"It was her" or "It was she"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello, I am confused about saying “It was her” or “It was she” in theft sentences.
Can you tell me which is right?

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2

I think both are acceptable with the object pronoun being the more popular version. By the way, you probably mean “cleft sentences” rather than theft sentences.

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3

As a rule, in cleft sentences, the subjective case (She, I, they etc) is used. However, there is a growing tendency to use the objective case as in It’s me, which is informal and recognized in spoken grammar.

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4

In my experience, @Anglophile’s “growing tendency” is actually full grown and “It was she” would definitely be an exceptional case. To me it sounds like an affectation.

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5

People say “It was her”.

I agree with Arinker that its fully grown. If I’ve ever heard anyone say “it was she” I don’t remember it.

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