When I see him/Tom

LiveinjapanTom was drunk when I saw him.

I know it's okay.

When I saw him, Tom was drunk. (I would never say this. It is not right to introduce a pronoun before the noun)


When I saw Tom, he was drunk.

Which is better? Is one of them wrong?

Thanks
LiJ

Hi,

When I saw him, Tom was drunk. A potential problem here is that it leaves open the possibility that we are talking about two men rather than just Tom..

eg I saw Paul at the party last night. When I saw him (referring to Paul), Tom was drunk. For that reason, I couldn't introduce Paul to Tom.

Clive

Thank you teachers.

I understand.

Khoff"Did anyone see Tom drinking on the night of the accident?"

"When I saw him, Tom was already drunk."

Hi,

I thought of such a scenario too. However, wouldn't it be more natural to say, "When I saw him, he was already drunk"? The use of both pronouns seems

As a literary trick, though, I think putting the pronoun first might be a possibility. I can imagine a book or short story beginning something like, "When I first met him, Tom Johnson was just about as drunk as it is possible for a healthy young man to be." It would certainly be clearer with the antecedent first, of course.