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Old Eladio Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
It’s me and It’s them
Please, consider this:
A house. Two persons in the house. Paul is knocking the door.
Who is it? (A person sitting in the hall asks)
It’s Paul. (Another person opening the door answered in that way, because it was Paul, who was knocking the door)
It’s me. (Could have answered Paul if he had been known at that house)
Now a doubt:
A house. Two persons in the house. Paul and Jenny are knocking the door.
Who is it? (A person sitting in the hall asks)
(Another person opening the door answers): It’s Paul and Jenny. (Is it correct to answer that way?) Can I use “It” for the plural?) Could this person answer? “It’s them”. Could either Paul or Jenny have answered: It’s us?
In a similar way, by referring to people, can I say: That’s him. That’s them. Or have I to say: Those are them. (Imagine they are far from me but I can see them)
Why not That’s he. That’s they. Those are they.
Eladio, with some doubts today. Sorry. Thank you in advance.
A house. Two persons in the house. Paul is knocking the door.
Who is it? (A person sitting in the hall asks)
It’s Paul. (Another person opening the door answered in that way, because it was Paul, who was knocking the door)
It’s me. (Could have answered Paul if he had been known at that house)
Now a doubt:
A house. Two persons in the house. Paul and Jenny are knocking the door.
Who is it? (A person sitting in the hall asks)
(Another person opening the door answers): It’s Paul and Jenny. (Is it correct to answer that way?) Can I use “It” for the plural?) Could this person answer? “It’s them”. Could either Paul or Jenny have answered: It’s us?
In a similar way, by referring to people, can I say: That’s him. That’s them. Or have I to say: Those are them. (Imagine they are far from me but I can see them)
Why not That’s he. That’s they. Those are they.
Eladio, with some doubts today. Sorry. Thank you in advance.
Top answer
"It's me" is correct idiomatic English, but it's not grammatically correct. Correct grammar would dictate "It is I" -- but it would sound comically pretentious to answer this way.... I've only heard it as a joke.
- "It's me" is correct idiomatic English, but it's not grammatically correct.
- Correct grammar would dictate "It is I" -- but it would sound comically pretentious to answer this way....
- I've only heard it as a joke.
- Again, "It's Paul and Jenny" or "It's us" would be the normal, idiomatic way to answer, but "It's us" is, techinically, grammatically incorrect.
- I am not sure about the grammatical correctness of "It's Paul and Jenny," but it is certainly the way most people would answer.
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2 Answers
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"It's me" is correct idiomatic English, but it's not grammatically correct. Correct grammar would dictate "It is I" -- but it would sound comically pretentious to answer this way.... I've only heard it as a joke.
Again, "It's Paul and Jenny" or "It's us" would be the normal, idiomatic way to answer, but "It's us" is, techinically, grammatically incorrect. I am not sure about the
Again, "It's Paul and Jenny" or "It's us" would be the normal, idiomatic way to answer, but "It's us" is, techinically, grammatically incorrect. I am not sure about the
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GamingMouse - nice handle - perfectly describes the problem. What sounds right and it used idiomatically isn't technically right. Just today I was joking with my boss (we're both professional writers) and I said "Oh, look. This is them. Wait - this is they. Wait - um... here they are!" We realized there's no way to be both grammatical and not sound like an ***.
Technically, the verb "to
Technically, the verb "to
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