More Object Pronoun Confusion, Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel

Hal Fishman: "...a 45-year news veteran, first joined KTLA/CW in Los Angeles in 1965, and has anchored the station's # 1-rated "KTLA Prime News" continuously since 1975."

You'd think with credentials like these, Mr. Fishman would not have said in prefacing a nightly commentary, this one concerning the Pope:

"And finally...commentary tonight between the Pope and I."

Should have said, "...between the Pope and me." In this case, the "case" of the object of a preposition, it should be all about me.

Bending Beckham's Pronouns, More Pronoun Infractions by Journalists

Entertainment Television, also known as E Television, presents a feature each night dishing out to the starving masses the latest gossip and news surrounding the well-pronounced American celebrity culture. In one segment called The Daily 10, Debbie Matenopoulos, one of the show's three vibrant hosts, commented on soccer player David Beckham's supposed gratitude for a bash given for Beckham and his glamorous wife, known as Posh. Matenopoulos, who holds a degree in journalism from NYU, quoted the dashing soccer player in paraphrase:

"Thank you for throwing a little party for he and Posh" Matenopoulos had him saying.

Could Beckham have actually said in gratitude, had he said anything: "Thank you for throwing a little party for I and Posh?" He well might have. Nevertheless, he would have been wrong as was Matenopoulos in her paraphrase. Even in paraphrase object pronouns have their place. As we have seen before, even indirect object pronouns are required to be in the objective case. Therefore, the correct form: Thank you for throwing a little party for me and Posh. "Party" is the direct object, "me" and "her" (Posh) serve as indirect objects.

Pronoun Confusion on MSNBC's "Countdown"

Yesterday on MSNBC's Countdown, Keith Olbermann's guest host reported the termination of the marriage of a Hollywood couple. Referring to the wife, the guest host said:

She dissolved her marriage to he. Once more, we have an otherwise articulate media person ignoring the virtue, if not the grammatical necessity of the object pronoun. She should have said: She dissolved her marriage to him, "him" serving as the indirect object of dissolve.

Later, in the broadcast, Mr. Olbermann, otherwise a media man who epitomizes good use of the language, also stepped into the pronoun trap when he said in a recorded promotion of a future broadcast:

It is Hillary Clinton and us instead of expressing correctly:

It is Hillary Clinton and we.

Here, Mr. Olbermann chose the object pronoun over the subject pronoun, the correct choice after a linking verb. Linking verbs of the "to be" variety: am, are, is, was, were... have the responsibility of putting together words of equal grammatical rank. Thus, if Senator Clinton is a subject, and a pronoun is linked back to her, that pronoun must be put in the subjective case. "Case" indicates how nouns or pronouns function: subject, object (of some variety), possessor.

Personal Pronouns and Objects of Prepositions

Recently, Bree Walker, a former newscaster in Los Angeles, was being interviewed on radio. No longer in the television business, Ms. Walker involves herself in public awareness projects on a variety of subjects, particularly those surrounding disabilities. Asked how she chooses her projects, she responded, "The project chooses me instead of I it."

Ms. Walker should have used the objective case pronoun me in place of I because the pronoun follows a prepositional phrase commanding an object pronoun. Elliptically (inserting words not spoken but perhaps thought), Ms. Walker was probably thinking something like: I choose my projects." One could offer an argument that the entire, elliptical clause "I (choosing) it" serves as the object of the preposition, and operating within the clause is the subject pronoun I, but this would be a stretch in grammatical terms.

When it comes to inflecting pronouns for an ordained case, and particularly in English, the ear may become confused. As we have seen, such exalted types as Kobe Bryant and Prince William can't trust their ears on occasion either.

The rules are clear, and modern English, a language emphasizing vocabulary and syntax, still remains true to certain rules of more inflected languages. Therefore, those who can trust their ears and would have Ms. Walker say, "The project chooses me instead of me it" are correct. The prepositional phrase commands the use of the objective case pronoun following it. Any thought of the whole clause acting as object with the subjective case "I" in that object clause matters not. You might say, the ears have it, not the I's, at least for those who know the rules.

Prince William Joins Kobe

At a recent tribute to his late mother Princess Diana, Prince William graciously spoke to all those contributing to the success of the event. "It remains for Harry and I to...thank you...." he said with a charm reminding you of his mother's own appeal.

William's problem stems from using the subject pronoun "I" after the preposition "for." Pronouns following prepositions should be objective case pronouns. William should have used "me."

It remains for Harry and me to thank you.

It is easy to see where William went wrong. He was thinking, Harry and I want to thank you which is grammatically correct because no preposition lies in wait. Both Kobe and William may be forgiven for misspeaking; difficult to edit yourself while talking. We are hopeful these two celebrated individuals make no similar mistakes while writing.