[lit-ideas] Re: Anonymity and revelation...
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:44:46 -0500
Most people hyper correct in the opposite direction, as in "Give it to he"
when clearly it should be give it to him. I think the reasoning is that
because it sounds wrong, it's right.
> [Original Message]
> From: Robert Paul <robert.paul@xxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 1/29/2006 10:41:35 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Anonymity and revelation...
>
> Ursula Stange wrote:
>
> > If you write, "I confess, it was...(him or he?)
> > I was taught (but not by nuns) that if 'him' would be correct, then
'me'
> > is correct.
>
> Right. The question is, is 'him' correct?
>
> > If 'he' is correct, then "I' would be correct.
> > If you're pointing across the school yard fingering an accomplice,
> > wouldn't you say, "It was him"?
> > If yes, then "It was me" would also be correct, no?
>
> 'The interrogative who is often used for whom, as, Who did you see? A
> distinction should here be made between conversation, written or spoken,
> and formal writing. Many educated people feel that in saying It is I,
> Whom do you mean? instead of It's me, Who do you mean? they will be
> talking like a book, and they justifiably prefer geniality to grammar.
> But in print, unless it is dialogue, the correct forms are advisable.'
>
> [H. W. Fowler, The King's English, 1908]
>
> http://www.bartleby.com/116/201.html
>
> Robert Paul
> talking like a book at
> Reed College
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