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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
Proper case of pronoun in substantive clause
Hello friends,
Which is the correct pronoun case for the following:
"The credit goes to him who wrote the script" OR "The credit goes to he who who wrote the script" ?
As I see it, it can be argued either way. A) "him" is object of the preposition "to", and "who-wrote-the-script" is a modifying clause; or B) "he-who-wrote-the-script" is a substantive clause, the object of preposition "to", and "he" is the subject of the clause (thus nominative case).
I've wondered about this for years, and it just came up in an actual usage.
Thanks for your views.
Bill von Valtier
Rochester, Michigan
Which is the correct pronoun case for the following:
"The credit goes to him who wrote the script" OR "The credit goes to he who who wrote the script" ?
As I see it, it can be argued either way. A) "him" is object of the preposition "to", and "who-wrote-the-script" is a modifying clause; or B) "he-who-wrote-the-script" is a substantive clause, the object of preposition "to", and "he" is the subject of the clause (thus nominative case).
I've wondered about this for years, and it just came up in an actual usage.
Thanks for your views.
Bill von Valtier
Rochester, Michigan
Top answer
You can argue it either way, but the majority says at this time that A) is the correct (or at least the predominant) interpretation. IMO, this is caused by to forcing him, either way you look at it. I mean, you can read to him -who-wrote-the-script , even in the interpretation given at B.
- You can argue it either way, but the majority says at this time that A) is the correct (or at least the predominant) interpretation.
- IMO, this is caused by to forcing him, either way you look at it.
- I mean, you can read to him -who-wrote-the-script , even in the interpretation given at B.
- query=%22to+he+who%22+&srchst=nyt Click on the links to see the related examples they have at their site.
- The same statistics bear on British sites.
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4 Answers
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You can argue it either way, but the majority says at this time that A) is the correct (or at least the predominant) interpretation.
IMO, this is caused by to forcing him, either way you look at it.
I mean, you can read to him-who-wrote-the-script , even in the interpretation given at B.
At the New York Times, a good indicator on
IMO, this is caused by to forcing him, either way you look at it.
I mean, you can read to him-who-wrote-the-script , even in the interpretation given at B.
At the New York Times, a good indicator on
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0 Can it be: 01 i 00 The credit goes to the one who wrote the script. 02 i 0-
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If you go to the New York Times site, you will find that the "him who" clauses are usually adjectival not substantive. The limits of search technology perhaps?
KAM
KAM
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Great question. As one poster said, you could write: The credit goes to the one who wrote the script. But "the one" would still be parsed as the object of the preposition. However, you could say: The credit goes to WHOever ( = anyone who) wrote the script. In this case, WHOever is the subject of "wrote." Some people might incorrectly write WHOMever.
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