34a Consider a pronoun’s role in the sentence.
Most speakers of English know intuitively when to use I, me, and my. Our choices reflect differences in case, the form a pronoun takes to indicate how it acts in a sentence. Pronouns acting as subjects are in the subjective case (I); those acting as objects are in the objective case (me); those acting as possessives are in the possessive case (my).
| SUBJECTIVE PRONOUNS | OBJECTIVE PRONOUNS | POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS |
| I | me | my/mine |
| we | us | our/ours |
| you | you | your/yours |
| he/she/it | him/her/it | his/her/hers/its |
| they | them | their/theirs |
| who/whoever | whom/whomever | whose |
Subjective case
A pronoun should be in the subjective case (I, we, you, he/she/it, they, who, whoever) when it is a subject, a subject complement, or an appositive renaming a subject or subject complement.
SUBJECT
She was passionate about recycling.
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
The main supporter of the recycling program was she.
APPOSITIVE RENAMING A SUBJECT OR SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
Three colleagues—Peter, John, and she—worked on the program.
Americans routinely use the objective case for subject complements, especially in conversation: Who’s there? It’s me. If the subjective case for a subject complement sounds stilted or awkward (It’s I), try rewriting the sentence using the pronoun as the subject (I’m here).
Objective case
Use the objective case (me, us, you, him/her/it, them) when a pronoun functions as a direct or indirect object, an object of a preposition, an appositive renaming an object, or a subject of an infinitive.
DIRECT OBJECT
The boss surprised her with a big raise.
INDIRECT OBJECT
The owner gave him a reward.
OBJECT OF A PREPOSITION
Several friends went with me.
APPOSITIVE RENAMING AN OBJECT
The students elected two representatives, Joan and me.
SUBJECT OF AN INFINITIVE
The students convinced him to vote for the school bond.
Possessive case
Use the possessive case when a pronoun shows possession or ownership. The adjective forms of possessive pronouns (my, our, your, his/her/its, their, whose) are used before nouns or gerunds, and noun forms (mine, ours, yours, his/hers/its, theirs, whose) take the place of a possessive noun. Possessive pronouns do not include apostrophes (42a).
BEFORE A NOUN
The sound of her voice came right through the walls.
IN PLACE OF A POSSESSIVE NOUN
The responsibility is hers.
Pronouns before a gerund should be in the possessive case.
His modifies the gerund singing.