to use whoever vs. whomever is a little trickier than who vs. whom. You need to examine the pronoun’s position in the subject or the object clause. In the case of “We’ll give the prize to whoever/whomever calls in first,” although “whoever/whomever calls in first” constitutes the object clause, whoever is the subject of that clause. Please see Whoever vs. Whomever Revisited for more discussion.
If only it were possible to have today’s teachers actually TEACH kids proper use of the language, but the majority of the teachers I know just don’t care. They respond that poor grammar is ingrained, and it’s not worth the effort.
Would you please consider publishing an article about today’s publications’ use of “they,” “their,” and “them” when referring to an INDIVIDUAL? It drives me absolutely crazy, and I’ve written a few times to our local newspaper (The Advocate in Baton Rouge and other areas) about it. Apparently their editors don’t know and/or care about using the proper pronouns; nothing has changed.
I truly enjoy these blogs!
We are glad you enjoy the blog posts. The following articles discuss the non-plural use of they, their, and them:
How Did They Get In Here?
How Can They Be Singular?
Gender Pronouns: Singular They
This is perhaps the easiest explanation of the use of subject complements in everyday sentences. Bravo, GrammarBook!
Is it “Your Honor have erred” or “Your Honor has erred”?
Your sentence has a singular subject (Your Honor); therefore, use the singular verb has.