Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and I’m here to talk about the difference between the objective and the subjective cases.
In English, this typically applies to pronouns, like he, she, it, they, and so on. The subjective case of pronouns means that these pronouns are doing the action of the verb. I is a subjective pronoun in the sentence I am, I eat, I sit, and so on. The objective case of pronouns means that these pronouns are receiving the action of the verb. He asked me, where me is objective.
People mix up the objective and subjective cases all the time, especially in sentences like: I’m going to the grocery store with Emma and him. For some reason, that pronoun after the “and” seems to confuse everyone. When in doubt, remove the “and” and the other noun and see which pronoun sounds correct. Usually—though not always—the correct answer is the objective case, as in me, her, him, and them.
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