It is I who....It is You who...

Question

Dear All, &gt;  &gt; 1)?It is *** who *** you cry. &gt; 2) It is *** who *** you cry. &gt; 3) It is *** who *** you cry. &gt; 4) It is *** who *** you cry. &gt; 5) It is *** who *** me cry. &gt; 6) It is *** who *** me cry. &gt;  &gt; Which of the above are grammatically correct or, though incorrect &gt; are informally acceptable?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Correct:
It is I who make you cry.
It is you who make ...
It is he who makes ...
...

Informally, I wouldn't use any of them, choosing in preference this turn of phrase:

I'm the one who makes you cry.
You're the one who makes me cry.
He's the one who makes her cry.

...

Pemmican · Answer

>> Correct:
It is I who make you cry.
It is you who make ...

Nope, these examples are not correct, it has to be:

It is I who makes you cry,
It is you who makes me cry.

The 3rd person singular -s is needed as the verb has to agree with the pronoun "who" which refers back to "it" in the beginning of the sentence. It does NOT have to agree with the personal pronoun mentioned within the sentences.

CalifJim · Answer

Thanks for the correction.

(Studying too much French! - They do it the other way!)

In the meantime, as long as we're on it, wouldn't the "who" refer back to the personal pronoun rather than to the "it"?

Also, did you mean "It does NOT have to agree" (implying it can if you want), or did you mean "It does NOT agree with ... , but with "who")?

Another question: Can "who" be regarded as either singular or plural in this construction? That is, if only singular, we would have to say:

"It is they who makes me cry." I wouldn't generate that in a million years!!! But this goes back to the idea that ultimately the reference is to "it" which IS always singular.

Confused.

CalifJim · Answer

I got to thinking I could answer my own questions by browsing the Internet.
With the help of Google, I concluded that there really isn't an answer that everyone agrees on when it comes to this construction.

From: http://www.yaelf.com/aueFAQ/mifitsmevsiti.shtml

The final factor is the traditional use of Latin grammatical concepts to teach English grammar. This historical quirk dates to the 17th century, and has never quite left us. From this we get the Latin-derived rule, which Fowler still acknowledges. And we *** follow that rule to some extent:

"Who are they?" (not "Who are them?" or "Whom are they?")
"We are they!" (in response to the preceding)
"It is I who am at fault."
"That's the man who he is."

But not always. "It is me" is attested since the 16th Century. (Speakers who would substitute "me" for "I" in the "It is I who am at fault" example would also sacrifice the agreement of person, and substitute "is" for "am" [resulting in "It is me who is at fault"].

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From: http://grammar.uoregon.edu/case/nomcase.html

It is I who have allergies.
- IT is the subject of the independent clause. I is the predicate nominative to IT. WHO is the subject of the final dependent clause.

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From these excerpts I conclude that "It is I who am ..." is the more conservative form, "...I who is ..." being more modern.
Actual usage - from my Internet sample - whether right or wrong, varies between "It is I who have/am" and "It is I who has/is".

I wasn't interested enough in doing a count! I leave that to the reader! It seemed about 50-50, actually.

Miriam · Answer

Hello all

The sentences posted by Kurtlau are "cleft sentences". In these sentences, a relative pronoun subject ("who" in this case) is usually followed by a verb in agreement with its antecedent ("I" in the first sentence):
"It is I who make you cry."

However, there is a more "informal" version, in which 3rd. person concord prevails when an objective pronoun is used:
"It is me who makes you cry."

Miriam

Pemmican · Answer

"It is I who make you cry."

What?? I can't believe this sentence is correct, where did you find that, Miriam??

Miriam · Answer

aww... don't get mad at me, Pem?

I think that's from Quirk's "A Grammar of Contemporary English". I don't remember now where else I've read that.

It makes sense to me. Suppose we get rid of the "cleft", then we will simply have: "I make you cry".

Or, as is the case here, youmake me cry!

Miriam

Pemmican · Answer

I'm not mad at you, Miriam

I'm just surprised as for me, the form without the -s doesn't seem to be right.
But - I'm not a native English speaker, so I'm not really concerned with all the specialities within the English language. ***

It is I who....It is You who...

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