- It was he . . . It was him [duplicate] - English Language Usage Stack . . .
It was he who messed up everything It was him who messed up everything What is the difference between these two sentences?
- contractions - Does hes mean both he is and he has? - English . . .
@mplungjan: But "he's an apple" can be mistaken for "he is an apple", while "he has an apple" might be intended This rule doesn't work generally, therefore it can hardly be called a rule
- How do you make the possessive form with He and I-style subjects?
That is, you and I, he and I, Billy, Joe, and I can all use the pronoun our in order to describe the possessive If you want to form the more complex possessive to show joint ownership, this site explains: When a sentence indicates joint ownership in a compound construction, the possessive form is attached only to the second noun:
- What is he? vs Who is he? - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
What is he? -- Does the question refer to what he is doing for a living? Who is he? -- Does it refer to his name? For example, he is Peter
- Will be doing vs. will do - English Language Usage Stack Exchange
Note that the common African-American dialect has a version of be that works just like this pair for present tense ("he be eating cakes" vs "he is eating cakes") The two forms have the same distinction you mention I just love that construction, but sadly can't use it when speaking outside that community
- differences - the one who is vs. he who is - English Language . . .
He who is very archaic and shouldn't be used; it occurs most often in oracular pronouncements and proverbs The one who is less formal, but still not as normal as using somebody who, a person who, or someone who
- When do we use “had had” and “have had”? [duplicate]
When he was kidnapped in 1980, he did not panic because we know that in 1980 he had {had the experience} of being kidnapped before 1980 Therefore the difference is in saying,
- grammaticality - Whether or not vs. whether - English Language . . .
As Henry Higgins observed in Pygmallion, the best grammarians are often those who learned English in school as immigrants My parents, who were first-generation Americans in the early 20th century, learned English grammar in NYC public schools meticulously They insisted "whether or not" is proper usage, period Over time, language evolves or erodes and the rules change, which really means
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