USING PRONOUNS CORRECTLY (v3.0)

Andrew Yiannakis, Ph.D.

Research Professor  University of New Mexico

Some examples of pronouns include: I/me, he/him and she/her.

The fact that grammar is rarely taught in schools has created an appalling level of illiteracy in both the spoken and written word. Such illiteracy has been further promoted by scriptwriters in movies, TV programs, and in novels, and today most people are clueless as to how to speak and write correctly. Let me give you some examples of INCORRECT usage of the pronouns I, HE and SHE:

THESE EXAMPLES ARE GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT

1. John gave the books to Sally and I (should be me)
   2.  The book is for John and he (should be him)
   3. The book is for SHE and I (should be her and me)
   4. Give the book to John and I (should be me)
   5. It’s for HE and I to decide (should be for him and me)

6. The book is for him and I (should be him and me)

Some Background

Many people just don’t know how to speak or write because the rules of grammar governing the use of pronouns are rarely taught. Yet, there is a surprisingly simple fix to this problem and it has to do with prepositions. The simple rule is this:

If a pronoun (I, She, He) comes before a preposition (such as after, for, and, to, with) then the correct form to use is I, he or she. If however the pronoun comes after a preposition, then the correct form is me, him or her.

Prepositions are words that introduce information to the reader and include such terms as “for”, “after”,  “to” and “with”, among many others (in a future blog I shall be listing all the most commonly used prepositions in the English language). Here are a few common examples showing the CORRECT use of prepositions and pronouns. The prepositions are *asterisked*.

1. The book is *for* ME (not I)
2. He is *after* HER (not she)
3. He gave the information *to* HIM and ME
4. John is *with* HER (not she)
5. Give it *to* HIM (not he)

6. Give the book *to* ME (NOT I)

John and I (not John and me) are going to the movies (John and I come before any preposition (s) and that is why the correct form is as indicated).

In summary, if a pronoun (I, he, she) follows (comes after) a preposition, then the correct form is always “me, him or her”, as indicated in the above examples.

So when do we use the pronouns I, HE or SHE? Again, there is a simple rule for this. If the above pronouns come BEFORE a preposition, then it is correct to use the forms I, HE or SHE, as in the examples below. Prepositions are *asterisked*:

1. John and I went *to* the movies
   2. He and she have been friends *for* years
   3. Linda and I (not me) had lunch *on* the beach

YOU MAY SKIP THIS PART

For those who may have a deeper interest in how grammatical rules drive both the spoken and written word, here is a bit more for you. I know you are chomping at the bit to hear it!

The original rules of grammar that pertain to the use of pronouns actually come from Greek and Latin, and refer to pronouns that are either the SUBJECT or the OBJECT of a sentence (and their most common respective forms in Greek and Latin which include mostly the Nominative, Dative and Accusative cases). For example, “Christine and I went to the beach”. In this example Christine and I are the subject of this sentence and that’s why Christine and I (not me) is the correct form. In Latin or Greek this form indicates the Nominative case.

In this next example, “James gave the book to John and me”, James is the subject of the sentence, and John and me are the object (the Dative case). Therefore, John and me is the correct form.

In the original Latin or Greek this distinction was indicated by changing either the ending of the pronouns or by introducing a different word.  Since English does not possess this facility, we accomplish the same thing by using different forms of a pronoun. That is “I or Me, He or Him, and She or Her”. Also we use prepositions to determine whether the pronoun in question is the subject or the object of a sentence, and, that is how we know when to say “I or Me, He or Him and She or Her”, and so on. The use of prepositions in English is actually a very simple way of capturing subjects and objects in a sentence while still adhering to the original grammatical rules from Greek and Latin.

The ability to write and speak correctly, eloquently or persuasively is the mark of a well educated person and, this being so, then the word can indeed be “mightier than the sword”!