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Would you use him or he in the following sentence?

It is fun to be him/he.

A teacher told me that you use the object form after the infinitive of to be. Is this true?

I am a native English speaker, but I am trying to figure out what the SAT wants me to think people should speak like.

herisson
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okarin
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    Traditionally, he would be used. In most modern contexts, however, him is far more common. – Anonym Jul 09 '14 at 01:01
  • but, grammatically speaking, why did my teacher say that him is correct? I asked about the grammar, and mentioned that to be always takes the subject case, but he still said it is him. @Anonym – okarin Jul 09 '14 at 01:05
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    In modern English, any non-possessive personal pronoun that is the object of a verb, or of a preposition, or comes after a verb, is objective (me, you, him, her, it, us, them). Anything else is a joke, or non-native speech. – John Lawler Jul 09 '14 at 02:32
  • @JohnLawler This is not true though... You would say it is I and not it is me. – okarin Jul 09 '14 at 02:49
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    I would say "It's me". "It is I" is, as I said, a joke. – John Lawler Jul 09 '14 at 02:51
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    Excuse me? I don't think I understand... @JohnLawler – okarin Jul 09 '14 at 02:51
  • Deinde ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis. As I said, native English speakers do not say "It is I", at least not without a grin. We say, when we need to, "It's me". Which isn't very often, after all, because the sentence means nothing at all (who else could it be?) and only serves to allow the listener to recognize the voice. – John Lawler Jul 09 '14 at 02:52
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    @JohnLawler Don't know Latin. – okarin Jul 09 '14 at 02:53
  • It means you're excused. – John Lawler Jul 09 '14 at 02:54
  • @JohnLawler I am a native English speaker, but I am trying to figure out what the SAT wants me to think people should speak like. – okarin Jul 09 '14 at 02:57
  • Can't help you there, sorry. Those things are not made up to test your knowledge of English but rather your skill in taking tests. Good luck. But I doubt that kind of stuff will be on the exam, and fun to be him/her/me/us/them is in fact the correct form. The rule I mentioned above is the actual rule. – John Lawler Jul 09 '14 at 14:34
  • You are trying to reconcile 60-year-old rules of English ('It is I') with modern rules ('It's me'). Or put them in a sentimental rank order. It doesn't work. Sadly, some teachers haven't realised that the rules have changed – yes, largely to reflect how most people actually speak. And some of them believe that the ones they were shackled to had divine authority and pre-date England. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 09 '14 at 22:49
  • @EdwinAshworth Trying to say I am him and I become him are correct is trying to say that be and become take objects. I'd like to see someone try to prove that. –  Jul 29 '17 at 03:22
  • @Edna Mode No; it's accepting that English 'rules' are not set in tablets of stone. One of the most respected and famous linguists of recent times says that the 'It is I' brigade are trying to resurrect the dead. And I seem to remember reading that 'It is I' was actually an arrogation to echo Latin constructions, forcibly introduced centuries ago, at a time when the use of the accusative case was the norm with complements as well as with DOs. Would you have objected to that breaking of the 'rules'? – Edwin Ashworth Jul 29 '17 at 09:56
  • ... Hans Adler, in this post, has a lot to say about the way the language has in past centuries often been mishandled by the minority who could actually write, and how misunderstandings were often put into print and perpetuated. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 29 '17 at 10:05

1 Answers1

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Yes, it's true.

The general rule of thumb is: if there is any ambiguity, use me / her / him.

There are some special-case exceptions to this rule in traditional, formal English – e.g. It is I!, rather than It's me! – but It is fun to be him. is not one of them.

Pitarou
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