If you were I, …
If you were me, …
If I were him, …
If I were he, …
Hello,
Would you please be nice enough to tell me which one is grammatically correct?
I don’t have any sources
Thank you
If you were me.
If you were him.
Me and him are object pronouns.
In everyday conversation like the above it is quite acceptable to use the pronoun as an object even though the verb is ‘be’. That’s why when you ask: Who’s that? I would usually say: It’s me. Rather than it is I.
Alan/Beeesneees,
- It is they who have to apologize.
- It is them who have to apologize.
Which one is correct? Thanks.
Because the subject ‘they’ has now been extended with a relative pronoun ‘who’ you would have to continue with the pronoun ‘they’ and not the object form ‘them’.
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Hello, Sb:
You have already received the answer. You should definitely follow the advice that has been given to you. That is, indeed, how people speak in 2014.
I just wanted to share some personal thoughts.
I am a very old man. So I still follow the rule.
So I personally would say and write:
“If you were I, you would understand why I feel that way.”
“To be” is a linking verb. It is like an equals mark ( = ). Both sides should be the same.
“You” is the so-called nominative form (because it is the subject). So the other side should be the nominative form, too. That is: “I.”
(As you know, “me” is the objective form. When you use the linking verb “to be,” there is no object. It is called the subject(ive) complement.)
James knocks on Mona’s door.
Mona: Who is it?
James: It is I. [“It” = “I”; “I” = “It”]
(Almost everyone today would say “It is me.”)
James
Thank you.
I do agree with you, James.
In a cleft sentence when the objective case appears, it is set as a question for correction. For instance: It was me who had solved the riddle first. And the students invariably change it into ‘It was I …’
Nevertheless, in spoken contexts many (though not ‘almost everyone’, at least here) use the object form.