Q1: Who told you about it?
A1: It was I. A2: It was me.
Q2: Who called David?
A1: It was he. A2: It was him.
Q3: Who cares?
A1: It is we. A2: It is us.
Which answers are correct?
It was me - ‘me’ is the object pronoun.
It was him - ‘him’ is the object pronoun/
It is us - ‘us’ is the object pronoun (though this response is not the most natural form to the question. Usually it would be phrased :“We do”)
Hi Allifathima,
The verb ‘to be’ cannot usually take an object and ‘me’ ‘him’ and ‘us’ are all in the objective case. After this verb we have what is called a subject complement - the pronouns ‘I’ ‘he’ and ‘we’ are all in the subjective form and in this sentence: It is I, the pronoun ‘I’ refers back to ‘it’. That’s the technical explanation but in ordinary conversation we use the object forms and say: It is me/him/us. If we say: It is I in response to: Who’s there?, that sounds very formal and is regarded as extremely pedantic and in a sense laughable. To overcome this situation, we use other methods and use our own name rather than say: It is I. So we have this form:
Question: Who’s there?
Answer: It’s Allifathima.
Alan
- Is it I you were looking for?
- Is It me you were looking for?
Which one is correct here?
‘Me’ is the object of ‘looking for’ and that’s what is needed here.
Alan,
Is this sentence correct?
“It was her who called you.”
Hi, Beeesneees, Alan
I remembered reading some grammar books , It mentioned that “It is I” is correct in grammar strictly, while “It’s me” is not.
However “It’s me” is acceptable in daily speaking and writing. “It is I” only appears in very formal speech.
What’s your opinion, Beeesneees and Alan ?
For this sentence, “It was her who called you.” I think “It was she who called you” will make more sense.
Hi everybody,
Who is someone at the door or there is somebody at the door?
Alan:
It was subject complement as you said in your earlier.
Wats the difference between a complement and object?
Who is at the door?
Is someone at the door?
Is there somebody at the door?
Is there someone at the door?
Is somebody at the door?
Beeesneees,
Could you please confirm which is correct?
- “It was her who called you.”
- “It was she who called you.”
Mr. Cheng,
Your showing site is nice for me other using. In addition, when you only say linking verbs
it makes us confusion. We should also say–auxiliary, copulative verbs etc.
What I understand, no single grammar book is enough if you want to know perfectly.
This problem is most clearly cited here:
Better English by Norman Lewis(American Writer).
However, if you need to know which books I follow generally, pls. see here: