Re: Who or Whom?

[Miles Kimball <miles -dot- kimball -at- MURRAYSTATE -dot- EDU>]

Dear John and Vanessa--

The case of "he" in "It was he at the store" derives from the fact that
"he" is a subject correlative to "It"--just a replacement, in other words,
for the subject. And since words that replace subjects are in subjective
case, you should always answer the question "Who is it?" with "It is I"--if
you can live with being thought pompous. 8-)

Don't you just love grammar?

Miles Kimball

At 01:53 PM 2/11/98 -0800, you wrote:
> ----------
>From: Vanessa Weibler
>
>Call me crazy-- but shouldn't it be "it was HE at the store"?  Which
>would
>make it "it was who at the store" (if I even could find a context for
>that
>phrase)?
>Any other thoughts out there?
> ----------------
>
>Dear Crazy,
>
>It was indeed he.  The correct form of the pronoun would be clearer by
>expanding the sentence to include that which is understood.  It was he
>[who was] at the store.
>
>
>Regards,
>
>John Wilcox, Documentation Specialist
>Timberlands Information Services, Application Delivery Group
>Weyerhaeuser, WWC 2E2, Box 2999
>Tacoma, WA 98477-2999 USA
>253-924-7972  mailto:wilcoxj -at- wdni -dot- com
>(I don't speak for Weyerhaeuser, and they return the favor.)
>
>
>
>
Miles A. Kimball
Asst. Prof. of English
Murray State University
miles -dot- kimball -at- murraystate -dot- edu