Column Two

A (Pronoun) Case in Point


“Bobby and her did what Helen and her wanted their to do.”


“Sharon and him go to school with he and I.”


“Carl and Gregory did it theirselves.”


“Give this to whomever likes history books.”


There are plenty of problems in the sentences above. All of them have to do with the proper usage of pronouns. We can do either of two things to check to make sure we are using pronouns correctly: first, learn all the different case forms of the pronouns; and second, separate the pronoun in a compound subject/object from the noun, so you can see what sounds right.


Using the first method, one should learn the objective, subjective, and possessive case forms for common pronouns. For example, “I” and “we” are subjective case pronouns, singular and plural, respectively. “He” and “she” are subjective. As the name implies, the subjective case is used in place of a subject in a sentence or clause. Take extra care to ensure that you use the pronoun “who, whom” correctly. “Who” is in the subjective case, while “whom” is objective. Again as the name implies, a pronoun in the objective case is used as an object of the preposition, a direct object, or an indirect object. When “who, whom” is used, it is generally in a clause, as in the fourth sentence listed above. However, to determine the correct case for a clause, you have to consider the clause as a sentence of its own, with its own subject and verb. The possessive case is used to show possession, and is generally not confused in writing.


Using the second method to check for correct pronoun usage, you simply separate the “her” from the “Bobby” (in the first sentence), and see what it sounds like: “Her did what Helen and her wanted their to do”? If you do the same thing to the compound subject of the clause introduced by “what,” you will come up with “Her did what her wanted their to do.” There are some obvious problems with this sentence. “Her” will be readily recognized as an objective case pronoun; however, this pronoun is being used as a subject, and should be in the subjective case. The proper form is “she.” Once again, remember that the words in a clause must be considered as a separate grammatical unit to check for proper case usage. “Her wanted their to do” isn’t quite right. If you will notice, “her” should be “she” in this instance as well. “Their” is also improper in its context—it is possessive, and should be subjective (the subject of the infinitive phrase).


As a final note on pronoun cases, “theirselves” is not a word. The proper form is “themselves.”


These are the correctly stated sentences. Review them to help you understand the proper usage of pronoun cases.

“Bobby and she did what Helen and she wanted them to do.”

“Sharon and He go to school with him and me.”

“Carl and Gregory did it themselves.”

“Give this to whoever likes history books.”

The Grammarian