Thursday, July 7, 2011

Day 125: Subjective and Objective Pronouns Part II of II

So why do you need to know the difference between subjective and objective pronouns if you are not likely to say Me going to town or Give that to I?

The problem with the subjective and objective pronoun does not occur when only one pronoun is present (though I do occasionally hear someone say something like, “Them aren’t ripe yet…”

The problem comes when you have two pronouns at or near the beginning of your sentence (subjective pronouns, hopefully!) or two pronouns at or near the end of your sentence (objective pronouns, hopefully!):

Subjective:
1.      She and I are coming over.
2.      He and she are late.

Objective:
1.      Give that gift to him and her.
2.      We will present them and her with a gift later.


“Single Pronoun Test”: The key to using the correct pronouns in this case is to say each pronoun by itself in the sentence (without the second one) to see if it sounds correct:

1.      Correct: She and I are coming over.
a.       She is coming over.
b.      I am coming over.
2.      Incorrect: Her and I are coming over.
a.       Her is coming over (wrong!).
b.      I am coming over.



3.      Correct: Give that gift to him and her.
a.       Give that gift to him.
b.      Give that gift to her.
4.      Incorrect: Give that give to him and she.
a.       Give that gift to him.
b.      Give that gift to she (wrong!).


The problem also occurs with a pronoun and noun combination:
 
1.      Correct: Jon and I are coming over.
a.       Jon is coming over.
b.      I am coming over.

2.      Incorrect: Jon and me are coming over.
a.       Jon is coming over.
b.      Me is coming over (wrong!).



3.      Correct: Give that gift to Jake and her.
a.       Give that gift to Jake.
b.      Give that gift to her.

4.      Incorrect: Give that gift to Jake and she.
a.       Give that gift to Jake.
b.      Give that gift to she (wrong!).


Again, unless you are 100% sure of your subjective and objective pronouns (and even then you might have tricky situations in which the "Single Pronoun Test" would help), you can run into problems with pronoun use.

Use the “Single Pronoun Test” when you are unsure—and you will almost always “hear” the correct way to write it/speak it.

No comments:

Post a Comment