PRONOUN CASE
Pronouns change depending on their placement in a sentence. When pronouns appear in the subject position of a sentence or clause, they are called nominative. When they appear in the object position of a sentence or clause, they are called objective. Determining which pronoun to use in a sentence can be difficult. For example in the following sentence, which pronoun is correct?
James and (I, me) took the course together.
The correct pronoun is I because James and I are the subjects of the sentence, so the nominative case is used. Which is correct in the following sentence?
Dena went to the concert with Nancy and (I, me).
The correct pronoun is me because Nancy and me are the direct objects in the sentence, so the objective case is used.
A very simple way to determine the correct pronoun case is to remove the other person or persons from the sentence and say it the way you normally would. For example, take James out of the first sentence and say the sentence the way you normally would: I took the course. In other words, you would know not to say Me took the course. Then you can add James back into the sentence. It works with the second sentence as well: Dena went to the concert with me. You would not normally say Dena went to the concert with I. Now add Nancyback in: Dena went to the concert with Nancy and me.
Every writer sometimes wonders whether to use who or whom:
(Who, Whom) will you hire?
Because this sentence is a question, it’s difficult to see that whom is the object of the verb hire. You can figure out which pronoun to use if you rearrange the question and temporarily try she and her in place of who and whom: Will you hire she? or Will you hire her? Her and whom are both objective pronouns, so the correct choice is Whom will you hire?