We/us?

Question

In sentences that are structured like "As we Christians do ......, some others are.....",is the subject supposed to be referred to by "we" or "us"?How do I tell? What's the logic?Thank you.

SS · Accepted Answer

As you are talking about your community, "We Christians" makes perfect sense. -SS

Cool Breeze · Answer

We is the subject. You have to say we do, not us do. Christians has no bearing on the choice.

CB

Regards · Answer

Hi,

chivalry"As we Christians do..."

Use we. You can't say "us do", can you?

Regards

Anonymous · Answer

Hello, Chivalry:

"We love this English grammar helpline."

(a ) "We" is the subject.

(b) If someone asked you whom "we" referred to, you might say: We students love this English grammar helpline."

(i ) Many books consider "students" to be an appositive (that is, it renames and explains further the rather wide word "we").

(ii) Here in the United States, our constitution begins with these words:

"We the people of the United States, ... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

HAVE A NICE DAY!

Chivalry · Answer

James MHello, Chivalry:"We love this English grammar helpline."(a ) "We" is the subject.(b) If someone asked you whom "we" referred to, you might say: We students love this English grammar helpline."(i ) Many books consider "students" to be an appositive (that is, it renames and explains further the rather wide word "we").(ii) Here in the United States, our constitution begins with these words:"We the people of the United States, ... do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."HAVE A NICE DAY!

Thank you, James.
Then this line from the movie "Transformers" must be worng?
"Us guys must stick together"?
That's how it got me confused, before I thought I was right about the use of subjective, thank you for clearing that up, though.

BillJ · Answer

chivalryIn sentences that are structured like "As we Christians do ......, some others are.....",is the subject supposed to be referred to by "we" or "us"?How do I tell? What's the logic?

The subject is the noun phrase "we Christians", headed by the noun "Christians", with "we" as a personal determiner that serves to mark the NP as definite. It's the personal determinative counterpart of the 1st person plural pronoun "we" that we have in "We are going to church" where "we" denotes a group of people containing the speaker.

The other personal determinative is "you", as in "You students should form a society". But there is no personal determiner "us", so that's why "we Christians" is the correct subject in your example.

Neverthless, you will find variation: nominative "we" is the norm, as I said, but you will come across accusative "us" in very colloquial speech, and in some dialects, cf. "Us kids don't like him because he is different".

BillJ

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