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Innertide Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

her/she?

Hi, the other day, I was asked to answer the question below, even though I knew the right answer I couldn't come up with a grammatical explanation, would you please enlighten me on this matter ?

Was it her/she you were talking about ?

thanks in advance. 
  

Top answer

In fact, both are in common use, with 'she' sounding more formal. talking about her ') and only secondarily to the main clause ('it was she ').

— Mister Micawber

  • In fact, both are in common use, with 'she' sounding more formal.
  • talking about her ') and only secondarily to the main clause ('it was she ').
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4 Answers
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In fact, both are in common use, with 'she' sounding more formal. By tradition, the pronoun belongs primarily to the subordinate clause it heads ('...talking about her') and only secondarily to the main clause ('it was she').
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thank you sir.
according to Michael Swan (and also plugging the omitted relative pronoun back in the sentence) :

when a relative clause comes after an expression there are two possibilities :

It's me that needs your help. (Very Informal)
It was he who told the police. (Very Formal)

However , he states that we can avoid being too formal or too inform
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Was she the person you were talking about?

Yes, that is a good escape.
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innertideI couldn't come up with a grammatical explanation
I’d say both her and she are correct because the pronoun functions as subject complement, while the true object of the preposition about is who(m), which is implied.
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