There are three cases for pronouns in the English language, namely nominative, accusative and genitive. While the genitive form, which denotes ownership (e.g. my, your, his, its, your), is generally well-understood, the other two are usually fodder for frequent mistakes.
The nominative case is used for the subject of a finite verb and is employed when referring to the person who is performing the action (e.g. I, you, they, who, he, she, it, we). As such, you say “He walked the dog this morning” and “I ate the remaining piece of cake.” It is also employed with the verbs “to be,” “to feel,” and “to seem,” as in “It is I who ate that piece of cake.” Do note that modern usage is a bit more loose, basically letting transgresses like “It is me who ate that piece of cake” slide by. Technically, though, that is the wrong case to employ and will be flagged so by your English grammar software.
The accusative case, on the other hand, is used to refer to the direct or indirect object of a verb (e.g. me, you, them, us, whom, him, her). In such instances, you write that “I owe him money” and “Send the money to them.” It is also similarly employed for the object of a preposition, as in “That money is from her and me.”
Tags: pronoun cases, pronouns, using pronouns
